Third Voice and Copyright

I received the following email from Larry Rosenstein in response to Hands Off My Site. He raises some good points which those interested in the Third Wave debate should consider.

The letter is printed as received with no further editorial comment.

>I don't like the idea that anyone with the right software can come
>to my site and leave a note for anyone else using Third Voice.

Phrased this way, it sounds as if they are modifying your site or leaving information on your server. But that's not the case at all. All Third Voice does is change the way the browser displays web pages, such that they include annotations.

>stay away or create your own counter-site, but don't vandalize my pages.

How can you call it vandalize if none of your data changes. Is it also vandalizing if someone changes their browser to display text in a strange font or turns off graphics?

>I hereby request that Third Voice respect the copyright and
>integrity of my web site - both the textual content and visual
>appearance - by blocking any Third Voice user from posting notes

The problem with this is that you are making your web pages freely available on the internet. If I download one of your pages, I'm free to do whatever I want with it on my computer. In particular, I don't have to display it in any particular format or even display it at all.

There are limitations of course. I can't repost your content, which would be a copyright violation. And I can't abuse your servers (eg, making repeated requests), which would be a theft of service. But Third Voice does neither of these things.

A good analogy is broadcast TV. TV stations send out their content freely to anyone who wants to receive it. But after having done so, they cannot prevent someone from taping a show and editing out the commercials when they watch the show. Then can't even prevent someone from archiving the edited shows and watching them over and over.

If you object to Third Voice changing the way IE presents a web page, then do you object to VCRs that can edit out commercials? How about the ability browsers have to turn off images (including banner ads)? How about a browser for the visually impaired that reads the page. How about a proxy server that summarizes a user-requested page for display on a PDA?

(As an extreme case, consider Virtual PC. It takes a copyrighted Windows program and on the fly translates it into Power PC code. In some sense this is exactly what Third Voice does.)

While I can understand why webmasters would be against the Third Voice technology, realistically I don't see how anyone can argue against the technology on legal grounds. Not only isn't there a copyright violation, but there is also grounds under fair use for people to produce commentary about copyrighted material.

I don't think the company has any legal or moral obligations to install an opt-out system, although it might be their best interest to do so. Since they manage the storage of annotations, they need to take care of things that are inappropriate. And they should provide a way to see what annotations are attached to a site for people who can't use their plugin. (Of course the next step is to allow webmaster to request that an annotation be removed, but this raises other issues.)

This is just another example of a brand new issue raised by a brand new technology. And it won't be the last.

Larry Rosenstein

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

• Why Is Apple Ditching Netbook Support Now?, 11.16. Mac OS X 10.6.2 deliberately removes Atom support. What does Apple have to gain by doing so?
• IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
• The Future of Personal Computing: Personal Servers and Low Cost Portables, 11.02. With WiFi everywhere, virtual network computing, and remote access, your iPhone, iTouch, iTablet, or MacBook Air becomes a gateway to your home or office computer.
• The Late 2009 Mac mini Value Equation, 10.21. We called the Mac mini 'the best value in desktop Macs' two months ago, and the refreshed Mac mini only improves that value.
• More in the Mac Musings index.

Links for the Day

• Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
• Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
  
• Support Low End Mac

Recent Content on Low End Mac

• Pismo WiFi Networking Issue Finally Solved?, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.24. It turns out the problems wasn't the Pismo, the Buffalo WiFi card, or Mac OS X 10.4. It was the Wireless G router - Linksys to the rescue!
• Mini VGA to S-video Adapter a No Go for eMacs, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 11.24. You might think that Apple's Mini VGA S-video adapter is a cheap way to connect your eMac or G4 iMac to your TV. You would be wrong.
• Google Calendar with iPhone or iTouch Is Great for Scheduling, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 11.24. Web-based Google Calendar allows access and updates from any computing platform, including Mac, Windows, Linux, and iPhone OS.
• Why Spaces is My Favorite Leopard (and Snow Leopard) Feature, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.23. Spaces, a feature introduced with OS X 10.5, is like having several monitors on your Mac without the cost and space of using multiple displays.
• i5 iMac Benchmarked, Mac mini 'Shouldn't Be Overlooked', Twitter Client for Classic Mac OS, and More, Mac News Review, 11.20. Also why Apple leaves the low end to others, 10.6.2 fixes video playback problem in 27" iMac, 3D Leopard and Snow Leopard performance, and more.
• Apple's Tablet an End Run Beyond Netbooks, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. Whatever Apple has planned will leverage existing technologies while going beyond what its competitors can offer.
• Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
• NASA Chemical Sensor for iPhone, Smartphone Death Match, iPhone Earrings, and More, Ian R Campbell, 11.20. Also mobile phone dangers, new apps, GPS solution for iPod touch, new iPod and iPhone cases, and more.
• More links in our archive.

Recent Deals

• Best iPod nano Deals, 11.25. Refurb 8 GB 4G nano, $99; new, $126; refurb 16 GB, $129; new, $150; new 5G/8 GB, $134.60; 16 GB, $161.12. Shipping included.
• Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 11.25. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
• Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.25. Used 1 GHz Combo, $400; 1.5 GHz SuperDrive, $449; 1.67 GHz hi-res, $600.
• Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
• Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
• Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
• Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
• Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
• Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
• More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.