MARATHWADA MITRA MANDAL’ S

SHANKARRAO CHAVAN LAW COLLEGE

ARTICLE REVIEW

ON

LAW, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SUBMITED TO:

Mrs. TANIYA NAIK

SUBMITED BY:

MAYURI RAMESH MANE

ROLL NO. 48

L.L.M II (III SEMISTER)

(2017-18)

SAVITRIBAI PHULE PUNE UNIVERSITY, PUNE – 411007

 CITATION

 ARTICLE NAME -
‘Copyright World’ and Access to Information: Conjoined via the
Internet

 WRITTEN BY –

Tania Sebastian

 PUBLISHED BY –

Journal of Intellectual Property Rights,

(Vol. 17, May, 2012, pp 235-242)

 ISSN –
0975-1076
A. ABOUT THE ARTICLE

I have taken this article for review, named ‘Copyright World’ and Access to
Information: Conjoined via the Internet written by Tania Sebastian and this article
published by the Journal of Intellectual Property Rights (Vol. 17, May, 2012, pp 235-242),
ISSN of article is 0975-1076.

B. INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTICLE

1. This Article deal with the concept of copyright and access information from internet. Still
today there are so many issues arises for access to information with intellectual acceptance.
There are various research efforts in information access for which the objective is to simplify
and make it more effective for human users to access and further process large and unwieldy
amounts of data and information. But the information is research or literature of other humans
who take efforts and invest their time on it. So there must be the intellectual acceptance for the
access to information.

2. In this article it is explain that human right include the right to access information.

3. The article talks about why information needs to be free and why it is consider human right.
In the modern era the information play very vital role in progress and development of human
being. For the make better society there must be the source to get knowledge, so that it
considered as human right.

4. The author also explain that the activism of ‘access to knowledge’ advocates for access to
information and also talks about European Union’s legalization of access to information on the
internet as a ‘Fundamental Right’.
C. SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

