|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
Since 1998 I have been working at the Computer/Law Institute on
Artificial Intelligence & Law, since 1999 also on Information Technology Law. In
the latter domain I have worked on several projects with Rik Kaspersen. For
instance, in 2000 we advised the Dutch government on the consequences of information
technology for the Freedom of Information Act (Bergfeld, Kaspersen & Lodder
2001), in 2002 we edited a commentary on the main European Directives in the field of
ecommerce (Lodder & Kaspersen 2002), in 2004 we discussed the technical and
legal aspects of unsolicited commercial communication aka spam (Lodder et al. 2004), in 2006 we advised the Dutch government on electronic signatures and
criminal proceedings (Lodder & Kaspersen 2006), and in 2008 we worked on a
project with the group of Wouter Stol (Leeuwarden) on filtering and child pornography
(Stol et al. 2008). I always enjoyed
doing research with Rik Kaspersen, or having discus - sions on various IT law topics. To me Rik Kaspersen is first and
foremost a dedica - ted researcher. He never really liked administrative duties, but was
always eager in trying to solve legal problems. In doing so he was often thorough. During
the 2008 research on filtering he analysed the Police Act, and finally came to
the conclusion that the Dutch police did not have a legal basis to perform filtering
activities but only after checking his findings with both Criminal Law and
Administration Law professors. The title of this chapter would be very offensive, if it was meant to
reflect Rik Kaspersen’s professorship. As the subtitle shows, it is of course not
intended as such. Rather, this chapter is on one of the strangest parts of Dutch copyright
law. Copyright law stems from the time of the printing press, and information
technology leads to many paradoxical situations: the fact that uploading of illegal
copies is forbidden and downloading is allowed,2 the fact that a class of students with a copy of a copyright protected work are either violating copyright law (if I
gave it to them) or not (if they made the copy themselves), etc. The issue discussed in
this paper is covered in our Media Law course. Interestingly enough, when I discussed
this with Rik Kaspersen around the turn of the millennium we thought that it would
not last that long before the law would change. It still has not… |
|||||||
