The continuous growth of technology has brought many changes in the way things are done. In pursuit of quick accessibility and ease, humanity has created a new medium for connecting things in a web call: the Internet. The Internet, also known as cyberspace, is a place where everything is digitally encoded. From the basic binary codes arise texts, images, videos, music and other digital media that appear on the computer monitor. Ever since the internet was established, many industries have started transacting over the web because it reaches millions of people around the world. The information can be used at little or no cost. Advertisements and digital media transactions can be done easily.
However, since everything is encrypted, replicas are easily faked. Copies can be produced indiscriminately. Copies on digital media are perfect clones of the original, making it difficult to distinguish which is the original and which is the copy. To protect original authors and regular consumers from the threat of web piracy, several laws were passed, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The DMCA serves as an intellectual property management regulation for digital media and other things traded on the Internet. This law implements two treaties made by the World Intellectual Property Organization, also known as WIPO. Penalizes the creation and distribution of technology, gadgets, devices or services that seek to evade procedures such as Digital Rights Management that regulates access to works under copyright. It also prohibits impeding access control, whether or not there is a violation. The DMCA emphasizes penalties for copyright violations on the Internet.
Digital copyright laws cover a wide range of people’s ingenuity. Much, if not all, of the unique content that powers e-commerce is under its protection. This covers literary creations and works of art including different forms of writing such as manuals, educational materials, articles, blogs, e-books, and others. It also protects electronic products such as software, computer programs, music, images, videos, and the like. Basically, this law not only ensures the rights of creators or producers. It also protects the rights of consumers who are subjected to fraud. An innocent buyer may be encouraged to purchase pirated products to which, over time, their access may be restricted due to infringement. In such a case, the consumer will not be able to recover the money from him.
Internet users should be aware of intellectual property management laws, whether they are a producer or a consumer to protect them from falling victim to intellectual property infringements. Cyberspace is as vast as the universe and is still expanding. As users we must be aware of the pros and cons of its use. It makes our lives faster and easier, but sometimes one misstep can plunge us into hot water if we don’t know what the law allows and forbids.
