Web browsing, caching, images and copyright

[Allan Gould]

Similar to the wi-fi/www thread previously, has there been any opinion
on images that are copyright being downloaded to a browser's cache.

The gist is: if you browse to a website where images on that website are
marked as copyright, by the fact of loading that page into one's
browser, the browser will (unless you know enough to do something clever
with your caching) download a copy of that image to the cache on your
hard-disk. In some cases, it is not permitted to download a copy of a
copyright image. Does this present a conflict?

Is there a response to said conundrum? Is there any opinion?

Allan

[Roland Perry]

Post by Allan Gould
Similar to the wi-fi/www thread previously, has there been any opinion
on images that are copyright being downloaded to a browser's cache.
The gist is: if you browse to a website where images on that website
are marked as copyright, by the fact of loading that page into one's
browser, the browser will (unless you know enough to do something
clever with your caching) download a copy of that image to the cache on
your hard-disk. In some cases, it is not permitted to download a copy
of a copyright image. Does this present a conflict?
Is there a response to said conundrum? Is there any opinion?

This is all perfectly legal, see Article 5 of the Copyright Directive.
As explained in recital 33:

(33) The exclusive right of reproduction should be subject to an
exception to allow certain acts of temporary reproduction, which
are transient or incidental reproductions, forming an integral
and essential part of a technological process and carried out
for the sole purpose of enabling either efficient transmission
in a network between third parties by an intermediary, or a
lawful use of a work or other subject-matter to be made. The
acts of reproduction concerned should have no separate economic
value on their own. To the extent that they meet these
conditions, this exception should include acts which enable
browsing as well as acts of caching to take place, including
those which enable transmission systems to function efficiently,
provided that the intermediary does not modify the information
and does not interfere with the lawful use of technology, widely
recognised and used by industry, to obtain data on the use of
the information. A use should be considered lawful where it is
authorised by the rightholder or not restricted by law.

[bealoid]

Allan Gould <***@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:64sbnjF2amic1U1
@mid.individual.net:

[snip]

Post by Allan Gould
Is there a response to said conundrum? Is there any opinion?

Temporary storage and copying to transmit something through a network is
specifically covered in the law.

I don't know how long a cache is allowed to last to be temporary.

[Roland Perry]

Post by bealoid
Temporary storage and copying to transmit something through a network is
specifically covered in the law.
I don't know how long a cache is allowed to last to be temporary.

Whatever is "normal practice". The main thing is that such caches
shouldn't be allowed to "leak", and expose the copyright material to a
person without permission to download the material from its source. And,
of course, websites can mark pages as "do not cache" if they feel
strongly about it, and caches ought to comply with that.

The business of viewing copyright material is poorly understood. I have
seen many "acceptable use" policies in schools, for example, that ban
the downloading of copyright material. So that's no bbc.co.uk then?

[Owain]

Post by Roland Perry
The business of viewing copyright material is poorly understood. I have
seen many "acceptable use" policies in schools, for example, that ban
the downloading of copyright material. So that's no bbc.co.uk then?

Presumably that would also be no access to the school's own website either?

Owain

[Roland Perry]

Post by Owain

Post by Roland Perry
The business of viewing copyright material is poorly understood. I
have seen many "acceptable use" policies in schools, for example,
that ban the downloading of copyright material. So that's no
bbc.co.uk then?

Presumably that would also be no access to the school's own website either?

Probably :)

[Tim Jackson]

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:25:04 +0000, bealoid wrote...

Post by bealoid
Temporary storage and copying to transmit something through a network is
specifically covered in the law.

Right - this is in section 28A of the Copyright etc Act, which is the UK
implementation of the EU directive quoted by Roland.

However, the making of temporary copies during transmission through a
network is only one of the two legs of Section 28A. Strictly speaking,
I think that's not quite the point here. That's really intended as a
safe harbour for intermediaries such as ISPs and other network
operators.

Section 28A has a second leg, which I think is more relevant to caching
by the end user's browser. This permits transient or incidental copies
which are an essential part of a technological process, the sole purpose
of which is to enable **a lawful use of the work**.

Assuming it's what the copyright owner intended, it is lawful for the
end user to view the work online. The temporary copy in his browser
cache is then permitted because it's part of a technological process,
the sole purpose of which is to enable such viewing.