Word: digitales
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But Timbuktu's manuscripts might just change that. The books date from between the 14th and 16th centuries, a time when the town was a thriving trading hub and intellectual center for West Africa. Now, scared that Timbuktu's 50,000 or so surviving books might disintegrate or be sold...
Tenenbaum, a 25-year-old graduate student at Boston University, stands accused of illegally downloading 30 music files using Kazaa. Under the 1999 Digital Theft Deterrence Act, he faces maximum penalties of $150,000 damages per file, or $4.5 million total, if found guilty.
Such a defense, if successful, would have also introduced a novel meaning of copyright law as it applies to digital media. Nesson's argument, Gertner said, would have legalized any downloading of copyrighted material so long as it was used for a person's private enjoyment.
In previous court filings related to Tenenbaum's case, Nesson has argued that the Digital Theft Deterrence Act is essentially a criminal statute, and consequently the large damages awarded—significantly more than the cost of legally downloading a song—violate the 5th and 8th Amendments.
If Nesson's strategy succeeds, the case could set a precedent that legalizes all non-commercial file-sharing, on the grounds that such behavior in a digital society does not violate existing copyright laws.