BOARD DOCUMENT
To: Marjorie Hlava
From: Pat Wilson
RE: Public Policy Committee Activities
Date: October 15, 2002
The Public Policy Committee has seen a lot of activity in the past several months. In addition to the current discussion regarding the size of the Public Policy Committee (make up and number of members), the Committee has reviewed and produced the Public Policy Platform for 2003. The Committee continues to serve as a sounding board for issues that are of interest to SLA members. Some of these forthcoming and past activities include:
PATRIOT Act
Teleconference.
Scheduled for Wednesday, December 11, 2002 in cooperation
with SLA, ALA, AALL, MLA & ARL. The event will focus on the security and
privacy issues faced by libraries as a result of the PATRIOT Act, Homeland
Security, and related initiatives (such as the Attorney General's Guidelines,
cyber security, FOIA, etc.). It will
address not only terrorism, but also hacking and copyright issues, and will
also address technology (library systems) as it is related to this issue.
PubSCIENCE
SLA, ALA, ARL, MLA, AALL have provided comments regarding the Department of
Energy’s (DOE) proposal to discontinue its PubSCIENCE data base resource. These comments focus on the usefulness of PubSCIENCE to the library community as a
whole.
SLA Continues to Participate with AFFECT to Oppose UCITA
Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions (AFFECT) is chief among the
many critics of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). SLA
is a member of AFFECT, and continues to actively pursue UCITA’s defeat. It is anticipated that in 2003 UCITA will be
introduced in multiple states, so SLA will spend a greater deal of time on this
issue. SLA Statement Regarding UCITA:
http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/infobank/UCITA.cfm
Eldred v. Ashcroft /Copyright
Term Extension Act
In late May library associations, including SLA, and others filed an amicus
brief in U.S. Supreme Court challenging constitutionality of Copyright Term
Extension Act.
Briefs were filed on May 20 in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case challenging the
constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The appeal in
Eldred v. Ashcroft asks the Court to overturn a decision by the federal appeals
court for the D. C. Circuit, which in February 2001 rejected the argument that
the Copyright Term Extension Act is unconstitutional. The Act, passed by
Congress in 1998, extends the copyright term for an additional 20 years, so
that a commercially-produced work is now governed by the provisions of
copyright law for 95 years; for an individual's work the term is "life of
the author" plus 70 years. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments
from the parties this fall.
In support of the challenger's case, the five major national library
associations and ten other groups have submitted an amici curiae (friend of the
court) brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that the extended term of
protection for copyrighted works is unconstitutional. In addition to showing
how the law exceeds the "limited times" of protection authorized by
the Constitution's Copyright Clause, the brief highlights the substantial harms
that flow from keeping works under copyright protection almost perpetually,
thereby stifling the public domain. A
pdf version of the brief may be viewed at: www.sla.org/pdfs/eldredvashcroftbr.pdf.
Sought Nominations for Depository Library Council
Solicited SLA members and submitted three nominations for positions available on the U.S. Depository Library Council. The Council consists of 15 representatives of the U.S. Government information community, each serving a term of 3 years. SLA member Doris Helfer, California State University-Northridge, has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the Council.
http://www.gpo.gov/public-affairs/news/02news08.html
In Addition, SLA’s
Public Policy Update has reported on:
--Homeland Security
--E-Government Act of 2002: With everything that has been going on surrounding
Homeland Security, not as much attention has been given to laws dealing with
information and technology management. One of these bills, S. 803, the
E-Government Act of 2002, introduced last year and reported by the Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee this spring. The"EGA" is relevant to
the federal information technology community in terms of setting policy,
creating oversight mechanisms, requiring action by agencies, and establishing
reporting requirements to Congress and provide funding.
--Copyright Bill may Severely Limit Rights: Legislators are readying a bill
that could severely affect rights relating to the copying music, TV programs,
and transferring files through the Internet. Two key House legislators (Reps.
Howard Coble of North Carolina and Howard Berman of California) wrote the double-edged
proposal in consultation with the Library of Congress' Copyright Office. This
two-part draft comes at a time when many are struggling with the complex issues
of high-speed Net access, digital content, and the popularity of file-swapping
networks. Recording labels have indicated that they might broaden their scope
to encompass lawsuits against individuals.
--Inadvertent Disclosures of Classified Information :The Department of
Energy has published its quarterly report to Congress on classified nuclear
weapons information that has been inadvertently disclosed through
declassification of historical records.
