Writing Assignment 1: Copyright and Links

Summary: In this assignment, you will write a short essay arguing a side of the question Should intellectual property law limit the links an author can make on the Web?

Due: 8:00 a.m., Thursday, 26 August 2010

To Turn In: Fourteen printed copies of your essay (double-spaced, please). Please email me a copy of your essay, too.

Purposes: I intend this assignment and your work for the assignment to provide a variety of benefits. In particular, I expect that they will

• start you thinking about intellectual property issues,
• help you relate general intellectual property issues to the digital domain,
• remind you that writing is important,
• give me an early opportunity to gauge your level of writing, and
• prepare us for in-class discussions.

Background: The World Wide Web is an online collection of information written by many different individuals, with different documents (pages) hosted on different computers. The Web permits authors to include live links to other pages in their own pages. As readers browse Web pages, they may select a link in one document and immediately obtain the linked document.

The Issue: Some authors of Web pages object to having others link to their pages. To ground their objections, these authors often claim that such links violate their intellectual property rights. Other authors claim a right to link freely to any document.

Essay Topic: Write a short essay either supporting or opposing the claim that links violate page author's intellectual property rights. You may rely on your own opinions, on appropriate writings you identify, on court cases, and on the U.S. Code. Your your claim will necessarily be more specific than simply Web links do (do not) violate IP law. It is up to you what more specific claim you make.

Assigned Perspectives: On this assignment, I ask you to take a particular general perspective. You do not have a choice on your perspective. The assignments are as follows:

• Arguing that links violate IP: A, B, C, D, E, F
• Arguing that links do not violate IP: G, H, I, J, K, L

Length: 300-600 words.

Audience: You are writing for the typical Web reader. Your reader has probably used links and heard of intellectual property, but has not thought deeply about implications of links or about intellectual property law. Your goal is to convince the reader of your assigned perspective.

I expect to post your essays on the Web, so your readers really will be typical Web readers.

Suggested Structure: Because this is a relatively short essay, I suggest that you follow the five paragraph essay format. Here's my version of that format.

• A paragraph that sets the stage and presents your central point or thesis.
• An optional paragraph that provides background information for the reader.
• One or two paragraphs that support your point.
• One paragraph that provides evidence against the opposing point.
• One concluding paragraph.

You should refer to the Williams and McInerny essay as you work on your introductory and concluding paragraphs.

Some Potential Sources:

• The United States Copyright Office, http://www.copyright.gov.
• The United States Patent Office, http://www.uspto.gov.
• Dan Wallach's Dilbert Pages, http://www.cs.rice.edu/~dwallach/dilbert/ (note that an included image is not the same as a link)
• The Politech Archives: http://www.politechbot.com.
• Seach Engine Watch (9 July 2003): http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/2160281.
• Our class texts. (I've intentionally left that vague; you can decide what to look at.)

Citing Sources: I expect you to use at least one source within this document. List the source at the end in APA format.