Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Copyright Is Like QWERTY: Locked-In and Retrospective

Larsson, Stefan LU (2011) In Blogpost at the weblog TorrentFreak
Abstract
The term ‘path dependence’ is generally used to describe the development of technological standards and how they ‘lock in’ a given technical solution. The QWERTY keyboard is often given as an example of path dependence – the fact that the costs of changing the keyboard to a better, more efficient solution, hinders change. The same can be said about much of the copyright legislation today, but then at the expense of privacy and other rights.



Copyright laws keep on being ‘copied’, even though there are seemingly better solutions out there. The industries that depend on copyright are not in favor of change because this would mean that they would lose authority and power, and possible revenue. The worst consequence of this... (More)
The term ‘path dependence’ is generally used to describe the development of technological standards and how they ‘lock in’ a given technical solution. The QWERTY keyboard is often given as an example of path dependence – the fact that the costs of changing the keyboard to a better, more efficient solution, hinders change. The same can be said about much of the copyright legislation today, but then at the expense of privacy and other rights.



Copyright laws keep on being ‘copied’, even though there are seemingly better solutions out there. The industries that depend on copyright are not in favor of change because this would mean that they would lose authority and power, and possible revenue. The worst consequence of this “path dependence” is that copyright interests gain at the expense of everyone’s privacy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to specialist publication or newspaper
publication status
published
subject
keywords
copyright, Path dependence, lock-in, privacy
categories
Popular Science
in
Blogpost at the weblog TorrentFreak
project
Cybernorms. Norm processes in e-communities
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6758a928-1be9-4485-98af-ca00741224dc (old id 1897906)
alternative location
http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-is-like-qwerty-locked-in-and-retrospective-110424/
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 14:37:53
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:21:25
@article{6758a928-1be9-4485-98af-ca00741224dc,
  abstract     = {{The term ‘path dependence’ is generally used to describe the development of technological standards and how they ‘lock in’ a given technical solution. The QWERTY keyboard is often given as an example of path dependence – the fact that the costs of changing the keyboard to a better, more efficient solution, hinders change. The same can be said about much of the copyright legislation today, but then at the expense of privacy and other rights.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Copyright laws keep on being ‘copied’, even though there are seemingly better solutions out there. The industries that depend on copyright are not in favor of change because this would mean that they would lose authority and power, and possible revenue. The worst consequence of this “path dependence” is that copyright interests gain at the expense of everyone’s privacy.}},
  author       = {{Larsson, Stefan}},
  keywords     = {{copyright; Path dependence; lock-in; privacy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  series       = {{Blogpost at the weblog TorrentFreak}},
  title        = {{Copyright Is Like QWERTY: Locked-In and Retrospective}},
  url          = {{http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-is-like-qwerty-locked-in-and-retrospective-110424/}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}