Tuesday, April 1, 2003
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Library Groups Say Sweeping State Copyright Laws Could Stifle Teaching and ResearchBy ANDREA L. FOSTER
Academic-library groups are denouncing copyright-protection bills that legislatures in several states are considering. The groups say that the bills, if they became law, could erode fair-use rights even more than the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the controversial federal law that makes it illegal to bypass technologies designed to protect digital works. The state bills are based on model legislation pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America and cable operators and programmers. The legislation would amend state telecommunications and cable-security laws to prevent digital piracy. But the bills' wording is so sweeping that it could become illegal to view or copy radio, television, or Internet material without communications providers' express permission, says Jonathan Band, a Washington lawyer who represents the Association of Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the American Library Association. Under the model legislation, theft of a communications service could be defined as encompassing a broad range of activities, including "the receipt, interception, disruption, and transmission" of broadcast works, says Mr. Band. He helped the library groups draft a letter last week to Colorado and Arkansas legislators. The letters warn lawmakers that the antitheft bills could stifle encryption research, security testing, and reverse engineering, a procedure that allows users to take apart and fix defects in software. "While digital piracy is a serious problem," the letter to the Colorado Senate reads, "some of the proposed amendments will undermine the ability of libraries to provide important information services." Mr. Band says the state bills could also disrupt the ability of scholars to assemble databases from Web material. The letters were sent to Colorado and Arkansas legislators because those states are furthest along in considering the antitheft legislation, says Mr. Band. But Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are also considering the legislation, according to Edward W. Felten, a Princeton University computer scientist who has been tracking the state bills, which he calls "super-DMCA" bills. Mr. Felten is well known for his unsuccessful lawsuit against the recording industry and the U.S. Justice Department, in which he argued that the digital-copyright law is unconstitutional. That case was dismissed in November 2001 (The Chronicle, December 14, 2001). Mr. Band says bills similar to the model legislation already have been signed into law in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, and Michigan. He says it's unclear whether the federal digital-copyright law trumps related state laws, which might make them less of a worry. Vans Stevenson, the motion-picture group's senior vice president for state legislative affairs, accuses the library groups of misunderstanding state antitheft legislation. "People are seeing demons where there are none," he says, adding that the state laws are intended to thwart theft, not legitimate academic research.
Background articles from The Chronicle:
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 U.S. education secretary attacks affirmative action in a speech to Hispanic educators Kaplan announces plans to move into teacher education Professors at California college protest administrator's warning against discussing war As antiwar protest, university in India bars visits by U.S. and British officials Hong Kong universities suspend classes because of respiratory illness; Syracuse U. closes exchange program National Endowment for the Humanities awards $25.2-million in grants Spring commencement speakers are announced by 19 colleges Library groups say sweeping state copyright laws could stifle teaching and research |
Copyright © 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education