LibraryLaw Blog

Library Elf and the UK

From Philip Jones:

I know I am coming very late into this debate, but Elf is just beginning to get publicity here in the UK, and so the issues are becoming relevant. It has also widened its coverage to library management systems (LMSs) which are mainstream over here.

An interesting slant which is emerging is around Elf's choice not to develop full working agreements with the LMS suppliers themselves. I know of one LMS company which regards with concern and suspicion any attempt by a third-party system to draw down data from its LMS installations unless there is a formal agreement in place which formalises the whole process and includes all appropriate legal protections for both parties and their customers.

I think the LMS suppliers' view is that they implicitly authorise a library service, and its registered customers, to gain access to data on its system in specific ways defined by the system. However, they argue that they do not authorise a third-party system, such as Elf, to act as an intermediary between the end user and the LMS system and to manipulate the data provided. And further that one or more end users cannot legitimately empower Elf to act on their behalf as an intermediary service simply by the process of providing their card number and PIN code to Elf for that purpose. It all seems to hinge on whom the LMS supplier believe they have authorised to gain access to their data files.

Mary: This just came in as a comment to http://blog.librarylaw.com/librarylaw/2005/11/my_library_elf_.html but I figured no one would see it there.  I think that any smart tech person could figure out how to "roll your own" RSS feeds from a library's LMS system, needing only the user's library card number and PIN (if needed to get into the records).  Why do you say end users couldn't empower Elf to act on their behalf... wouldn't that be considered consent? Is consent sufficient in the UK?

What concerns me is that the users don't need to give consent if the LMS password system is weak, as it is in so many libraries in the U.S.  Your ex-girlfriend needs only your library card number and sometimes a (weak) PIN (often the last four digits of your phone number). Do UK LMS companies offer stronger PINs than four digits?

Many have told me that that this weak security has always been the case, Elf or no Elf.  The difference that Elf or any RSS feeds (laden with personal content) makes is the convenience of daily delivery of the records from hither and yon.   

By the way, I just happened to go back to the search box in Bloglines the other day, and typed in "library elf for" and then chose [Search for Feeds] and got about 200 personal feeds  from probably unwitting library users.  Gives me their first names and one more click shows their libraries, books out/requested etc.  At least Elf got rid of their email addresses.  Still, quite disconcerting to see so much personal information floating around, free for me to capture.  I could (but won't) add a screenshot of the names with the libraries and titles.

BloglinesElfScreenshot.doc

Hooray - I figured out how to use tags instead of categories in this blog

As I suspected, it's much easier and more flexible.  So if any of you are looking for new posts based on categories, you may not find them. Use the technorati tags at the bottom of a post instead. If it works like I think it will, I'll probably stop using categories altogether.

Update: It looks as if users who click on a technorati tag below will get everyone in the world's posts with those tags. That's useful, but it would be nice to have an option to limit it to this blog, the way flickr does.  Well, there's always the search button in the blog...

Free Download: Handbook on Copyright and Related Issues for Libraries

The Handbook on Copyright and Related Issues for Libraries (new - international perspective) is now available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 License. It's written by Electronic Information For Libraries (eIFL.net), an independent foundation that focuses on libraries and electronic resources in developing countries. eIFL is an initiative of the Open Society Institute, part of the Soros Foundation network. The handbook is sponsored by the UNESCO Information for All Programme.

Minow take: The absolute best sections of the handbook, in my opinion, are the last three:  trade agreements, international policymaking, and national policymaking.  All focus directly on library impact. I always watch my students go weak in the knees when I discuss copyright and international trade agreements. This source hits the mark.  It cuts right through to why and how these treaties work, and how they impact libraries and library users.  It features international library statements and links to the most relevant source documents (without being overwhelming).

From the handbook: "We hope that you find the Handbook useful. If you do, please share, distribute, translate and build upon it! Teresa Hackett December 2006"

It's such a good start, someone should turn it into a wiki. That way library folks around the world can build on it (while keeping the frozen version intact, of course).

Hat tip to Jill Hurst-Wahl's Digitization 101 blog, and her student D. Harrison.

----

The table of contents also includes:

The Relationship between Copyright and Contract Law: Electronic Resources and Library Consortia
Technological Protection Measures - the "triple lock"
Copyright, the Duration of Protection and the Public Domain
Orphaned works
Collective Rights Management
Public lending right
The Database Right - Europe's Experiment
Creative Commons: an "open content" licence
Open Access to Scholarly Communications

Query: Role of US public libraries as Freedom of Information Act entry points?

