ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 10, Number 36 May 9, 2001 In this issue: (1) Attorneys General split over support of consumer amendments to UCITA. (2) Urgent action needed! Advise your state attorney general Not to endorse the AG amendments! (1) Attorneys General split over support of consumer amendments to UCITA. Attorneys General Carla Stovall (KS) and Drew Edmondson (OK) have requested that their counterparts in all other states co-sign a letter to NCCUSL (National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Law) supporting 6 recently negotiated consumer amendments to UCITA. The letter requests that NCCUSL incorporate the changes into the national model of UCITA. Previously, in a July 23, 1999 letter, 24 attorneys general advocated tabling UCITA because of its detrimental impact on consumers. Anyone signing the pending letter to NCCUSL would agree that the 2001 amendments resolve the concerns expressed in the 1999 letter. (See to view the text of the 1999 letter.) The 6 amendments proposed by Stovall and Edmondson as modifications to the national model of UCITA, and concern the relationship between consumer protection laws and UCITA, including terms prohibiting: ? fair criticism ? electronic self-help ? choice of forum ? contract modifications ? E-sign The amendments do not address the specific concerns of libraries regarding UCITA and copyright issues. An analysis by consumer protection experts finds that the proposed changes are not comprehensive enough to warrant a change in the attorneys' general position. (See the April 9, 2001 AFFECT letter to Edmondson and Stovall for further details about the objections to these proposed changes at www.affect.ucita.com.) Edmondson and Stovall acknowledge that the 6 amendments they have negotiated with Microsoft and AOL are limited in scope, and add that they recognize that the concerns of libraries, educational institutions, and both small and large businesses have not yet been addressed. Their 2001 letter to NCCUSL does not endorse UCITA; rather, the letter endorses the amendments to UCITA and holds that these amendments resolve the concerns set out in the 1999 letter from the state Attorneys General. The deadline for co-signature of the Edmonson-Stovall letter is May 16, 2001. In addition to Stovall and Edmondson, Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General of Utah, has signed the letter. Not all Attorneys General support the proposed amendments to UCITA. In response to the amendment proposals, AGs Bill Lockyer (CA), Eliot Spitzer (NY), and Tom Miller (IA) sent a strongly worded letter to all of their AG colleagues on April 19, 2001, urging them to reject Stovall and Edmondson's recommendations. While praising the attempt to address the consumer issues, Lockyer, Spitzer and Miller recommended that the attorneys general NOT accept the currently proposed changes and continue their criticism of UCITA because the proposed changes do not sufficiently alleviate the consumer concerns. They reiterate that UCITA continues to have many fundamental problems. The letter to NCCUSL from the attorneys general is a significant development in the UCITA campaigns. It could revive flagging interest in passage of UCITA in a year when no state has passed it. It is expected that the letter will be used to substantiate the contention that consumer issues have been resolved. After reviewing these amendments, no consumer protection organization has withdrawn its criticism of UCITA. (2) Urgent action needed! Contact your state's attorney general immediately and urge them NOT to support the Edmondson-Stovall amendments to UCITA. Urge their continued opposition to UCITA as described in the Lockyer-Spitzer-Miller letter. ****** 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. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.