ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 14, Number 26 March 18, 2005 In This Issue: Volunteers needed urgently: help ALA stop the FCC's unlawful restrictions on librarians Many of you already know about ALA's involvement (with other library associations) in challenging the FCC's "Broadcast Flag" rule, a rule that will prevent librarians from being able to distribute or make available copies of broadcast television programs on the Internet. It will also require you to purchase new electronic equipment that your library now uses to read or manipulate digital television signals (such as DVD players, recorders, TiVos, appropriately equipped computers, etc.) if that equipment is not Flag-compliant and your library does not already own a digital TV tuner. http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb/broadcastflag/broadcastflag.htm We have filed an appeal to the federal Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, arguing that the FCC had no authority to promulgate the Broadcast Flag rule. The validity of the Broadcast Flag is now pending before that court. This week, the court issued a very important order requiring us to submit evidence proving that we have "standing" to sue the FCC. In order to provide the court with the evidence it needs--and to defeat the Broadcast Flag, which will sharply limit how libraries might be able to use broadcast materials, perhaps in ways we might not yet have even conceived--we need your help. And we need it quickly. We are looking for members of our organization who might be willing to submit an affidavit explaining how the Broadcast Flag harms them. The process will be simple, straightforward, and not very time-consuming. The lawyers representing us in the case will assist in drafting the document; you'll just have to help provide the facts of what it will say. The affidavits must be filed by March 29, which means that they must be prepared as soon as possible next week (the week of March 21). If you can answer "yes" to the following questions and would be willing to help us protect the First Amendment rights of librarians, and the rights we fought so hard to obtain in the TEACH Act, then please contact us as soon as possible: 1. Are you a current member of ALA, ARL, AALL, MLA, and/or SLA? -and- 2. Do you do any of the following? A. Archive television broadcasts for use by library patrons or other educational or research purposes? B. Use portions of television broadcasts in distance learning courses, or make broadcast portions available to teachers at your institution for this purpose? C. Make portions of television broadcasts available via your library's or your school's website for any educational, research, or commentary reasons? D. Record television broadcasts at your library for any other type of educational purpose? E. Have equipment that you use to archive, record, or manipulate copies of television broadcasts that you would replace if it no longer allowed you to archive, record, or manipulate the television broadcast in the same way you do today. Please contact either Carrie Russell, crussell@alawash.org or Miriam Nisbet, mnisbet@alawash.org in the ALA Washington Office. We look forward to hearing from you to help in this important issue! ****** 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; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.