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 wo n'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 do n'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 do n'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 have n'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 do n't understand Internet technology . Because they do n'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 ? "