Subject: NYT article on US Digital Copyright Issues
David Green (david@ninch.org)
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 10:45:21 -0500
Message-Id: <v02130519b0ea73cc48b1@[192.100.21.23]> Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 10:45:21 -0500 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: david@ninch.org (David Green) Subject: NYT article on US Digital Copyright Issues
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
January 20, 1998
New York Times Copyright Article
DIGITAL COMMERCE / By DENISE CARUSO
"A Tough Stance on Cyberspace Copyrights"
Monday January 19, page D3
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/digicom/011998digicom.html>
In yesterday's New York Times (January 19, p. D3), Technology
correspondent Denise Caruso reported on the conflict over digital
copyright legislation that will be even more in the open once Congress
reconvenes next week.
In her column, Digital Commerce, Caruso focused on the strong language
of the Administration's proposed "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation
Act" that bans, for any reason whatsoever, all anti-circumvention
devices. These devices are manufactured to break the code of
copy-protection technology. Even if material should be freely available
for specific uses or in specific circumstances (as those allowed under
"fair use"), if it is encoded by the owner of the material using
copy-protection technology, under the Administration's bill, it would be
criminally illegal to circumvent the technology.
Caruso ends her piece by quoting a letter from 50 law professors
protesting the Administration's bill as employing overly strict
protection mechanisms. They point out that existing copyright law
strikes a balance between owners of existing copyright material and the
creators of new material. This way education, research and individual
creativty have been encouraged, "as well as the growth of copyright
industries which today dominate the international marketplace in
information products."
That letter concludes:
"We should not rush to drastically alter that tested system in ways that
might produce unsought, unforeseen and unwelcome consequences."
For the full text of that letter see
<http://www.ari.net/dfc/legislat/profltr.htm>
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