Can hyperlinks and digital rights management secure affordable access to information?

Digital Rights Management Systems (DRMs) related control mechanism, which are analogous to and augment the exclusive rights, have been the subject of debate since the early 1980s. DRMs, which function like an electronic security guard that 'never leaves its post, never takes a break and never sleeps,(1) can invade the privacy of individuals, prevent competition and/or control access to a work that is not or is no longer copyright protected. Hyper links are citations of an electronic address, but when clicked they navigate the user to the source of further information, including codes circumventing DRMs. This article accepts that the excesses of DRMs can outreach copyright and/or contract law, but argues that DRMs provide an opportunity for innovative business models, which can both protect digital works and promote free use of hyperlinks. Part 1 outlines the background and legislative provisions related to DRMs. It contrasts the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) 1996,2 Articles 11 and 12, with corresponding provisions found in the implementing legislation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998,(3) and the EU Copyright Directive (EUCD) 2001.(4) It also examines the intellectual property aspects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Europe's Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).(5) Part 2 debates opposing academic opinion and comments on case law relating to DRMs, including the use of hyperlinks as a way of trafficking circumvention technology and/or facilitating unauthorised access to a copyright work. It assesses the extent to which DRMs might inhibits the development of new products, prevents competition, or invades the privacy of individuals, and points to the opportunities a consumer group-rightholder negotiated model end user licence can offer. Part 3 concludes that DRMs bolsters the clutches of the right-holder, but reduce unauthorised access to information thus minimising revenue loss, which can make hyperlinked 'consumer' access to information 'affordable,' or even free. (C) 2012 Hasan Deveci. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.