Forwarded from the Electronic Frontier Foundation by Jeremy Butler. ------------------original message--------------------------------- [This is an action alert from the Digital Future Coalition, of which EFF is a member organization.] YOUR IMMEDIATE FAXES AND CALLS TO CONGRESS NEEDED TO SLOW IMMINENT ACTION ON BADLY FLAWED CYBERSPACE COPYRIGHT BILL Congressional contacts urgently needed NO LATER THAN Tuesday, May 21 Next Wednesday, May 22, the House Judiciary Committee's Intellectual Property Subcommittee is scheduled to consider amendments to, and vote on approval of HR 2441, the "National Information Infrastructure Act of 1995." Such approval, if given, would give an important boost to passage of a legislative package heavily backed by -- and tilted in favor of -- the movie, recording, and publishing industries (and other large "content providers"). [This was already supposed to have happened this week, but action on the bill has been postponed until the 22nd, and the alert's been updated accordingly. This delay is lucky - the public gets another chance to save it's fair use rights. - [log in to unmask]] If passed in its current form, the bill would: *** make it a copyright violation to simply browse the Net without a license from copyright owners; *** subject computer system operators -- such as on-line services and networks at schools and libraries -- to potentially crippling liability for the copyright violations of their users *** cripple "distance education" efforts especially vital to rural communities and the disabled; and *** make it illegal to manufacture, import or distribute devices and software (including computers and VCRs) needed by industry, schools and libraries to make "fair use" of encrypted information - overruling long-standing Supreme Court precedent. WRITE AND CALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY INTELLECTUAL SUBCOMMITTEE AND KEY FULL COMMITTEE MEMBERS NOW (list and information below)!!! Tell them that: ** These issues, and the healthy development of the Net are of critical concern to you, AND ** The May 22 meeting of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee is *too soon*. Congress should take the time needed to understand and adequately deal with *all* of the complicated issues raised by HR 2441 before it takes action. For more information about the bill, the dangers it poses and the constructive solutions offered, please see the DIGITAL FUTURE COALITION Website at http://www.ari.net/dfc. Please get your faxes and calls to the following members of Congress, especially those Members who represent you, NO LATER THAN Tuesday, May 21: (all letters go to the address + Washington, DC 20515) Member home city address phone fax Carlos Moorhead Glendale, CA 2346 RHOB 225-4176 226-1279 F. James Sensenbrenner Brookfield, WI 2332 RHOB 225-5101 225-3190 George Gekas Harrisburg, PA 2410 RHOB 225-4315 225-8440 Howard Coble Asheboro, NC 403 CHOB 225-3065 225-8611 Elton Gallegly Oxnard, CA 2441 RHOB 225-5811 225-1100 Charles Canady Lakeland, FL 1222 LHOB 225-1252 225-2279 Bob Goodlatte Roanoke, NC 123 CHOB 225-5431 225-9681 Martin Hoke Fariview Park, OH 212 CHOB 225-5871 226-0994 Sonny Bono Palm Springs, CA 512 CHOB 225-5330 225-2961 John Conyers, Jr. Detroit, MI 2426 RHOB 225-5126 225-0072 Patricia Schroeder Denver, CO 2307 RHOB 225-4431 225-5842 Howard Berman Mission Hills, CA 2231 RHOB 225-4695 225-5279 Rick Boucher Abingdon, VA 2245 RHOB 225-3861 225-0442 Jerry Nadler New York, NY 109 CHOB 225-5635 225-6923 Xavier Becerra Los Angeles, CA 1119 LHOB 225-6235 225-2202 ************************Suggested Letter****************************** [DATE] The Honorable {name} United States House of Representative __#__ ____ Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Representative__________: I am writing today to ask that you do everything in your power to assure that no action is taken by the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on the "NII Copyright Protection Act of 1995" (HR 2441) until a broad consensus can be reached on how to resolve a number of issues of critical mportance to me and, in my view, the future of the Internet. As I understand it, this bill in its current form, would seriously undermine the ability of businesses, inventors, schools and librraies to make full use of the Internet's great potential. Specifically, H.R. 2441 would : * make it a copyright violation to simply browse the Net without a license from copyright owners; * subject computer system operators -- such as on-line services and networks at schools and libraries -- to potentially crippling liability for the copyright violations of their users, even if the operator has no knowledge of such violations; * thwart "distance education" efforts especially vital to rural communities and the disabled; and * make it illegal to manufacture, import or distribute devices and software (including computers and VCRs) needed by industry, schools and libraries