text: Cyberspace squabbles overshadow copyright talks. Elif Kaban 
   GENEVA 1996-12-06 
   In a gloomy Geneva conference centre built before the dawn of the Internet, groups of staid officials made a first stab on Friday at rewriting copyright laws for the digital age. But critics at the first government-level meeting to revise copyright laws in 25 years said the officials and legislators might as well be trying to police the ether. After four days of diplomatic wrangling over procedures, some 600 delegates from nations small and large got down to the nitty-gritty of setting the digital agenda for the first time. Cyberspace squabbles overshadowed the debate on a stack of proposals covering literary and artistic works, the rights of performers and producers of music and producers of databases. " If it goes on like this, we won't have enough time to finish all the discussions, " a frustrated Western delegate said. " 
   They announced they will start evening sessions next week. " 
   Attempts by copyright-based industries to ensure they get a cut from online works led to a storm of protests by Internet companies and critics who say the pacts would curb public access to online information from soccer results to stock prices. " It's not illegal to make photocopies of newspaper articles. It's fair use. We can read sports statistics or stock prices. But with the treaty, this kind of fact will be owned and subject to licensing, " said James Love, a consumer lobbyist heading the Washington-based Consumer Project on Technology. " None of the treaties are ready to move. These people don't understand what they're doing. " 
   At stake are billions of dollars and the future of the electronic information industry--the coming medium for the distribution of music, films, literature, software and commerce. Supporters of the three pacts say they are only an extension of existing intellectual property rights, covered by the century-old Berne Convention. But an array of opponents from the network industry to consumer, scientific and academic groups say the pacts will give sweeping powers to entertainment and copyright-based industries. A quick survey at the conference centre found few officials who had actually surfed the Internet. Mongolia's state copyright official, Gundegma Jargalshaihan, said apologetically that he had just arrived from Ulan Bator and was not aware of the details of the digital agenda. " We don't have money for Internet in Mongolia, " he added. Alexander Bavykin, deputy legal chief at Russia's foreign ministry, said Moscow had yet to formulate a policy on copyright in cybersppace. He too had never browsed the Net. " I've never tried it and why should I? There are lots of other things in this life I haven't tried either, " he said. A visit to the computer centre offering Internet services found a lone European official clicking away on his mouse. " Internet is a potential cash cow for copyright-based industries and we need roadmaps on the information superhighway, " said Marc Pearl, vice-president of the Information Technology Association of America, a trade association of U. S. network companies opposing the treaties. " But there are a lot of dinosaurs here. People here don't understand Internet technology. Because they don't understand technology, they fear the unknown. " 
   Before the Internet, those whose business was to protect copyrights knew where they stood. Their enemies were tangible if elusive, such as the people who pirated music cassettes. But the Internet, a global computer network where anything from music to software can be duplicated and distributed at the click of a computer mouse, has ripped up the rulebooks. Network operators said the draft laws would hold them responsible for copyright infringements in the system and expose them to multi-billion-dollar liabilities. " There are 500 million messages transmitted through the Internet everyday, " said Tim Casey of the U. S. -based MCI Communications Corporation. " 
   How can we control them all? "
competitors: Elif Kaban GENEVA Geneva Internet Western Internet James Love Washington-based Consumer Project on Technology Berne Convention Internet Mongolia Gundegma Jargalshaihan Ulan Bator Internet Mongolia Alexander Bavykin Russia Moscow Net Internet European Internet Marc Pearl Information Technology Association of America U.S. Internet Internet Internet Internet Tim Casey U.S.-based MCI Communications Corporation