Received by email. Permission to reprint from Prof. Dr. Herbert Burkert: ------------------------------------------------------

I would be very happy if you could give me some information (or point me to a source) where I might find more information about the following issue:

Switzerland's (federal) Freedom of Information Act will come into force on July 1st this year. I am in the process of writing something about the act and its possible relevance to the library community in Switzerland (beyond that - under some conditions - they might become the object of an information request themselves).

Since my earliest visits to the United States (and to Canada) in the late 1970s I have been impressed by the quality and standing of public libraries in the US as a resource point for local communities. I vaguely remember that in these pre-Internet days libraries also provided information on how to use the (federal) Freedom of Information Act (and similar regulations on the local and state level)and even kept selected records from various agencies at display. This was all in the pre-Internet years.

Are you aware of any explicit policies in place in the US today (no matter on which level) which make ("ordinary") public libraries (not the depository libraries)  "entry points" for freedom of information requests (including help for browsing on government websites for information)?

Or all these observations but memories tinted by social romanticism?

Thank you very much for your kind help
Herbert Burkert


Prof.Dr.Herbert Burkert

www.herbert-burkert.net

 

Orphan works report available

The long awaited report on the Copyright Office's investigation into the problem with orphan works - copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate - is now available at http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/.   The Report is available in two versions, the Full Report with Appendices, and the Main Text (no appendices).

I can't wait to see what they have recommended - and how many of Mary's good ideas made it into the final version.

RFID tags under your skin in Barcelona

Analysis of the proposed legislation on RFID in California says:

"A Barcelona nightclub allegedly uses them to admit customers to a V.I.P. room where drinks are automatically put on their bill."

I checked with a friend in Barcelona, and it goes even further than that.  He tells me that an RFID tag is placed under your skin, the barman adds your drinks to your tab, and you pay automatically. To see pictures of a bar-goer getting implanted, go to the Baja Beach Club, click on VIP, then click on Verichip:Entrevista/Interview and scroll down.

For more, see   BBC - Barcelona clubbers get chipped ;  El Mundo - the FDA approves implantable chip containing medical history (in Spanish) ; Silicon.com - RFID chips headed for hospitals?

Deutsche Bibliothek can now break DRM for the library without breaking the law

From boingboing:

German libraries can circumvent DRM
The German library system has recieved a copyright exemption that allows it to crack the DRM on the media in its collection, "after it became obvious that copy protections would not only annoy teenage school boys, but also prohibit the library from fulling its legal mandate to collect, process and bibliographic index important German and German-language based works." This is fantastic news -- and it should be a lesson to libraries, schools, institutions that serve the disabled, archivists, and others that they needt o fight for their own exemptions. We need to riddle the ban on circumventing DRM with so many little holes that it simply deflates upon itself.  Link

Update: Martin sez, "Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the German libraries as a whole, but only to the Deutsche Bibliothek, the German analog to the US Library of Congress."

posted to boingboing by Cory Doctorow

For Elizabeth and Peter (and anyone else who might care) - copyright in unpublished works in UK

Timothy Padfield's 2004 edition of Copyright for Archivists and Users of Archives [in the UK] has a sample chapter online about copying in libraries and archives. The publisher, Facet Publishing, says that this second edition is fully revised and updated to include changes to the UK law as a result of recent EU legislation.

Padfield observes that the law encourages archivists and others to avoid finding out the purpose of users' research.  Click below for more detail on unpublished works and libraries/archives excerpted from Padfield's book.

Also, the publisher has sample chapters of related works: http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/reading.shtml

For those of you who can be in London on Jan 12...

Two pillars of wisdom: freedom of information and copyright - what information professionals need to know - January 12, 2005

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, London

http://www.ukolug.org.uk/content/public/activities/meetings/12jan05foi.html

via Peter Scott's Library Blog

European Commission recommends consideration for library exceptions in the Database Directive

On July 19, 2004, the Commission of the European Communities released its Commission Staff Working Paper on copyright. Many provisions affect libraries - only those that specifically mention libraries are summarized here:

*The report recommends further consideration for library exceptions to the reproduction right under the copyright chapter of the Database Directive. [2.2.4.2.]

*In 2002, the Commission reported that Member States vary widely on the Public Lending Right. This report in 2004 says that infringement proceedings have been launched to remedy the most striking imbalances and the Commission will follow up to improve the level of harmonization. [2.2.2.1.] Note: Unlike U.S. law, European law provides royalty payments to authors when their books are borrowed from public libraries, called the Public Lending Right.

*The report observes that the role of libraries is undergoing profound changes due to technology. "Lending institutions should be continuously observed," but there is no need for immediate action. [2.2.2.1.]

Click below to read the actual text of these provisions.