EFFector Vol. 11 No. 3 EFFector Vol. 11, No. 3 Mar. 29, 1998 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, MARCH 31 DEADLINE: CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE ADMINISTRATION'S DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL 1. INTRO 2. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE 3. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX 4. MORE ACTION TO TAKE ADMINISTRIVIA See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities & alerts! _________________________________________________________________ The Electronic Frontier Foundation March 27, 1998 IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, MARCH 31 DEADLINE: CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE ADMINISTRATION'S DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL Please distribute widely to appropriate forums, no later than April 15, 1998. SUMMARY: * Latest News: House "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act" (H.R. 2281) would overregulate emerging technologies, outlaw reverse engineering and encryption security measures, and roll back fair use privileges. * What You Can Do Now: Follow the directions below and call members of House Judiciary Committee. Ask them to oppose any bill that seeks to regulate technology itself, rather than the behavior of misusing the technology. Explain that a better alternative is H.R. 3048. _________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS On March 31, 1998, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up H.R. 2281, the "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act." Introduced by Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), H.R. 2281 would make the use, manufacture or sale of any technology that can be used to circumvent copyright protections illegal. Rather than providing protection and legal remedies against the act of unlawful circumvention itself, H.R. 2881 focuses instead on the technologies used to enable the circumvention. The Act, backed by the Clinton Administration and content industry interests (including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Business Software Alliance), has the stated purpose of enacting the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaties passed in Geneva in December of 1996. However, the Act would actually go much farther than the treaties require, disrupting the balance between owners, creators and users of copyrighted information. The anti-circumvention provisions of H.R. 2281 would give content owners the unprecedented power to bar consumers (including value-added innovators) from making copies of material that is being distributed commercially to the public, effectively gutting the fair use doctrine of copyright law. Furthermore, this bill would impede encryption research that helps ensure secure networks, prevent legitimate reverse engineering in the development of new software, and effectively overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984), which permitted the home taping of television broadcasts. A much better WIPO implementation bill, which punishes the *act* of unlawful infringement and maintains fair use protections, is H.R. 3048, the "Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act." H.R. 3048 would encourage the development of new technologies and markets for copyrighted works in digital form, while giving intellectual property holders the strong tools they need to go after infringing conduct. Virtually no one outside of the content community supports H.R. 2281. Unfortunately, Congress has been feeling a lot of pressure from the Clinton Administration and intellectual property interests to pass this legislation. YOUR immediate action is needed to stop it from passing out of the Judiciary Committee. _________________________________________________________________ IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE Free speech (i.e. fair use and encryption) supporters, *especially supporters from states represented on the House Judiciary Committee*, are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact these key Representatives and ask them to withhold support from the Administration's WIPO implementation bill, H.R. 2281, and instead support the more balanced approach of H.R. 3048, at the House Judiciary Committee markup meeting this Tuesday, March 31, 1998. We ask you to take JUST TWO MINUTES or so per call to contact the offices of the Committee members and express your opposition to this legislation! Urge the Representatives to refrain from burdening the development of new technologies and ensure that fair use exemptions are protected in the digital world. Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below. This is a full committee, with quite a few members. If you don't have the resources to call or fax them all, please at minimum contact your own Rep., if in this list, commitee chairman Henry Hyde, and ranking member John Conyers. HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX DIST ---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)--- IL 06 R Hyde, Henry (chair) 225-4561 225-1166 WI 09 R Sensenbrenner, F.J. 225-5101 225-3190 FL 08 R McCollum, Bill 225-2176 225-0999 PA 17 R Gekas, George 225-4315 225-8440 NC 06 R Coble, Howard 225-3065 225-8611 TX 21 R Smith, Lamar 225-4236 225-8628 NM 01 R Schiff, Steven 225-6316 225-4975 CA 23 R Gallegly, Elton 225-5811 225-1100 FL 12 R Canady, Charles 225-1252 225-2279 SC 04 R Inglis, Bob 225-6030 226-1177 VA 06 R Goodlatte, Bob 225-5431 225-9681 IN 05 R Buyer, Stephen 225-5037 n/a TN 07 R Bryant, Ed 225-2811 225-2989 OH 01 R Chabot, Steve 225-2216 225-3012 GA 07 R Barr, Bob 225-2931 225-2944 TN 01 R Jenkins, William 225-6356 225-5714 AR 03 R Hutchinson, Asa 225-4301 225-5713 IN 07 R Pease, Edward 225-5805 765-423-2808 UT 03 R Cannon, Chris 225-7751 225-5679 CA 27 R Rogan, James 225-4176 225-5828 SC 03 R Graham, Lindsey 225-5301 225-3216 MI 14 D Conyers, John 225-5126 225-0072 MA 04 D Frank, Barney 225-5931 225-0182 NY 09 D Schumer, Charles 225-6616 225-4183 CA 26 D Berman, Howard 225-4695 225-5279 VA 09 D Boucher, Rick 225-3861 225-0442 NY 08 D Nadler, Jerrold 225-5635 225-6923 VA 03 D Scott, Robert 225-8351 225-8354 NC 12 D Watt, Melvin 