----------------------------Original message----------------------------
HELLO, ARLIS/NA Members --
Forwarded Action Alert message from ALAWON below updates recent
progress and action/contact needed by tomorrow.
"BREAKING NEWS:
It's working! Due largely to tremendous efforts by library
supporters across the nation, historic progress was made last
week in the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the House Commerce
Committee to assure that the fair use (and other currently lawful
use) of copyrighted information without the owner's prior
authorization will remain possible in the digital environment,
BUT THE KEY VOTE IS YET TO COME THIS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 (see
BACKGROUND below)."
THANKS for all your timely efforts and please keep up the good work
by contacting your representative now!
Katy Poole
Chair, ARLIS/NA Public Policy Committee
______________________________________________________________________
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 11:44:19 -0400
From: ALAWASH E-MAIL (ALAWASH E-MAIL) <[log in to unmask]>
To: ALA Washington Office Newsline <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ALAWON v7, n73 - ACTION ALERT: FAIR USE BILL MARKUP ON 6/24
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ALAWON Volume 7, Number 73
ISSN 1069-7799 June 22, 1998
American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
In this issue: (189 lines)
ACTION NEEDED: COMMERCE COMMITTEE LEADERS SUPPORT DIGITAL FAIR
USE; YOUR CALLS AND FAXES NEEDED BEFORE THE KEY MARKUP OF H.R.
2281 ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
_________________________________________________________________
ACTION NEEDED: COMMERCE COMMITTEE LEADERS SUPPORT DIGITAL FAIR
USE; YOUR CALLS AND FAXES NEEDED BEFORE THE KEY MARKUP OF H.R.
2281 ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
BREAKING NEWS:
It's working! Due largely to tremendous efforts by library
supporters across the nation, historic progress was made last
week in the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the House Commerce
Committee to assure that the fair use (and other currently lawful
use) of copyrighted information without the owner's prior
authorization will remain possible in the digital environment,
BUT THE KEY VOTE IS YET TO COME THIS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 (see
BACKGROUND below).
ACTION NEEDED:
Now more than ever, it's critical that library advocates are
heard on Capitol Hill in support of fair use and digital
copyright legislation that continues to balance the needs of
information owners and users. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT, EVEN IF
YOU'VE WRITTEN BEFORE, TO CALL AND FAX CONGRESS NOW (contact
numbers follow). Here's how:
1. IF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IS ON THE ATTACHED LIST OF HOUSE
COMMERCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS, please call/fax them with the message
below. NOTE: It's especially important that constituents of
Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, Jr. (R-VA), Ranking Democrat
John Dingell (D-MI), Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA)
and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) hear thanks and support from fair
use advocates before June 24!
* ASK THEM TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS of Rep. Scott Klug (R-WI)
and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) to protect fair use in
cyberspace when the full Commerce Committee meets Wednesday,
June 24 to vote on H.R. 2281.
* ASK THEM TO OPPOSE H.R. 2281 if it is not so amended.
* LET THEM KNOW THAT THE OXLEY AMENDMENT adopted in
Subcommittee DOES NOT adequately protect fair use (see
BACKGROUND below. The Oxley amendment does not address
library and educational concerns, it would merely authorize
studies on H.R. 2281's impact on fair use).
2. IF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IS NOT ON THE HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
LIST, please call/fax Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, Jr.(R-VA)
AND Ranking Democrat John Dingell (D-MI).
* ASK THEM TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS of Rep. Scott Klug (R-WI)
and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) to protect fair use in
cyberspace when the full Commerce Committee meets Wednesday,
June 24 to vote on H.R. 2281.
* THANK THEM FOR THEIR PAST SUPPORT of amending H.R. 2281 to
protect fair use.
