15.206 ACM in lawsuit challenge

From: by way of Willard McCarty (willard@lists.village.Virginia.EDU)
Date: Fri Aug 31 2001 - 03:31:07 EDT

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 206.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

             Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 08:28:19 +0100
             From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org>
             Subject: ACM files declaration in lawsuit challenging DMCA

    NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
    News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
    from across the Community
    August 30, 2001

                   ACM FILES DECLARATION IN LAWSUIT CHALLENGING THE DMCA
                                http://www.acm.org/felten/

            ACM SUGGESTS CHANGES TO THE FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS TREATY
                                   http://www.acm/usacm

    The Association for Computing Machinery has submitted an important
    declaration in the Felten v. RIAA lawsuit to help the court understand the
    practical effect
    of the issues at stake. The case challenges the legality of the
    anti-circumvention portions of the DMCA, arguing "that its broad
    prohibitions on disseminating information and technology restrict speech
    protected by the First Amendment."

    David Green
    ===========

    >From: Jeff Grove <jeff_grove@ACM.ORG>
    >>To: WASHINGTON-UPDATE@ACM.ORG

    FROM:

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    ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE
    Association for Computing Machinery Office of Public Policy
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    August 30, 2001 Volume 5.5
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    <<SNIP>>

    POLICY BRIEFS
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    ACM FILES DECLARATION IN LAWSUIT CHALLENGING THE DMCA

    On August 13, 2001, ACM submitted a declaration in federal court regarding
    the legal challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the
    Felten v. RIAA lawsuit. The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District
    Court for the District of New Jersey by a number of computing
    researchers. Led by Princeton University computer scientist Edward
    Felten, the plaintiffs are asking the court to rule portions of the DMCA
    unconstitutional, arguing that its broad prohibitions on disseminating
    information and technology restrict speech protected by the First Amendment.
    ACM's declaration seeks to help the court understand the practical effect
    of the issues at stake in this case. "It is imperative for the court to
    understand that the application of any law that may limit the freedom to
    publish research on computer technology will impose a cost on the academic
    community, the process of scientific discourse, and society in general,"
    stated Dr. John R. White, ACM's Executive Director. "We believe the threat
    of litigation under the DMCA will have a profound chilling effect on
    analysis, research, and publication."

    ACM is a leading publisher of scientific information and sponsors over 80
    professional computing conferences each year. In addition to harming the
    progress of research, the risk of legal liability under the DMCA also
    threatens ACM's publication and sponsorship of professional computing
    conferences that might include scientific papers assessing the strengths
    and weaknesses of computer and data security measures. Noting that ACM has
    earned a respected reputation for choosing strong scientific papers for its
    conferences and publications without regard to political or commercial
    pressure, White concluded, "ACM could adopt a policy of steering clear of
    scientific papers that could subject us to liability under the DMCA, but
    that could only be done at a risk of sacrificing our mission and damaging
    our reputation as a scientific society."
    To review a copy of ACM's declaration, see http://www.acm.org/felten/

    To review a copy of Computing Research Association's declaration, see:
    http://lazowska.cs.washington.edu/felten/

    USACM has engaged in a number of DMCA related activities which may be found
    at: http://www.acm.org/usacm/IP/#copyright

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    ACM SUGGESTS CHANGES TO THE FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS TREATY

    The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a treaty process to establish
    trade agreements between 34 countries in the Western hemisphere (including
    the U.S.). As part of the process, participants are negotiating treaty
    language that would require nation-signatories to pass copyright
    legislation in each of their national forums that mandates strict
    anti-circumvention measures similar to (or even expanding) restrictions
    imposed in the U.S. by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Prior
    to a recent meeting of the FTAA Negotiating Group on Intellectual Property
    Rights, ACM sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick
    urging that any similar provisions be removed from the final FTAA treaty
    language. ACM expressed concern that the broad restrictions on research
    contained in the proposed treaty language could unjustly harm the freedom
    of computer scientists to engage in research fundamental to the progress of
    innovation. USACM expressed similar concerns.

    To review the ACM letter, please see the USACM web site at:
    http://www.acm/usacm

    To review the proposed FTAA treaty language, please see the web site:
    http://www.ftaa-alca.org/ftaadraft/eng/draft_e.doc
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    <<SNIP>>

    The Association for Computing Machinery is an international professional
    society whose 80,000 members (60,000 in the U.S.) represent a critical mass
    of computer professionals in education, industry, and government. The USACM
    provides a means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with
    United States policy makers and the general public. The WASHINGTON UPDATE
    reports on activities which may be of interest to those in the computing
    and information policy communities and will highlight USACM's involvement
    in many of these issues.

    To subscribe to the ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE send an e-mail to
    listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE" (no quotes) in the body
    of the message. Back issues are available at:
    http://www.acm.org/usacm

    For information about joining the Association for Computing Machinery, see:
    http://www.acm.org/membership/join.html

    -- 
    

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