Technology and the Law

Here, we’ll discuss contemporary legal issues that encompass all forms of technology, licensing and trademarks. Currently, the law is light-years away from the rate of technology and isn’t catching up anytime soon. As corporations and individuals strive to protect their intellectual interests in technology, the law has struggled to keep pace. Presently, many laws governing the use of technology were enacted log before the technology it purports to regulate was invented.

Pointedly, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which was passed on October 12, 1998, by an unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998. The DMCA criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.

Though the Internet had been in in use for well over five (5) years by the time the DMCA was enacted, many of the technology platforms it would eventually govern were not in existence at the time of its inception. Furthermore, technology has made some amazing advances in the past twenty years and it will be interesting witnessing the law struggle to catch up. Many lawmakers understand little about the state of technology and rely on lobbyist to simplify their understanding of it. For that reason, its extremely important to remain on the forefront of any attempts to over-regulate the un-throttled potential of technology.