Now Databases Are Going To Get DMCA-Like Protection
from the going-in-the-wrong-direction dept
Because the lawyers out there just aren’t busy enough, some big companies that rely on their collected databases of otherwise available information are trying to push a new law through Congress that would apply DMCA-style copyright protection over databases. That is, even if the content, itself, is publicly available, the database would get protected. The so-called Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act of 2003 would let anyone who claimed their database had been misappropriated file an un-reviewed subpoena to get private information from ISPs (sounds familiar, right?).
Comments on “Now Databases Are Going To Get DMCA-Like Protection”
Database Size?
So if I establish a database containing only my name, can I sue anyone who puts my name in their database?
Re: Database Size?
Better make it a little bigger.
Add the color of your first car and your grandmother’s birthdate.
And put them in separate tables and make them relational. The you can sue anyone who includes any of one or two of those three items in their database.
I can see the subpoena now:
“We, the undersigned, declare that in the Amazon.com book e-commerce database we were able to search and find the database information “Blue” and “August 17″ and we believe that this constitutes a violation of our copyrighted database information and demand the immediate release of Jeff Bezos’ home phone number and address so that we may hunt him down like a dog”
Re: Database Size?
better yet — let’s put all our email addresses in it and then subpoena all the spammers.