1. The article begin with the idea of our society is truly an information society, our time is an
information age'. The world today as openness and freedom of information become burning
issue. The philosopher Francis Bacon words are 'scientia potentia est' it means knowledge
is power. He explain about the knowledge economy is a reminder that information and
knowledge are crucial factors in human development.
2. Then author wrote about the right to know on internet is a particularly bitter struggle in
many parts of the world because the right to know is not universally granted.The first time
United Nations World Summit on the Information Society recognized the standard of
human rights with the connection of information technology.
3. After that author start explain about the term 'information as a free good'. She explain
information and access are term with multiple meaning with the help of various jurists.
Dragons categorized 'information' as primary goods, stating that 'it may be perhaps the
most important primary good when one consider its role in one life, the economy and the
development of knowledge, culture and its impact on power in society'.
4. Rawls further classified primary goods into social and natural primary goods. The Natural
primary goods consist health, intelligence and imagination these are the inherent qualities
with which a person is born. The social primary goods are rights, liberties, power,
privileges, wealth, income and opportunity. Hence, information is a social primary good
that is today essential to the welfare and development of a person as a rights, liberties,
powers and opportunities because in a social structure in which citizens have equal rights
to basic liberties, citizens require equal access to information so that they can strategize
and make correct decisions.
5. The right to access is not merely a liberty right, but also a welfare right. The necessity of
access to information in human life in order to live a 'minimally good life' in at least three
ways i.e.
 Human being are creatures with a capacity and a desire for knowledge. A life
deprived of adequate access to information and knowledge is a seriously poor life.
 Knowledge is not only good in itself it is pragmatically essential that person have
access to information if they are to have the capacity to exercise their other rights.
  In order for a persons to effectively exercise and protect their other rights, they
need to access information.
6. If there is nobody to listen to or no one to share ideas with, then the information right has
no impact. Thus, there arises a need for access to appropriate information technology. Thus
appropriate information technology is certainly part of the information right. The main
reason for the internet in human rights may be that traditional copyright doctrine seems
incapable of resolving virulent conflicts which result from a radical commercialization of
information.
7. Copyright laws do not have explicit provision about converting material into accessible
formats. The visually impaired have to scan and convert printed material into electronic
formats and use screen reading software to listen it. Organization like the National
Federation of Blind strongly believes that, correctly interpreted, the Charger Amendment
covers e-texts, but acknowledges that authoritative support for this interpretation would be
welcome. The visually challenged segment of the Indian population also experienced the
dilemma in the proposed Copyright (Amendment) Bill,2010, wherein Section 52(1)(zb)
had the following fallacious proposed addition: The adaption, reproduction, issue of copies
or communication to the public of any work in a format including sign language, specially
designed only for the use of persons suffering from a visual, aural or other disability the
prevent their enjoyment of such work in their enjoyment of such work in their normal
format.
8. Internationally, WIPO's top copyright negotiating forum, the Standing Committee on
Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) has agreed to move forward with discussion that
could lead to better access to copyright protected works by the blind, visually impaired and
other reading disabled person. A proposal for a treaty based on text prepared by the World
Blind Union was submitted in May 2009 by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. Suggestions by
SCCR , includes identification and developing solutions to improve the availability of
copyright protected published work in formats accessible to reading disabled persons and
in a reasonable time frame.
9. Another aspect of A2K activism resolve around the creation of open access journals
(OAJs). It is mechanism to effectively address the problem of the global information
imbalance. The Internet's current motto of ' information want to be free ' and ' information
 is oxygen' has fuelled a brand new debate for reshaping traditional print journals. OAJs are
a good choice for universities and organization in the developing world. A common link
underlying these problems is that science and technology could play a key role in their
alleviation. At the same time, access to knowledge can help create stronger social,
economic and technical infrastructure that are essential in the development process.
10. After that author give the example of the European Union were the Internet access consider
as a fundamental right. The framers of the Constitution worldwide have talked about the
rights of assembly, speech and religion, the modern world has crowned new rights with
reference to the boom in information technology and its ancillaries. Nearly four out of five
adults voted in the affirmative in a BBC World Service poll conducted on more than 27,000
adults across 26 countries to answer one primary question: 'is internet access a fundamental
human right?'
11. Nations like Finland and Estonia have already ruled that Internet access is a human right
for their citizens. Mexico, Korea and Brazil lead the way here with all having greater than
90 per cent agreement, while Pakistan, India and Kenya have above 50 pre-cent in
agreement. Recently, EU adopted an Internet freedom provision, stating that any measure
taken by Member States that may affect a citizen's access to or use of the internet must
respect the fundamental rights and freedom of citizens. International bodies such as the UN
are also pushing for universal net access. If the internet is information and if information
can be equated to power, then all those without access to information are in effect
powerless. As expressed by Benjamin Disraeli, 'as a general rule the most successful man
in life is the man who has the best information.'
12. At the end author states that that, the second half of the 20th century 'information society'
may now be considered as running parallel to the 19th century 'industrial society', a striking
feature of which is the spread of digital technology and the commodification, if the question
of access to property and ownership of physical goods was a major issue in the 19th
century, this become a question of access of property and the ownership of access to
property and the ownership of information in 20th century.
D. OPINION ABOUT THE ARTICLE

1. Today’s society is an information society which is trying to compete with industrial

society.
2. We know that knowledge play important role in human development. And to get
knowledge we need to access information from the various sources. The internet is one
of best source to access the information in today’s world.
3. But today it is issue for debate whether access information from internet is fundamental
right or not. In the most of the country in the world it is declared as fundamental right
of human.
4. If there is no one to listen and no one to share the ideas then information has no value.
Thus there is need to access information from appropriate information technology.
5. It is true that copyrights are very important rights for the intellectual person but this
knowledge has no use if it not accessible.
6. At the end it is clear that ‘copyright world’ and access to information are equally
important but for the development of human being there is need to access information
from appropriate technology i.e. Internet.

E. SUGGESTATIONS

In all aspects this article true and it is very clear that the right of access to information
from internet is as equal as right to copyright.

This article is provides all the information which is useful to law students, lawyers and
common people of society. There is no any suggestions with this article.