_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 113 ISSN 1069-7799 September 28, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (102 lines) - URGENT!!! HELP PRESERVE THE FUTURE OF FAIR USE AND DATABASE ACCESS: IT'S "NOW OR (PERHAPS) NEVERMORE" . . . _________________________________________________________________ HELP PRESERVE THE FUTURE OF FAIR USE AND DATABASE ACCESS: IT'S "NOW OR (PERHAPS) NEVERMORE" . . . Thanks to those of you who have responded to the Washington Office's latest copyright legislation alert (ALAWON vol. 7, #106, Sept. 15, 1998) by contacting Congress. It's official. The "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" (H.R. 2281) is now before a Senate/House Conference Committee that's poised to act fast. The Committee met for the first time late last Thursday and could meet for the **last** time as early as Tuesday, Sept. 29! Even if you've never contacted Congress before, now is the time to phone and fax all members of the Conference Committee listed below (especially if you are a constituent) to ask that they: (1) SUPPORT **no less protection for fair use** than that afforded by the House's version of H.R. 2281 (the Senate's version contains no fair use protection at all); AND (2) OPPOSE the inclusion of any "database protection" legislation in the final version of the bill (Title V of the House bill addresses this issue; the Senate bill is silent). It's also urgent that both of your Senators -- even though neither may be on the Conference Committee -- be asked to contact Senate conference committee leaders Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) immediately to relay the two critical messages above. For on-line sample letters, e-mail connections to your Members of Congress and more background information, please visit the Washington Office Web site at: http://congress.nw.dc.us/ala/ With your help this past week, we have made headway, especially on the "database protection" front. Senators Burns (R-MT), Conrad (D-ND), D'Amato (R-NY), Dorgan (D-ND), Lieberman (D-CT), Moynihan (D-NY), Rockefeller (D-WV), Shelby (R-AL), Snowe (R-ME), and Wyden (D-OR) all have written to Sens. Hatch and Leahy expressing concern that database legislation should not be incorporated into the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act." If you live in Alabama, Connecticut, Maine, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Oregon or West Virginia, please be sure to fax and phone your thanks to these Senators right away. They are under heavy pressure from database protection proponents to withdraw their objections to this seriously flawed legislation. Your immediate support and thanks will help them hold the line! "DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT" CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS SENATE ST PTY SENATOR PHONE FAX SC R Strom Thurmond 224-5972 224-1300 UT R Orrin G. Hatch, chairman 224-5251 224-6331 VT D Patrick J. Leahy 224-4242 HOUSE ST-DST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX CA-26 D Howard L. Berman 225-4695 225-5279 IL-6 R Henry J. Hyde, chairman 225-4561 225-1166 LA-3 R W. J. Tauzin 225-4031 225-0563 MI-14 D John Conyers 225-5126 225-0072 MI-16 D John D. Dingell 225-4071 NC-6 R Howard Coble 225-3065 225-8611 VA-6 R Bob Goodlatte 225-5431 225-9681 VA-7 R Tom Bliley 225-2815 225-0011 _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson Adam M. Eisgrau Claudette W. Tennant All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________