>Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 20:30:29 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Museum Computer Network <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Critical Time for Protecting Fair Use in Copyright
>
>
>********************Please forward to other lists*****************************
>*******************especially library and education lists*********************
>
>**************************September 16, 1997**********************************
>
>Patrice McDermott brought these matters to my attention by her
>original posting on August 21st (attached below).
>
>The publishing industry is extremely nervous about losing their
>"property" to the Internet. While some of these concerns are
>well founded, much is generated by the media hype over the Internet
>and the fact that many in control have not even been on the Internet.
>
>As a resident of Massachusetts, I turned to Rep. Barney Frank about
>this matter (see two letters below and his reply).
>
>If you are in any state of the Senators and Representatives mentioned
>in Patrice's message, now is the time to send a fax.
>
>Call the local office of your congressman. Mention the topic "Intellectual
>Property" legislation and ask which aide is handling that. Ask
>for their fax number (almost always in Washington). Then write
>something about how important it is that teachers be able to access
>teaching materials under fair use and how important it is for individuals
>to be able to make and share copies of things under fair use.
>
>If you don't have time to fax -- just say you want to go on record
>and make a brief statement when you call.
>
>If you really want to understand "fair use," further, consult the
>reference by Mary Hutchings Reed that I mention below.
>
>
>W. Curtiss Priest
>Director, Center for Information, Technology & Society
><[log in to unmask]>
>
>----------------
>
> BARNEY FRANK 558 PLEASANT STREET
>4TH DISTRICT, MASSACHUSETTS ROOM 309
> NEW BEDFORD, MA 02740
>
>2210 RAYBURN BUILDING CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES (508) 999--6462
> (202) 225--5931 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 222 MILLIKEN PLACE
> 29 CRAFTS STREET WASHINGTON, DC FALL RIVER, MA O2721
> NEWTON,MA O2158 (508)674 3551
>
> BRIDGEWATER, MA 02324
> (508) 697-9403
>
> September 10, 1997
>
>
>Dr. W. Curtiss Priest
>Center for Information, Technology & Society
>466 Pleasant Street
>Melrose, Massachusetts 02176
>
>Dear Dr. Priest,
>
>I appreciate receiving your letter because this is a subject on which I
>will be legislating, and I am therefore aided when knowledgeable people
>such as yourself write to me.
>
>I very much agree with your point that fair use should be fully
>protected, and I will be interested in working with you and others to
>make sure that this happens. I will be raising this issue and seeking
>to work out legislative language which will explicitly protect fair use
>and prevent it from being in any way diminished. I do believe it is
>important to give protection to copyright holders against circumvention
>that may come from new technological means, but I agree with you that
>this should be done in a way that does not diminish the important
>concept of fair use. If you or those with whom you work have specific
>legislative language you would like to propose, feel free to send it to
>me. And I promise you that I will be very cognizant of this concern
>when we get to the point of actually drafting legislation.
>
>
>
> BARNEY FRANK
>
>BF/mg
>
>============================================================================
>
>
>August 25, 1997
>
>
>
>Rep. Barney Frank
>% Robert Raven
>Massachusetts, 4th District
>U.S. House of Representatives
>Washington, DC 20515-2104
>
>Dear Mr. Raven:
>
>As Director of the Public Interest group called the Center for
>Information, Technology & Society, I wish to convey my sincere
>concern about the wording of the WIPO Copyright Treaty legislation
>to be discussed on the 10th and 11th of next month.
>
>Specifically, we share the concern that the language on "circumventing
>protection afforded by a technological protection measure" would in
>effect diminish access to encrypted material for lawful "fair use"
>purposes.
>
>Fair Use has been extremely important to balance the power of
>almost monopoly publishers. As the recent court decision on the
>rights of writers and their rights on the Internet sided with publishers,
>we need to ensure that "fair use" receives more than a passing mention
>in the bill.
>
>While we understand there is language that states no rights, including
>fair use, be abridged, please realize that the balance of power --
>in terms of availability of legal remedies is on the side of deep-
>pocketed publishers.
>
>Any fear placed on the part of individuals including teachers and
>librarians by this Act could have a devestating chilling effect
>on the free flow of information.
>
>If you have not already consulted "The Copyright Primer for
>Librarians and Educators," 2nd ed., by Mary Hutchings Reed
>published jointly by the American Library Association and the
>National Education Association. I encourage you to consult,
>in particular, the sections on "Fair Use" and "Classroom
>Photocopying."
