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NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
February 24, 2000
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Comments Submitted to Copyright Office on
"Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on
Circumvention of Technological Measures that
Control Access to Copyrighted Works
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/1201/anticirc.html
Comments available at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/
As this extract from the American Library Association's Washington
Office Newsline states, 233 comments were submitted to the Copyright
Office on Section
1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
From the Library of Congress web page:
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Public Law 105-304 (1998),
added a new Chapter 12 to title 17 United States Code, which among
other things prohibits circumvention of access control technologies
employed by copyright owners to protect their works. Specifically,
section 1201 provides that "No person shall circumvent a
technological measure that effectively controls access to a work
protected under this title." This prohibition on circumvention
becomes effective on October 28, 2000. In the meantime, the
Copyright Office will conduct a rulemaking proceeding in which the
Register of Copyrights will recommend, and the Librarian of Congress
will determine, whether there are particular classes of copyrighted
works that shall be exempted from the prohibition because persons who
are users of those classes of works "are, or are likely to be in the
succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by virtue of the
prohibition in their ability to make non-infringing uses of that
particular class of works under this title."
Among other activities, this new rule is likely to affect the
community's "fair use" of material under digital lock-and-key.
The 223 comments are available (in .pdf format) at:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Readers might be parti
* The American Association of Museums (Barry G.Szczesny)
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/184.pdf
* The Association of American Universities/American Council on
Education/National Association of State Universities (John C. Vaughn)
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/161.pdf
* The American Library Association/American Association of Law
Libraries/Association of Research Libraries/Medical Library
Association/Special Libraries Association:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/162.pdf
* The National Association of Independent Schools
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/032.pdf
* The National Digital Library Program and Motion Picture,
Broadcasting,and Recorded Sound Division,(David A. Francis, Chief),
Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/175.pdf
* Ray Van De Walker
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/001.pdf
* Sean Embry http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/002.pdf
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
David Green
==========================================================
>Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 17:00:48 -0500
>From: "ALAWASH E-MAIL" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: ALA Washington Office Newsline <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: [ALA-WO:491] ALA Submits Rulemaking Comments; Free Ed
Teleconference
>Sender: [log in to unmask]
ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 9, Number 16
February 24, 2000
================================================================
[1] Comments Submitted to Copyright Office on Technological
Measures Rulemaking; Thanks to Libraries for Providing Valuable
Survey Data
On February 17, the American Library Association submitted
comments in response to the Copyright Office Notice of Rulemaking.
(See "Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention
of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted
Works" at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/1201/anticirc.html.)
Our response -- submitted jointly with the Association of Research
Libraries, the Special Libraries Association, the American
Association of Law Libraries, and the Medical Library Association
-- requests the Copyright Office to establish an exemption for
libraries to the anti-circumvention measures contained in Section
1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Section 1201(a)
makes accessing copyrighted works that are protected by
technological measures (passwords, encrypted electronic files,
etc) an illegal activity, punishable by civil and criminal
penalties, unless the access is authorized through rules set out
by the Librarian of Congress.
In their comments the library organizations argued that libraries
should be given a meaningful exemption from the technological
measure restriction in order to continue to serve the needs of
millions of library patrons. An exemption would ensure that
libraries and library users can continue to exercise fair use and
other activities permitted under copyright law.
The libraries suggested in their comments that "access" to
information and "use" of information are not two distinct actions
in the digital environment as library users must "access" works in
order to "use" them. If access is denied, library patrons will be
unable to use electronic materials. Of great concern is that the
enforcement of technological measures that control access to
copyrighted works will lead to a "Pay-Per-View/Pay-Per-Use"
information world.
The full set of comments can be viewed in PDF format at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/162.pdf.
The American Library Association would like to thank the 251
libraries that responded to our recent "Technological Protection
Measures" survey [posted on ALAWON (see
http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/alwn9001.html) and distributed
to members at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference in San Antonio.] The
library responses bolstered our report with real-life situations
faced by libraries and their concerns about the future. We intend
to follow-up with individual libraries to gather more data.
We are now preparing additional comments to respond to the 180
comments that have been submitted to the Copyright Office by other
organizations and individuals. Our deadline to submit reply
comments is March 20. After this "rebuttal" phase, the Copyright
Office plans to hold two hearings in early May before finalizing
its recommendations to the Librarian of Congress. The Librarian
will then recommend what exemptions, if any, will be allowed to
the anti-circumvention rule. -- Carrie Russell, Miriam Nisbet
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SNIP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
******
ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the
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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403,
Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478
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Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam
Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology
Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie
Russell and Saundra Shirley.
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