Blogging and Copyright

February 17, 2005

Janette Toral writes in her Sun Star column about blogging and copyright. She says:

An email is considered copyrighted by the person who sent it, once sent. Forwarding or publishing it without the consent of the person who wrote it is a violation of his copyright.

Does this mean I’ve violated the copyright to her column? The answer is no. But she isn’t entirely off the mark. Copyright law prohibits the “copying” of certain expressive works (text, music, lyrics, art, pictures, etc.). In the “cut and paste” world of blogs, one could say that massive copyright infringement is the norm.

However, copyright law is not absolute. It recognizes that the copying of material is necessary for activities that have societal value - such as criticism or dialogue. This forms part of what is known as “fair use” which permits the copying of copyrighted works only to the extent necessary to fulfill a legitimate (usually non-commercial) purpose and so long as the use does not affect the present (and potential) market for the work.

Publishing someone’s work without permission may violate that person’s privacy but that’s a separate issue. If you’re doing copying material in order to comment or analyze the statement made, it’s allowed under our copyright laws. Of course, it’s a good policy to copy only so much of the work that’s necessary. Note that I didn’t quote Janette’s entire column (but provided a link).

I must say that on the whole, I haven’t seen a blog that has committed copyright infringement (insofar as text is concerned). A blog, by its nature, is the blogger’s original work and any copied text is usually incidental to the blogger’s discussion of an issue and not intended to exploit the copied work for personal gain.

CICT Commissioner in Conflict of Interest?

Perhaps CICT Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana should ask his former employer, the Foundation for Information Technology and Education (FIT-ED) to update their website which still lists him as Vice-President . A recent story in Inq7 reports that FIT-ED is currently part of an organizing group formulating the national strategy for ICT in basic education. The organizing group includes CICT Commr. Lallana whose Human Capital Development Group is obviously a beneficiary of the project. If Commr. Lallana is still connected with FIT-ED, this project might create a conflict of interest. But I don’t think that’s the case which is why a website update might be in order.

In a related story (reported in PhilStar ), Commr. Lallana’s (former) boss at FIT-ED, Bobby Romulo , is being hounded by former Solicitor General Frank Chavez (in part) for holding a position in FIT-ED while serving as a presidential adviser on ICT strategy. Here’s a quote from Mr. Chavez:

“Romulo is a senior adviser on international competitiveness with portfolio on international finance, investment, trade and information and communication technological strategy - the same areas where Romulo’s private corporations, corporate holdings and foundations have particular interests and advocacies that he would naturally want the government to adopt.”

Note also that the President’s daughter, Luli Arroyo, works for FIT- ED .

Don’t get me wrong. FIT-ED (and Commr. Lallana himself) has done some impressive work in the area of ICT policy and, to my knowledge, Luli Arroyo herself is beyond reproach. If the close relationship between the foundation and government is perfectly legitimate, it might make sense to articulate that view publicly. (More unsolicited advice).