ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 33 April 13, 2000 In this issue: COPYRIGHT - Important Anticircumvention Rulemaking Continues; Hearings Scheduled ALA, in partnership with the Association of Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Special Libraries Association, and the Medical Library Association, submitted comments to the Copyright Office rulemaking regarding section 1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. Section 1201(a) addresses the anticircumvention of technological protection measures. This section provides that `No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a (copyrighted) work.' Under this section, breaking a technological measure, such as a password or other encryption measure, is an infringement of copyright with civil and criminal penalties. During the drafting of the DMCA, Congress was concerned about the potential negative impact the anticircumvention measure would have on the public and access to information. To address these concerns, Congress asked that the Copyright Office conduct a rulemaking study. Based on its findings, the Office will determine whether or not an exemption to the anticircumvention measure contained in Section 1201(a) should be allowed. The Office's recommendation will be forwarded to and considered by the Librarian of Congress. In comments submitted to the Copyright Office in February and March 2000, the American Library Association and its sister library organizations argued that an exemption should be allowed for libraries. The Libraries' comments, along with the comments and responses of other stakeholders who support or oppose an exemption, can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office web site, http://www.loc.gov/copyright/1201/anticirc.html In summary, the Libraries have argued anticircumvention technologies (at present and in the future) will: * limit access to legally acquired copyrighted works, and will be used to control all uses of works (including fair use); * limit the applicability of the first sale doctrine (which allows libraries to lend copyrighted works); * curtail the ability of libraries to archive and provide long- term access to information resources; and * impede all other non-infringing activities that advance the public purposes of copyright law. The Copyright Office will conduct public hearings to hear testimony from all interested parties. Librarians, legal scholars, economists, computer scientists, and public interest groups, as well as representatives from the publishing, motion picture, recording and software industries, are expected to testify. Hearings will be held on May 2-4, 2000, in Washington, D.C. in Room LA-202 of the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress, 110 Second Street, S.E. A second round of hearings will be held on May 18-19, 2000, at Stanford University in Room 290, Stanford Law School, Crown Quadrangle, Stanford, California. After the hearings, the Copyright Office will accept additional comments from all interested parties before making its recommendation to the Librarian of Congress. All libraries have a stake in the final outcome of the rulemaking process. The rulemaking will determine whether fair use and other exemptions will survive in the digital environment and will affect our ability to meet the needs of library users. Without a meaningful exemption to the anticircumvention measure, libraries may be re-defined as electronic tollbooths to the information superhighway. For more information, contact Carrie Russell, Copyright Specialist or Miriam Nisbet, Legislative Counsel, at the American Library Association Washington Office, (800) 941-8474. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.