What is the COPYRIGHT?

Imagine, that you have a certain file protected by copyright. Let's give it a title Super_Hit.mp3.
Let's assume, that Super_Hit is protected by copyright. And now notice, locus! We take each second byte in the file and copy it in the file under a title My_mp3_song87.hl2. And each first byte is patterned in the file under a title My_mp3_song87.hl. Neither first, nor second of obtained files do not contain any intelligible information basically. The information is present only in both of them at once! Separately they represent wanton panels of bytes.
Let us be set by a question: whether it will be legally from the legal standpoint, if I take and present to the friend the first file? If it is wrongful, then, following to the same logic, it is possible to say, that it is wrongful to give somebody the letter "à" because this letter is present in the books of Tolkien and it is protected by copyright. I certainly exaggerate this but the essence does not vary from it. Certainly it is possible to object that in this case speech goes about sequence of characters, instead of about the separate character. But then primal file can be battered on separate bytes and we can present one of them. I suspect that being the legal owner of the separate byte is rather inconveniently.
Let's go on ... An example. Except me one more friend has decided to make the gift to my friend . And (oh, my god!) he has presented the file absolutely identical to mine My_mp3_song87.hl2, only under other title Podarok.hl2. Probably I am not familiar with other friend at all, so it is impossible to speak about any arrangement. And ours blanket friend by any unknown ways has clarified, that both files are two different parts of the whole one, in an original was called Super_Hit.mp3. And he has spliced them together and took pleasure listening to the popular song. Thus, it is possible to say, that the file, which has appeared at my friend, was obtained from three complementary each other pieces of the information:
- My file My_mp3_song87.hl1
- File Podarok.hl2 from his other friend
- Certain unknown "expert" said, that two previous files are two parts of Super_hit.mp3...
Without any of these three pieces of the information there is no reason to say that we have an original song. Therefore, it is impossible to assert that the legal owner of the song Super_Hit.mp3 also has the right on any of three above listed information units.
In what it can reduce. I shall lay out on the web page My_mp3_song.hl1. If it does not disturb the rights of the legal owner there can be no claims to me. The friend of my friend also can lay out in the Internet the file Podarok.hl2 on his personal page. And one unknown "expert" on his page will deliver the links to our files with the indicating that those files are the parts of Super_Hit.mp3. And I shall be repeated anybody of us does not spread any certain song! So basically it is rather problematic to prove that someone has infringed something.
Except this considered example other case is also possible. Nowadays file-exchange web is very popular in the Internet where a lion's fraction of the piracy information is twisted. To make responsible those who spread the information in Ð2Ð-webs much more difficult than those who spread it on large servers. But anyway it is possible. However, if the pirates will begin to spread such files as Song_name.mp3.<checksum>.hl{1/2} then to make them responsible for a dissemination of information protected by the copyright, it will be even more difficult. Thus the process of searching will become not very complicated also. It will be necessary just to find a pair of files with the same name Song_name.mp3, with spreadings hl1 and hl2 and identical <checksum> (this gives the hope that two files with spreadings hl1 and hl2 and with equal names are the parts of one and the same file) . To automize this process is so simple, that there is no sense to remind about it. Moreover, it does not represent any complexity to make so that files were searched and were downloaded at once by pairs and after a termination of a flushing automatically stuck together. And that at discovering access to files they were automatically cut on two parts from which one would be accessible only.
Thus, it is possible to mark the following tendency: if there are more attempts to limit a dissemination of information in a web then there are more refined methods can appear to detour these restrictions. At first there was an epoch of free FTP-servers, on which the information protected by the copyright laid. FTP were folded. Then the time for Napster has come which only realized searching on hosts of the users. It also was folded. After it the epoch of decentralized P2P-webs began. Practically it is impossible to cover such webs. It is possible only to struggle with the most malicious violators of law about the copyright, that recently descends. Gears of spreading piecewise information, circumscribed above, can appear in reply to it. Available process of granulating of the information stored on separate clusters and example circumscribed by me is one of the tendencies within the framework of this process.

Rinat Akbuliakov (zard@chat.ru)

Taken from Computerra magazine.