Monday, October 15, 2001

Government Will Seek Dismissal of Professor's Challenge to Digital-Copyright Act By ANDREA L. FOSTER Washington The Department of Justice has prepared a brief that asks a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Edward W. Felten, a Princeton University computer scientist. Mr. Felten's lawsuit seeks to have the Digital Millennium Copyright Act declared unconstitutional, and also asks that he and his team of cryptography researchers be declared immune from prosecution under the act. The government's brief is expected to be filed shortly in federal district court in Trenton, N.J. It says the lawsuit should be dismissed because Mr. Felten and his research team have neither been prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The 1998 law's anti-circumvention provision makes it a crime for someone to distribute decryption technology that can circumvent access controls on copyrighted works. "Their request is all the more extraordinary in light of the fact that the statute in question has never been applied to them; they have not foregone any conduct as a result of it; and ... the conduct falls outside its purview," the Justice Department brief stated. Mr. Felten and his team of cryptographers filed the lawsuit against the Justice Department and several recording-industry groups in June. One of the industry groups, the Secure Digital Music Initiative, had threatened in April to sue Mr. Felten if he discussed weaknesses in a technology, known as a digital watermark, that limits access to digital music. The group cited the anti-circumvention provision of the digital-copyright law. The group later said that Mr. Felten could present his findings without fear of reprisal, and he did so at an August conference of computer scientists. (See an article from The Chronicle, August 16.) Richard G. Phillips Jr., a trial lawyer in the civil division of the Justice Department, signed the government's brief, which is dated September 25. The department is representing the U.S. attorney general, John Ashcroft, a defendant in the lawsuit. A copy of the brief can be downloaded from the Web site of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing Mr. Felten. The foundation promotes civil liberties in the electronic environment. Aside from Mr. Ashcroft and the Secure Digital Music Initiative, Mr. Felten's suit named as defendants the Recording Industry Association of America and Verance Corporation, the company that designed the watermark. Mr. Felten declined Friday to comment on the government's brief. Robin Gross, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, described the government's brief as "frustrating." She said the Justice Department is attempting to skirt the "substantive issues" of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. has scheduled oral arguments in the case for next month. Background articles from The Chronicle: Princeton Cryptographer's Challenge to Music Industry Draws Computer Scientists' Support (8/16/2001) Princeton Computer Scientist Sues for Right to Speak at a Conference (6/7/2001) Recording Industry Denies Threatening to Sue Encryption Researcher From Princeton U. (4/27/2001) Pressured by Music Industry, a Researcher Is Expected to Scrub Encryption Speech (4/26/2001) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Senators say they expect foreign students, colleges to help pay for new monitoring system U.S. House approves antiterror legislation with added protections for student privacy New York State seeks to make good on shortfall for National Guard scholarships New Harvard president outlines goals, including major campus expansion University of Arizona to close experimental liberal-arts college George Soros gives $250-million to Central European U. Strike shuts down 50 universities in Brazil A university replaces many PC's with "information appliances" Government will seek dismissal of professor's challenge to digital-copyright act  For sale: A distance-education platform developed in China