- From: David Booth <david@dbooth.org>
- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:46:07 -0500
- To: Aaron Swartz <me@aaronsw.com>
- Cc: www-tag@w3.org, Jonathan Rees <jar@creativecommons.org>
On Fri, 2011-03-11 at 11:16 -0500, Aaron Swartz wrote: > [ . . . ] The scenario here is: > > 1. BigCo publishes a work. > 2. PirateMan makes a copy and puts it on the Web in an embeddable fashion. > 3. ChannelSurfing refers to it. > > Can anyone explain why they think 3 should be a crime if > ChannelSurfing refers to it using an <embed> tag but not if they use > an <a> tag? Yes. It is all about the user's perception and ability to make a conscious decision to copy the work or not: - With <a>, the user makes a *conscious* choice to download (i.e., copy) the work, and thus the user should be held responsible -- not the website. - With <embed>, the user's download of the work is caused by the *website's* decision to use <embed>, *knowing* that this will cause the user's browser to download the work, potentially without the user even being aware that the work is not coming from that website. Thus, the website bears responsibility for the copying that has caused the user's browser to perform. -- David Booth, Ph.D. http://dbooth.org/ Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.
Received on Friday, 11 March 2011 16:46:36 UTC