>
>As a resident of Massachusetts and someone who supported Rep.
>Frank's reelection, and as Director of this organization, I
>urge you to add language in the bill that more directly
>asserts the support of fair use and/or makes clear that the
>"circumventing protection" language is not to be taken as
>diminishing access to fair use in any way.
>
>Should you wish to discuss this matter, I can be regularly
>reached by telephone at the Center.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Dr. Priest
>
>W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
>Center for Information, Technology & Society
>466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
>Voice: 617-662-4044 [log in to unmask]
>Fax: 617-662-6882 WWW: http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/CITS
>
>============================================================================
>
>
>
>September 15, 1997
>
>
>
>Rep. Barney Frank
>% Robert Raven
>Massachusetts, 4th District
>U.S. House of Representatives
>Washington, DC 20515-2104
>
>Dear Mr. Raven:
>
>As Director of the Public Interest group called the Center for
>Information, Technology & Society, I wish to encourage Rep. Frank
>to help guide the copyright legislation toward protecting the
>public's need for fair use and excessive copyright privileges.
>
>I sent you a fax on August 25th regarding our concerns for
>fair use provisions in the WIPO treaty legislation.
>
>We also share the concern voiced by Mr. Hart in Time Magazine:
>
> "INFORMATION AGE?". . .FOR WHOM?
> Project Gutenberg founder Michael S. Hart says he is disturbed by
> copyright legislation in Congress which would extend all current
> copyrights by 20 years with no provision for maintaining the public
> domain. "To add 20 years to copyright creates a Landed Gentry of the
> Information Age," he says. The public domain is an inalienable right of
> the public which cannot be a commodity to be bought or sold, either by
> persons or by their government. "Copyright extension destroys both the
> concept and content of the public domain." (Time 15 Sep 97)
>
>Already, because of the long period of copyright, important educational
>materials are kept out of the hands of many who cannot afford them
>because publishers still hold copyright over them. Certainly, for
>these economically impoverished Americans, they should not be
>also impoverished by lengthening the period of copyright.
>
>Should you wish to discuss this matter, I can be regularly
>reached by telephone at the Center.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Dr. Priest
>
>W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
>Center for Information, Technology & Society
>466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
>Voice: 617-662-4044 [log in to unmask]
>Fax: 617-662-6882 WWW: http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/CITS
>
>============================================================================
>
>Date: Thu, 21 Aug 97 16:30:49 EDT
>From: Patrice McDermott <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
>Subject: IMPORTANT NEWS on WIPO copyright treaties
>Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Legislation has been introduced to implement WIPO copyright treaties;
>House hearings scheduled for Sept. 10 & 11.
>
>Many thanks to Page for this summary & notification.
>
>-------------------------------------
>Patrice McDermott
>[log in to unmask]
>Date: 08/21/97
>Time: 16:30:50
>-------------------------------------
>
>---------------Original Message---------------
>
>NCC Washington Update, vol. 3, # 35 , August 21, 1997
> by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
> Committee for the Promotion of History <[log in to unmask]>
>
>1. Legislation Introduced to Implement World Copyright Treaties
>
>1. Legislation Introduced to Implement World Copyright Treaties -- On
>July 29 Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), accompanied by
>Representatives Henry Hyde (R-IL), John Conyers (D-MI) and Barney Frank
>(D-MA) introduced HR 2281, a bill to amend title 17, United States Code,
>to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright
>Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty. On July 31 Senator Orrin
>Hatch (R-UT), accompanied by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Fred
>Thompson (R-TN) and Herbert Kohl (D-WI), introduced S. 1121, a parallel
>bill. The Senate Bill appears in the Congressional Record for July 31,
>1997 on pages S8582-8585.
>
>This legislation, developed by the Clinton administration to implement
>the two treaties that were adopted last December by the World
>Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is designed to update the
>international copyright law for the digital age and to ensure the
>protection of American creative products abroad -- with one treaty
>dealing with written material and the other with sound recordings.
