FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

[cyberip] NTIA Request for Comments

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Tue, 25 May 1999 13:20:03 -0400
To:            cryptography@c2.net
From:          "James H. Johnston" <jimjohn@erols.com>(by way of Arnold G.  Reinhold)
Subject:       [cyberip] NTIA Request for Comments

    The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) has an online notice and request for
comments on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/occ/dmca/dmca.htm.  We studied
parts of this law in Intellectual Property in Cyberspace.
     The notice touches on several questions addressed in the
course, including the adequacy and effectiveness of technological
measures designed to protect copyrighted works and the protection of
copyright owners against unauthorized access to their encrypted
copyrighted works.
     The purpose of the notice is to obtain comments from the
public that will then be used in preparing a report to Congress.
Subscribers to this list may, therefore, be interested in
submitting such comments.
     I am also interested in the process of soliciting public
comment via the Internet.  While NTIA should be applauded for
making this proceeding accessible via the Internet, I think the
procedures can be improved and I wonder if others feel the same
way.
     Specifically, I think it would be an improvement if links to
supporting material were embedded in the online notice.  For example,
the NTIA notice could contain links to the relevant sections of the
statute.  More boldly, NTIA might provide links to online articles
that discuss the issues, just as Professor Fisher's course includes
links to supplementary works.  And, a threaded forum seems more useful
than simply having the public email comments to NTIA.  Since NTIA will
use the comments in a report to Congress, wouldn't it be better to let
everyone see what others are saying?

Jim Johnston

[PS]
Feel free to pass the message on to whomever.  I passed my suggestions
to NTIA and it has added the statutory sections to the online notice.