225-1510 225-1512 CA 16 D Lofgren, Zoe 225-3072 225-5336 TX 18 D Jackson-Lee, Sheila 225-3816 225-3317 CA 35 D Waters, Maxine 225-2201 225-7854 MA 05 D Meehan, Martin 225-3411 226-0771 MA 10 D Delahunt, William 225-3111 225-5658 FL 19 D Wexler, Robert 225-3001 225-5974 NJ 09 D Rothman, Steven 225-5061 225-5851 _________________________________________________________________ SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX If you would like to both call and send a fax, this extra action would certainly help. For best results, try to put this in your own (short!) words, and be emotive without being hostile. IF YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT (i.e., you live in the same district as the Rep. you are contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I am a constituent, and I'm calling/writing because...." IF YOU REPRESENT A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION, say so: "I'm Jane Person from Personal Technologies Inc. of Austin. I'm calling on behalf of Personal Technologies to ask the Representative to...." Business interests carry a lot of weight with many legislators, especially if they are in the legislator's home district. Legislators also generally heed organizational voices over individual ones. PHONE "SCRIPT" You: [ring ring] Legislative staffer: Hello, Representative Lastname's office. You: I'm calling to urge Representative Lastname to REJECT the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act, H.R. 2281. This bill would go much further than the WIPO treaties require and make illegal the use or manufacture of any technology that can be, but is not intended to be, used to circumvent copyright protections. Rather than burden emerging technologies, a far more balanced approach would be to punish the *act* of circumvention itself. I urge Representative Lastname to REJECT H.R. 2281 and instead support H.R. 3048. Thank you. Staffer: OK, thanks. [click] It's that easy. You can optionally ask to speak to the legislator's technology & intellectual property staffer. You probably won't get to, but the message may have more weight if you succeed. The staffer who first answers the phone probably won't be the tech/i.p. staffer. SAMPLE FAX Relevant Congressional fax numbers are in the contact list above. Please, if you have the time, write your own 1-3 paragraph letter in your own words, rather than send a copy of this sample letter. (However, sending a copy of the sample letter is far better than taking no action!) Dear Rep. Lastname: I am writing to ask you to oppose H.R. 2281, the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act. The Act would impose a variety of civil and criminal penalties for the use, manufacture or sale of technologies, including multi-purpose computers, home electronic devices and software programs, that could be used to overcome technological safeguards on copyrighted works. This bill would impede encryption research that helps ensure secure networks, prevent legitimate reverse engineering in the development of new software, and effectively overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984), which permitted the home taping of television broadcasts. It also could jeopardize education and research by allowing copyright owners to lock up public domain materials, and by frustrating the fair use rights of information consumers. H.R. 2281 goes much farther than is necessary under the WIPO treaties. Instead, a more balanced and rational bill is H.R. 3048, the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act, a measure providing protection and legal remedies against the *act* of circumvention itself when that circumvention is undertaken for an unlawful purpose. Please oppose H.R. 2281 and support H.R. 3048. Thank you. Sincerely, My Name Here My Address Here (Address is especially important if you want your letter to be taken as a letter from an actual constituent.) For brief tips on writing letters to Congress, see: http://www.vote-smart.org/contact/contact.html The most important tip is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT help. _________________________________________________________________ MORE ACTION TO TAKE After calling/faxing members of the House Judiciary Committee, please contact your own Representatives and urge them to oppose H.R. 2281, the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act. Do this even after the March 31 deadline for the main action. If you have time, please also contact House leaders and ask them to oppose any such legislation. (See contact list below.) You may also wish to follow up your calls and faxes with e-mail. If you are unsure who your legislators are or how to contact them, see the EFF Congress Contact Factsheet at: http://www.eff.org/congress.html For more information about the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act and why it should be opposed, see the Digital Future Coaltion web page at: http://www.dfc.org/ HOUSE LEADERSHIP ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX DIST ---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)--- GA 6 R Gingrich, Newt 225-4501 225-4656 TX 26 R Armey, Richard 225-7772 226-8100 MO 3 D Gephardt, Richard 225-2671 225-7452 TX 22 R DeLay, Tom 225-5951 225-5241 MI 10 D Bonior, David 225-2106 226-1169 OH 8 R Boehner, John 225-6205 225-0704 CA 47 R Cox, Christopher 225-5611 225-9177 CA 3 D Fazio, Vic 225-5716 225-5141 MD 5 D Hoyer, Steny 225-4131 225-4300 _________________________________________________________________ House leaders are, respectively: Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Maj. Whip, Min. Whip, Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Policy Committee Chair, Democratic Caucus Chair, Dem. Steering Cmte. Chair. [end of alert] _____________________________________________________________________ ADMINISTRIVIA EFFector is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725 San Francisco CA 94103 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Program Director/Webmaster (mech@eff.org) Membership & donations: membership@eff.org Legal services: ssteele@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individually at will. 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