>There are two basic sections to this legislation. One deals with
>encryption devises and prohibits the circumvention of copyright
>protection systems. The other focuses on the integrity of copyright
>management information and deals with the removal or alteration of
>copyrighted material. The bill also includes a section on civil
>remedies and the court's role in violations. The bill gives lip service
>to the importance of "fair use" and states that nothing in the bill will
>affect "rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright
>infringement, including fair use, under this title." However, there is
>continuing concern in the library and scholarly community as to whether
>the language on "circumventing protection afforded by a technological
>protection measure" would in effect diminish access to encrypted
>material for lawful "fair use" purposes.
>
>On introducing this legislation, Hatch said that he was putting this
>legislation forward on behalf of the Administration and that the bill
>represents "an excellent starting point for the debate on exactly what
>must be changed in U.S. law in order to comply with the treaties." He
>indicated that while he would like to see the treaties go into effect
>this year, "the late date on which the Administration has submitted the
>legislation may render this goal unachievable." In his remarks, Leahy
>stressed that during the hearings the Judiciary Committee will need to
>strive to maintain a careful balance between the authors' interest in
>protection along with the public's interest in the accessibility of
>information. Kohl noted that the administration's proposed bill is a
>"point of departure rather than a final product." He said: "We should
>make certain, as the measure moves forward, that it doesn't restrict
>products that have other beneficial uses."
>
>The House will be holding hearings on HR2281, the treaty implementing
>legislation, and HR2180, the Online Copyright Liability Limitation Act,
>on September 10 and 11. The Senate also plans to hold hearings but has
>not yet set a date.
>
>==============================================================================
>
>Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 06:44:37 +0100
>From: [log in to unmask] (Richard K. Moore)
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Internet junta proposed (fwd)
>Message-ID: <v02110101b04289d0cb49@[194.125.43.165]>
>
>Dear roundtable,
>
>The industry, the WTO, and the G7 - the ideal crew to engineer the
>demise of the open Internet and manage the commercial monopolization of
>cyberspace. These are the same well-organized and highly motivated
>bunch who brought us the WIPO copyright treaty, which among other things
>would make me liable for significant jail time for this forward.
>
>This might well be taken as fair warning of the final, big-guns assault,
>and may peraps finally alert netizens to the fact that "deregulation" is
>a code word not for reducing controls, but simply for shifting the
>rule-making to purely corporate hands.
>
>Use it or lose it.
>
>rkm
>
>~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>Posted by Richard K. Moore - [log in to unmask] - PO Box 26 Wexford,
>Ireland
> http://www.iol.ie/~rkmoore/cyberjournal (USA Citizen)
> * Non-commercial republication encouraged - Please include this sig *
>~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>
>~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997
>From: Radar <[log in to unmask]>
>
>[Note by Dr. Priest: this copyrighted material is being provided to you
>in the "teachable moment" under Fair Use of the U.S. Copyright Act
>of 1976, Section 107. As Richard Moore notes, it could become
>illegal to share such information -- information that is being
>provided for the public good of protecting our rights to Fair Use.]
>---------------------
>Forwarded message:
>From: [log in to unmask] (Mike Moxley)
>Date: 97-09-14 01:55:54 EDT
>
>EU commissioner proposes global Internet charter
>
>BRUSSELS (Reuter) -- The European Union's top telecommunications
>official called Monday for an international charter to regulate the
>Internet and other electronic networks.
>
>EU Commissioner Martin Bangemann, in a speech prepared for a
>telecommunications conference in Geneva, said the charter should
>deal with questions such as technical standards, illegal content,
>licenses, encryption and data privacy.
>
>"The current situation may lead to the adoption of isolated global
>rules with different countries signing up to different rules agreed
>under the auspices of different international organizations," the
>German commissioner said.
>
>"An international charter would provide a suitable answer."
>
>The text of the speech was distributed in Brussels.
>
>Bangemann said industry should lead the effort to draw up a
>charter, which would be based mostly on self-regulation and mutual
>recognition of national licenses.
>
>"Its role would not be to impose detailed rules, except in
>particular circumstances (child pornography, terrorist networks),"
>he said.
>
>The charter would recognize existing pacts negotiated within the
>World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property
>Organization and draw on principles agreed by other bodies such as
>the Group of Seven top industrial countries, he said.
>
>Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
>
>******************************************************************
>Michael Moxley The Patriot:
>[log in to unmask] http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6627/
>***************************Live Free or Die!***************************
>
>Well here we go !
>
>Joshua2
>
>--
>See the Website:
>Uderstanding the New World Order--
>http://www.kreative.net/understandingNWO
>
>~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>
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