Out of approximately 2 million pages of publicly available declassified records
that were examined between November 2001 and February 2002, DOE reviewers found
239 pages of classified information. The report is located at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/inadvertent6.html
--$10 Million
Librarian Education Initiative: Created talking points, letter format,
and contact information, encouraging SLA GR Chairs and members to support The
White House’s proposal to spend $10 million during the 2003 fiscal year to
"recruit a new generation of librarians." http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/10MillionBushProposal.cfm
--Posted and
distributed “Your Role as an SLA GR Chair”:
materials to SLA GR Chairs, explaining how Chairs serve three
vital functions in SLA's Public Policy Department. First, the Public Policy
staff depends on the chairs to call attention to issues of concern in their
geographic region or area of interest. Second, they assist in grassroots
efforts when necessary. Third, they provide input on national and global
issues.
--Governments Contemplate Digital Rights Management
Procedures: The European Union (EU) continues discussing digital rights management
(DRM). In preparation for making a decision on how to best implement DRM the
staff of the Commission of the European Communities developed a paper to advise
members on relevant issues.
--Sen. Hollings Advances DRM Discussion in the U.S. : The EU is not alone in
the DRM debate. The Senate Commerce Committee is considering legislation, S.
2048 the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act of 2002, which
deals with this issue. SLA, in
conjunction with the American Library Association, the American Association of
Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Medical Library
Association, has issued a statement regarding DRM systems. The group is
concerned that not only will such systems prevent legitimate use, as mentioned
earlier, they will also over reach the rights extended through copyright laws.
--FTC and DoJ Modify Rules for Reviewing Mergers: The Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have announced that they are changing
the way antitrust reviews are conducted. Under the new rules the DoJ will
investigate all entertainment related mergers, including the Internet,
telecommunications and software. These used to fall under the FTC's
jurisdiction.
--Cybersecurity: Congress is wasting no time debating the plethora of anti-terrorism legislation leftover from last session. The issue of cybersecurity is currently front-and-center. Action is currently pending on H.R.-3485 (Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2001) and the government's research and development budget for FY 2003. Several subcommittees are holding initial meetings and hearings on these bills.
--Congressional Web Sites Called Unsatisfactory: The Congress Online Project recently completed its study of congressional Web sites. The group's report concludes that the vast majority of Hill Web sites score a grade of "C" or below. These findings are based on visits to all 605 House and Senate personal offices, committees, and leadership offices.
--Communicating with Congress Post September 11/Anthrax: At this point you have
three options for getting your message to your elected officials. The first,
and most efficient, way is to send an e-mail. The second way is to send a fax
to the representative or senator's Washington, DC office. Again, most of these
numbers are published. The third way is to send a physical letter to one the
representative or senator's local offices.
--DMCA Called Unconstitutional: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking a federal district court to find the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) unconstitutional. EFF filed an amicus brief in conjunction with U.S. v Elcomsoft. The case involves a Russian company that is facing criminal charges for creating software that reformats Adobe eBooks as PDF files. The government ended criminal proceeding against Dmitry Sklyarov, an Elcomsoft employee, in December 2001. However, the government feels that the company should still be held liable.
--Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley: The most significant test, to date, of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) might be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorneys for Eric C. Corley have petitioned the Court to hear their last appeal after the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling. In August 2000, the lower court prohibited Corley from providing access to DeCSS, a computer program that allows users to circumvent encryption controls on DVDs.
--Executive Order
13233 and Its Affect On Accessing Presidential Papers: Executive Order
13233-Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act. The Presidential
Records Act of 1978 (PRA) was part of the post Watergate desire for less
government secrecy. (Sent letter to Representative Stephen Horn Chairman,
Subcommittee on Government Efficiency House Committee on Government Reform)
“…On behalf of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), I am writing to outline
our apprehension regarding Executive Order 13233. …Unfortunately, policies such
as those established in this executive order prevent our members from
effectively doing their jobs. In short, these policies prevent access to vital
information.”
--Tauzin-Dingell This legislation, introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (LA) and ranking member John Dingell (MI), paves the way for high-speed Internet deregulation. Opponents feel that it will recreate a Bell monopoly. Supporters say passage is necessary in order to move forward with IT development.
--Cable Internet: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is exploring the
possibility easing regulation on cable Internet. This is being done in an
effort to achieve regulatory parity between companies that provide cable
Internet and other Internet service providers.