_________________________________________________________________
HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
St-Dst Pty Representative Phone FAX
(Use 202 area code)
CA-14 D Anna G. Eshoo 225-8104 225-8890
CA-27 R James E. Rogan 225-4176 225-5828
CA-29 D Henry A. Waxman 225-3976 225-4099
CA-47 R Christopher Cox 225-5611 225-9177
CA-49 R Brian P. Bilbray 225-2040 225-2948
CO-1 D Diana DeGette 225-4431 225-5657
CO-6 R Dan Schaefer 225-7882 225-7885
FL-6 R Clifford B. Stearns 225-5744 225-3973
FL-9 R Michael Bilirakis 225-5755 225-4085
FL-20 D Peter Deutsch 225-7931 225-8456
GA-9 R Nathan Deal 225-5211 225-8272
GA-10 R Charles W. Norwood 225-4101 225-0279
ID-2 R Michael D. Crapo 225-5531 225-8216
IL-1 D Bobby L. Rush 225-4372 226-0333
IL-14 R J. Dennis Hastert 225-2976 225-0697
IL-20 R John M. Shimkus 225-5271 225-5880
IA-4 R Greg Ganske 225-4426 225-3193
KY-1 R Edward Whitfield 225-3115 225-3547
LA-3 R W. J. Tauzin 225-4031 225-0563
MD-4 D Albert R. Wynn 225-8699 225-8714
MA-7 D Edward J. Markey 225-2836
MI-1 D Bart Stupak 225-4735 225-4744
MI-6 R Frederick S. Upton 225-3761 225-4986
MI-16 D John D. Dingell, Rnk. Mem. 225-4071
MO-5 D Karen McCarthy 225-4535 225-4403
NJ-6 D Frank Pallone 225-4671 225-9665
NY-2 R Rick A. Lazio 225-3335 225-4669
NY-7 D Thomas J. Manton 225-3965 225-1909
NY-10 D Edolphus Towns 225-5936 225-1018
NY-17 D Eliot L. Engel 225-2464 225-5513
NY-27 R Bill Paxon 225-5265 225-5910
NC-5 R Richard M. Burr 225-2071 225-2995
OH-4 R Michael G. Oxley 225-2676
OH-5 R Paul E. Gillmor 225-6405 225-1985
OH-6 D Ted Strickland 225-5705 225-5907
OH-13 D Sherrod Brown 225-3401 225-2266
OH-14 D Thomas C. Sawyer 225-5231 225-5278
OK-1 R Steve Largent 225-2211 225-9187
OK-2 R Thomas Allen Coburn 225-2701 225-3038
OR-1 D Elizabeth Furse 225-0855 225-9497
PA-4 D Ron Klink 225-2565 226-2274
PA-8 R James C. Greenwood 225-4276 225-9511
TN-6 D Bart Gordon 225-4231 225-6887
TX-4 D Ralph M. Hall 225-6673 225-3332
TX-6 R Joe Barton 225-2002 225-3052
TX-29 D Gene Green 225-1688 225-9903
VA-7 R Thomas J. Bliley, Chair 225-2815 225-0011
VA-9 D Rick Boucher 225-3861 225-0442
WA-1 R Rick White 225-6311 225-3524
WI-2 R Scott L. Klug 225-2906 225-6942
WY-1 R Barbara Cubin 225-2311 225-3057
_________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND:
In a June 17 meeting of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee
to review amendments to flawed legislation to update copyright
law for cyberspace (H.R. 2281), Reps. Scott Klug (R-WI) and Rick
Boucher (D-VA) offered an amendment designed to confirm that the
limitations on copyright owners' present rights under the
Copyright Act, including fair use, also would apply to the new
and presently unlimited right to control "access" to information
proposed in H.R. 2281. [Reps. Boucher and Tom Campbell (R-CA) are
co-authors of H.R. 3048 -- the alternative digital copyright
legislation strongly endorsed by ALA and the Digital Future
Coalition.]
During discussion of the Klug/Boucher amendment, Committee
Chairman Thomas Bliley, Jr. (R-VA) and Ranking Democrat John
Dingell (D-MI) emphasized the importance of resolving this
critical debate in a manner that assured that libraries, schools,
universities and the public would not be forced to accept a
"pay-per-use" system of acquiring and using information online or
in electronic form. Rep. Dingell's remarks were particularly
emphatic and helped frame the debate constructively for fellow
members. Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) also echoed
this core library and educational concern, as he had during the
Subcommittee's hearing of June 5.
Following this discussion, Chairman Bliley urged Reps. Klug and
Boucher to withdraw their amendment on the clear understanding
that he was committed to bringing the parties together to
negotiate a solution to the debate before the full Committee met
to consider H.R. 2281 on Wednesday, June 24. The sponsors
accepted the Chairman's offer and face-to-face negotiations began
under the auspices of Reps. Bliley's and Dingell's staffs on June
19.
THE OXLEY AMENDMENT: During the Telecommunications Subcommittee's
mark-up, an amendment by Vice-Chair Michael Oxley (R-OH) was
adopted. The Oxley amendment, in part, addressed fair use
issues. However, it proposed no change in the Copyright Act to
make clear that fair use would serve as a defense to the new
crime of "circumvention" created by H.R. 2281 in the same way
that it now serves as a defense to copyright infringement.
Rather, the Oxley amendment simply required a periodic study of
the impact of the H.R. 2281 on fair use. It does not, therefore,
address library and educational concerns and is in no way an
acceptable substitute for the statutory Klug/Boucher approach.
_________________________________________________________________
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