to make "fair use" of encrypted information by overruling long-standing Supreme Court precedent. Please don't allow the fears of major copyright owning industries to cripple the Internet for the rest of America. I urge you and other members of the House Judiciary Committee to take the time necessary to understand and thoroughly debate all of the proposed amendments to H.R. 2441, including those proposed by the Digital Future Coalition. Thank you very much for helping make the most of new technology and the Internet to bring the benefits of information technology to all Americans, and especially those in [INSERT THE NAME OF THE DISTRICT/CITY]. Sincerely, *************************Press Release*********************************** DIGITAL FUTURE COALITION ...promoting "Progress in Science and useful Arts" Contact: Ephraim Cohen Digital Future Coalition (202) 628-6048 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Digital Future Coalition Says Amendments Needed to Balance NII copyright protection act of 1995 Washington, DC, May 7, 1996 -- Calling for Congress to ensure that cyberspace copyright law remains appropriately balanced between the interests of copyright holders and users of copyrighted material, a Digital Future Coalition (DFC) spokesman today outlined a seven-point package of amendments to S.1284, the NII Copyright Protection Act of 1995. The changes were recommended during hearings on the Clinton Administration's proposal before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch(R. Utah) and Patrick Leahy(D. Vermont), S.1284 is based on recommendations made by the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights after two years of study of consumers' use of copyrighted works on the Internet. DFC Spokesman Robert L. Oakley, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Director of the Georgetown Center Law Library and Washington Affairs Representative for the American Association of Law Libraries, told the committee, " Congress now has a golden opportunity (and a responsibility) to bring all of the critical precepts at the core of copyright law into the digital future together and in balance." DFC recommended several clarifications to S.1284 to ensure that the nature and scope of the Fair Use Doctrine would be made clear in the legislation, that there would not be overbroad restrictions on the manufacture of devices and systems needed to make fair use rights real, and that commercial and non-commercial use of the NII and GII would not be "dramatically chilled by the potential for crippling legislation and liability." It also offered new provisions on the Fair Use and First Sale doctrines and recommended that Section 1201, regarding "Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems" be stricken from the bill. To "better assure that the critical balance in the copyright law is maintained," the DFC's seven-point proposal included new provisions to: * Make clear that RAM and other "ephemeral" reproductions are not "copies" within the meaning of the bill * Clarify that the Fair Use doctrine applies to the transmission of copyrighted works * Maximize libraries' ability to preserve the nation's cultural and scholarly heritage * Affirm that the "First Sale" doctrine applies to digital copies lawfully acquired by electronic transmission to the same extent that it applies to physical analog copies * Assure that the public is not deprived of advances in "distance education" for elementary, secondary and higher education * Adopt product-specific, industry developed solutions to questions of reproduction of intellectual property, and abandon the current anti-technology approach * Focus criminal prosecutions only on actions with the intent to infringe copyright, and study carefully the potential for compromising network users' privacy imposed by "copyright management information" systems Oakley said the imbalance of copyright protection included in S.1284, "not only threatens consumer interests and to inhibit or preclude the emergence of new business models in cyberspace, but also promises to retard the very 'Progress in Science and the useful Arts' that led the Framers of the Constitution to grant Congress the power to award copyrights over two centuries ago." The Digital Future Coalition has a membership from both the public and private sectors which together represents a combined membership of more than 2.2 million individuals, corporations and organizations with direct interests in the continued growth and development of the National Information Infrastructure. The members of the DFC are committed to supporting proposals which promote innovation in the information and technology industries, personal privacy in electronic communication, and public access to information resources, as well as appropriate protection for copyrighted content in the digital environment. ### ------------------------------ ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]