Abstract
In only a few years online education has matured and moved from the aegis of
the early adopters into the mainstream of higher education in Australia and
around the world. When learning is put online it is commodified and as such
can consist of tangible, transferable products that can attract a flow of revenue.
Traditionally academics have owned the intellectual property in the course materials
they create. However with online learning many institutions are claiming that
they should own it as they provide the facilities and infrastructure that makes
online learning possible. However, this was not, and is not, an issue with the
facilities provided for face to face teaching and learning. If institutions
own the intellectual property in online courseware the problems associated with
its commodification can be exacerbated through the separation of learners and
the experts who created it. As well corporate style institutional objectives
can impinge on academic freedom.
In a perfect world where learning and speculative research is fully funded legislation
would decree that the intellectual property created by academics would remain
theirs. Sadly we do not live in such a world and agreements must be reached
between the parties to ensure the interests of all are protected.
Abstract
Much work has been done in recent years developing software engineering curricula.
SE research has traditionally focused on the needs of very large corporations
undertaking equally mammoth and complex development projects, consequently,
current curricula tend to focus on this model.
Yet by far the majority of software development is undertaken by Small to Medium
Enterprises. The rise of the internet as a platform for commercial applications
has partly driven this move away from monolithic software development. Depending
on the nature of the application itself many of these products can be described
as "critical" with the failure of such a product more likely to involve
substantial losses for the customer.
Many of these smaller development efforts are either undertaken with little
or no adherence to any SE standard process or by attempting to tailor processes
intended for larger organizations. Neither of these alternatives is ideal, with
both introducing new elements of risk.
One of the newer elements of risk includes the possibility of litigation. While
current curricula already include elements of ethics and social responsibility,
the changing nature of both development teams and today's software products
places today's software engineer in a position where litigation is a very real
possibility.
In this paper we discuss the factors contributing to the possibility of litigation
in detail, and suggest that consideration of legal consequences of decision-making
should be included as a vital part of teaching software engineers about risk
management.
Abstract
In the United States, the Patent and Trademarks Office and the Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit are extending patent protection to the invention of
new Internet business methods. The article argues that this discourages innovation
and rewards existing monopolies.
First, the article examines the leading case of Amazon.com v Barnes and noble.com
Inc before considering the grounds on which the United States courts have concluded
that business method software ought to be patentable. The author concludes that
the courts have greatly expanded the concept of useful art to give protection
to what are in fact abstract ideas. By doing so they have protected business
methods in a way which the courts have refused to do in the past.
Finally the author examines the nature of innovation on the internet, concluding
that it is sequential, with each creator improving on the work of the previous
product. Unlike other areas of innovation, there are not high development costs
associated with this process. Hence, giving the inventor a monopoly through
intellectual property rights is not needed to encourage innovation. The public
has benefited from the weak protection given to intellectual property rights
on the internet so that it is not in the public interest to strengthen that
protection. Doing so will only give more power to software companies which are
big enough to seek and enforce patent protection and will reduce rather than
increase innovation.
Abstract
It is important to know when and where a contract is formed as that can have
an impact on the rights of the parties and in ascertaining jurisdiction over
the contract in the case of a dispute. It is not clear when email contracts
are formed. If the postal acceptance rules were applied to email contracts by
analogy with snail mail, an email contract would be formed when the acceptor
sent the acceptance by pushing the send button on his/her computer. If the postal
acceptance rule is not applied, under normal rules of contract, the contract
will be formed when the offeror receives the acceptance.
There a re no good reasons for applying the postal acceptance rule to email.
The postal acceptance rule is an exception to normal contract principles which
was adopted because of the time delay between posting and receipt of a letter
and because having posted a letter, the person who has posted it loses all control
over it. There are no good reasons for extending the postal acceptance rule
to an instantaneous means of communication such as email, especially as the
sender of a message is in the best position to determine whether the message
has been received or not.
The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Comm) does not settle the matter. It defines
the time of receipt of an electronic message as the time when it enters the
addressee's information system and the place of that receipt as the addressee's
principal place of business or the place of business most closely connected
with the transaction regardless of where the addressee's computer actually was.
