Copyright Law has always been a balancing act which attempts to give protection to the creators and authors of original works; while at the same time prevent anyone from getting too much control over information which may generally benefit the public. Thus Copyright Law has attempted to draw an uneasy line with various (and sometimes disparate) legal tests.

Lately however, copyright issues have become even more critical with computers and the Internet, where digital works are extraordinarily easy to copy and distribute. Ironically, the same technology which created this danger to copyright holders may also ultimately give them in certain circumstances more protection than ever before known in history. Encryption technology, for example, could make it impossible to pirate material, even to the exclusion of the traditional Fair Use exceptions contained in the law. The Clinton Administration and others have proposed a ban on devices designed to defeat
encryption or other copyright protection technologies...making it even more difficult for legitimate users to access material, absent permission.

Copyright Law is still evolving. New treaties which will bring foreign copyright law closer to United States’ standards are in the works and awaiting ratification in the Senate, yet new issues, like the possible liability of telephone companies and online computer services which may unknowingly carry pirated material on their systems, have yet to be addressed.n1

n1. See Annys Shin, Righting Copyrights, 46 Nat’l J. 2312 (1997).

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