Microsoft’s “smart tags” feature in MSIE 6 and Windows XP allows the software to annotate a document with links to additional information (usually on Microsoft web sites). Check out an annotated version of this page[1] to get an idea of what it might look like. The announcement of the feature has caused somewhat of a controversy. But why?
What is a Browser?
A web browser receives HTML and presents it in some way. The way in which it is presented is not controlled by the author of the web page. Instead, it is the result of a combination of the author’s suggestions and the browser’s implementation. For example, the author may suggest 6 point Arial font. A browser for a PDA may ignore this suggestion and instead use the default font for that device. is that illegal? Ultimately, presentation is up to the browser. If an author doesn’t want the browser doing the formatting, he or she should use something other than HTML. PDF is a popular choice.
Are Clicks Protected?
The controversy around smart tags appears to be because it’s “modifying” copyrighted content by adding some underlining under certain words and phrases. The underlining itself is presentation, not content. Content only appears if you click on the browser. Is Microsoft legally required to ignore mouse clicks when the user clicks on these areas? That’s hard to believe. Windows and Mac systems already interpret this click in some situations -- they bring the window to the top of the window stack. Microsoft is now making left clicks bring up a menu. If you think left clicks bringing up a menu is illegal, what do you think of right clicks, which have been bringing up a menu for years? Is there something in United States law that makes left clicks fundamentally different from right clicks?
What is Copyright?
As far as I can tell, the “smart tags” implementation does not modify the copyrighted HTML document. It does not redistribute the copyrighted document. It does not even make additional copies. So what does copyright have to do with “smart tags”? I do not know. Some questions to ask: is it illegal to write in your textbook? Is it illegal to put a post-it on your monitor when a web page is being displayed? Is it illegal to put a software equivalent of a post-it over your web browser? Is it illegal for some software to automatically put up some equivalent of a post-it when you click on some area of your screen? Isn’t that what Microsoft is really doing?
I’m really not sure what all the fuss is about, as far as copyright goes. Sure, there are implications as far as anti-trust and monopolies and so on. That’s because Microsoft controls the browser. But I don’t see any copyright violation in adding annotations to a document, as long as the annotated document is not redistributed or “published”.