NIIAC Response to Green Paper -- librarians and net folks BEWARE!

["CATHRYN M. MERCIER" <CMERCIER@VMSVAX.SIMMONS.EDU>]

From:   IN%"BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu"  "W. Curtiss Priest" 11-FEB-1995 08:57:01.95
To:     IN%"CMercier@VMSVAX.SIMMONS.EDU"  "Cathie"
CC:
Subj:   NIIAC Response to Green Paper Just Out--Librarians and Net Folks, Beware
 !

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Date: Sat, 11 Feb 1995 02:28:48 -0800
Resent-from: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: "David H. Rothman" <rothman@clark.net>
Subject: NIIAC Response to Green Paper Just Out--Librarians and Net Folks,
 Beware!
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Of interest to all librarians -- please distribute!

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The NII Advisory Council, in a new report, is going along with the Green
Paper on most matters. Librarians and Net folks, beware! Given the
industry-stacked composition of the NIIAC, should we really be
surprised? The NIIAC "agrees that transmissions and other communications
of copyrighted works over the NII should fall within the scope of the
copyright owner's exclusive rights. As one member put it, it is
important for the copyright owner to enjoy a 'seamless web of
protection.'"

There is some dissent ("...a few members expressed the view that the
Green Paper's proposals tip the balance of interests between proprietors
and the public interest so as to disfavor the latter"), but to this
layman, it looks as if the Green Paper is essentially getting a green
light from the NIIAC as a whole.

I'm amazed I haven't seen reaction on the Net. Could I have missed
it? Or have we reached the point where so many have given up on the NIIAC
as an independent voice? But for the record, the NIIAC response to the
GP is still worth noting. Check out:

http://ntiaunix1.ntia.doc.gov:70/0/advcouncil/niiac_greenpaper_resp.txt

Let me add that as a writer of nonfiction, I'm pretty grouchy. The Green
Paper would make it harder to research my books and is outside the spirit
of copyright law, which, as I understand it, is supposed to *promote*
the spread of knowledge. In the end I don't even think the GP's proposals
would protect my property rights adequately since its restrictions would
be so cumbersome to enforce and would actually diminish respect for
copyright law. The best approach, at least in regard to e-text,
remains a cost-justified national library with fair compensation for
publishers and writers--and with ways for copyrighted material to show up on
the servers of local libraries for mass distribution. The Green Paper's
tack appears to be the opposite. Bruce Lehman--the main perp, a former
lobbyist for the copyright interests--lacks either the integrity or the
imagination to preserve the spirit of copyright law in this era of
networks. We aren't just talking Second Wave mentality here, folks. We're
talking Minus Third.

     --David Rothman
       rothman@clark.net

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