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[FYI] (Fwd) FC: New copyright laws regulate Web content



Man darf die _langfristige_ Bedeutung der hintier dieser Meldung 
stehenden Problematik nicht unterschaetzen. Die Diskussion der 
anstehenden Aenderung des UrhG im Hinblick auf die WIPO-Copyright- 
Vertraege vom Dezember 1996 findet noch viel zu wenig in der 
Oeffentlichkeit statt.

Axel H. Horns

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Fri, 30 Oct 1998 15:26:34 -0800 (PST)
From:          Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To:            politech@vorlon.mit.edu
Subject:       FC: New copyright laws regulate Web content
Reply-to:      declan@well.com

[Establishing intellectual property boundaries for the Net is
something best left to courts, not special-interest lobbyists cutting
these sorts of sleazy, anti-consumer backroom deals. But neither the
left nor the right is saying this, or will admit to it. --Declan]



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 16:12:20 -0500
From: Adam Powell <apowell@freedomforum.org>
To: declan@well.com
Subject: yikes: new copyright laws regulate Web content

Declan-
Interesting how so many provisions are trickling out *after* it has
become law... Cheers Adam

http://www.freedomforum.org/technology/1998/10/30webcasts.asp

New U.S. copyright laws ban Webcasts of many TV, radio programs 

By Adam Clayton Powell III
World Center 

10.30.98

The two-day-old U.S. copyright law, originally presented as an 
anti-piracy measure, is imposing unanticipated new restrictions
on journalists, broadcasters and librarians. President Clinton signed 
the new Copyright Act into law Wednesday. It was the culmination of 
months of hard lobbying by the major Hollywood studios to increase 
charges for use of copyrighted material online. But the true price of 
the new law, both in new mandatory financial payments and in
restrictions on the free flow of news and information, is only now
becoming clear.

The burgeoning use of audio and video over the Internet will be hit 
hard by new mandatory fees far higher than those paid by cable or
over-the-air broadcasters. Some content now routine on all-news radio 
stations and such television services as CNN and MSNBC could now be 
illegal on the Internet.

Currently, television and radio stations voluntarily license music 
for a small fee from ASCAP or BMI, organizations that represent 
musicians and composers. But the new law hits anyone transmitting 
audio or video over the Internet by providing for a mandatory tax on 
all gross revenues. The tax rate has not yet been set, but figures of 
from 5% to 7% are being discussed -- and the recording industry, 
which would administer the new fund, wants the rate set even higher.
Hidden among the provisions of the law are content controls that were 
little reported or discussed before Congress approved this bill.

For example, the recording industry can now restrict the choice of 
music anyone can play over the Internet, by setting ceilings on
the number of times certain songs can be played. No such controls now
exist on broadcast or cable television or radio.

This could have a clear impact on journalists. When a musician is in 
the news _ the death of Frank Sinatra and Elton John's tribute to
Princess Diana are examples _ CNN, MSNBC and other news operations
schedule frequent broadcasts of their music. The Web sites of major
newspapers and magazines may also feature clips of the artists' 
music. But according to some analysts, the new law will prohibit 
those newscasts _ including Internet simulcasts of legal broadcast 
and cable television and radio programs.

The new law is having a chilling effect on the free flow of printed 
information: Educational Web sites can now be prosecuted for 
distributing information online that has until now been freely 
available at public libraries and on library Web sites.

One Web site devoted to classic literature, Eldritch Press, notified 
readers on its home page that the new law would force it to close
next month.

"This site will be shut November 11, 1998, as a direct result of the 
chilling effect of the series of laws regarding copyright and the
Internet passed by the U.S. Congress," read the notice. "We no longer 
see a future for us as individuals to construct a free public library 
for the world on the Internet."

The American Library Association months ago predicted that the new 
law would threaten the American tradition of free flow of 
information, and librarians now face new expanded federal 
regulations.

"What we are worried about here is that we have for the first time a 
prohibition on simply accessing information," Adam Eisgrau of the
American Library Association told The New York Times. "In the past,
the law has punished you on how you used that information."

One Web site operator vowed to defy the spirit of the law while 
observing its letter.

"I'm going to post 72 books today, just to say, 'Take that!' " said 
Michael Hart, a visiting scientist at Carnegie Mellon University and
director of Project Gutenberg free book site, in an interview with 
The New York Times.

Hart's site features 1,700 books, all in the public domain and posted 
by volunteers, and he said he was worried about the future 
availability even of old texts. According to Hart, books that 
"squeaked by" just before the new law took effect include Ulysses, by 
James Joyce, and Samuel Butler's translation of Homer's The Odyssey.

And a group of leading U.S. computer scientists and researchers sent 
a letter to the White House warning the new law "has the potential
to imperil computer systems and networks throughout the United 
States, criminalize many current university courses and research in 
information security, and severely disrupt a growing American 
industry in information security technology."

The Clinton administration maintained that the more-onerous 
provisions of the bill were changed before it was passed by Congress.
And in Hollywood, major movie studios uncorked the champagne to 
celebrate the new law, the result of months of high pressure by movie 
makers and record companies, most now owned by those same studios.

"This gives us enough confidence that our ability to use the digital 
domain to encrypt, encode and scramble our works can truly protect
our properties," Time Warner Senior Vice President Tim Boggs, the
company's chief lobbyist, told the Los Angeles Times in a story 
headlined "Company Town: Congress Puts Power Behind Hollywood's 
Goals."

Boggs was echoing the original stated purpose of the law, which was 
to protect Hollywood movies and U.S. music from being pirated by
China and other countries, where perfect digital copies of CDs and
movies are sold without any royalties being paid to the producers.

But opponents termed the new law too broad, representing a reversal 
of the centuries-old tradition of copyright dating back to the
writing of the Constitution. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 
enumerated the powers of Congress, including copyright.

"The Congress shall have power to ... promote the progress of science 
and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and 
inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
discoveries."

Eisgrau noted the purpose of this provision was primarily the 
advancement of science and the arts.

"The whole premise of copyright law is not and was not intended to 
provide a revenue stream. It was intended to provide a sufficient
incentive to have information created. Information was intended to be
a public good, not a private commodity," Eisgrau told the Times.

Related

New York Times: Free Book Sites Hurt by
Copyright Law CNET: Copyright law will cost Net
radio


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