디지털저작물 침해행위에 대한 온라인서비스제공자의 법적 책임

The responsibility of online service provider in Copyright Act

Perhaps the most significant development of our time, even more significant than the end of the cold war, is the revolution in information technology which we are currently experiencing. Recent and anticipated changes in telecommunications technology in light of the convergence of communications and computing are truly breathtaking and have already had a significant impact on many aspects of our life. Banking, stock exchange, air traffic control, telephones, electronic power and a wide range of institutions of health, welfare and education are largely dependant on information technology and telecommunications for their operation. Nowadays we can very easily copy the digitalized works or contents or transform them due to the development of information technique and spread them more swiftly and widely through internet. In addition, we are in the face of various infringement acts including the illegal copy of works or digital contents. Hence we should protect the copyright and other copyright-related rights of the maker to make sure that the incentives and motives of the maker can not be deprived. But the copyright is not an absolute right, the legal protection of maker should be harmonized with the public interest and access for the information. This study examined and reviewed the legal provisions about electronic information-related illegal act that are dispersed in current criminal law and other special laws including copyrights act. To put under criminal sanctions of ceratin actions which are harmful to society, it should be made clear that the benefit of the criminal sanctions and the concrete legal provisions.