However, if does not specify whether the sending or receipt of the acceptance
completes the formation of a contract.
In the United States, the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act lays
down that contracts negotiated by 'electronic message' are formed when acceptance
is received. Although this has only been accepted by two States, it is the appropriate
rule. However, it is not clear that this rules will be accepted in Australia,
where the time and place of formation of email contracts remains uncertain.
Abstract
Agent-based paradigm seems to be a promising technology for developing applications
in open, distributed and heterogeneous environments, such as the Internet. Many
application areas, such as information retrieval can benefit from the application
of agent technology. Despite the advantages offered by agent-based systems,
some legal concerns such as liability, security, and privacy protection are
raised by intelligent agents. After examining the various kinds of agents, this
paper surveys those legal concerns, focusing on issues arising from the applications
of agent-based information retrieval on the Internet. Finally, we offer a security
framework for our ongoing project - IISS, an agent-based intelligent information
selection system for distributed information sources, which makes IISS suitable
to build and support legal applications on the Internet.
Abstract
The potential of the World Wide Web as a medium for course delivery was early
recognized, and universities were quick to take advantage of its possibilities
for reaching a wider and more diverse student population. As the amount of course
content being offered online increases, both to internal and external students,
universities are increasingly exposed to the possibility that students may claim
they are disadvantaged by either the mode of delivery or, in the case of overseas
students, the content itself. In this paper we review the explosion in internet-based
delivery of courses and discuss the areas where we believe there has been little
consideration given to equity, both in terms of access and presentation of content.
Finally we caution providers of Internet-based education that, unless attention
is paid to these areas, they may be open to litigation by dissatisfied customers.
Abstract
A firewall is a system for enforcing access control policy between two networks
and is one of the most important measures to protect against network attacks.
Firewalls traditionally protect the internal network from outside threats. But
there has been increasing need for preventing the misuses of the network by
the internal users which most previous firewalls overlook. In this paper, we
propose a method of adding content filtering functionality to the firewall and
describe its implementation. We also show a new attack that combines JAVA Applet
and XML to get around the content filtering firewall, hence showing the need
for clear usage policy for software and systems.
Abstract
It is feared that the ease with which digital media can be copied will lead
to a proliferation of copyright infringement. One proposed technical solution
is digital watermarking, which embeds a hidden signal into host data that can
be used in a variety of protocols that attempt to either prevent or deter copyright
infringement. In this paper, we give a brief overview of digital watermarking
and discuss some of the issues involved in providing effective digital watermarking
systems for deterring copyright infringement.
Abstract
This article examines the ways in which the digital age is different and considers
how that affects the law of contracts. First, digital equipment allows cheap
high quality copying, makes it easy to modify digitally stored material and
has created the expectation that digital material should be free of charge.
The Australian government has reacted to the new environment by extending the
law of copyright to give the copyright owner a right to control communication
of copyright material and by giving the authors of copyright material moral
rights. The author argues that the growth of digital technologies will lead
to an increase rather than a decline in copyright protection with the right
to communicate becoming the most valuable right. New forms of contract will
play an important role in enabling the exploitation of these rights. Copyright
owners are advised to be careful about giving broad grants of the right to communicate
their work in ways which may make it easier for pirates to copy the work illegally.
Copyright exploiters, such as film and record companies, are already entering
into contracts to ensure that the communication right is under their control.
As digital rights become increasingly valuable, copyright owners should ensure
that they are not locked into schemes which reduce the royalties they receive
for the digital exploitation of their works. They also need to ensure that they
do not enter into unreasonably broad warranties of the right to use the material
without infringing the rights of third parties
Abstract
The increasing use of Information Technology in health care has highlighted
the need for privacy especially when accessing electronic health data. As computerised
medical records are integrated among health care institutions, data can be accessible
from different places by different users and this increases the risk of invasion
of privacy. Misuse of patient health data may harm patients and undermine the
quality of health care. Computerisation of medical records created some challenges
in traditional legislation about use and disclosure of health information. The
dilemma of who owns the information and who has access to it needs to be resolved
before full implementation of an electronic health record. This paper focuses
on possible solutions to some of these issues.