EFFector Vol. 11 No. 3
EFFector Vol. 11, No. 3 Mar. 29, 1998 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE
ADMINISTRATION'S DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL
1. INTRO
2. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
3. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
4. MORE ACTION TO TAKE
ADMINISTRIVIA
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities & alerts!
_________________________________________________________________
The Electronic Frontier Foundation March 27, 1998
CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
TO OPPOSE ADMINISTRATION'S DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL
Please distribute widely to appropriate forums,
no later than April 15, 1998.
SUMMARY:
* Latest News:
House "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act" (H.R. 2281)
would overregulate emerging technologies, outlaw reverse
engineering and encryption security measures, and roll back fair
use privileges.
* What You Can Do Now:
Follow the directions below and call members of House Judiciary
Committee. Ask them to oppose any bill that seeks to regulate
technology itself, rather than the behavior of misusing the
technology. Explain that a better alternative is H.R. 3048.
_________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS
On March 31, 1998, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up H.R. 2281,
the "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act." Introduced by
Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), H.R. 2281 would make the use,
manufacture or sale of any technology that can be used to circumvent
copyright protections illegal. Rather than providing protection and legal
focuses instead on the technologies used to enable the circumvention.
The Act, backed by the Clinton Administration and content industry
nterests (including the Motion Picture Association of America and the
Business Software Alliance), has the stated purpose of enacting the World
Geneva in December of 1996. However, the Act would actually go much
farther than the treaties require, disrupting the balance between owners,
creators and users of copyrighted information. The anti-circumvention
to bar consumers (including value-added innovators) from making copies of
material that is being distributed commercially to the public, effectively
Furthermore, this bill would impede encryption research that helps ensure
of new software, and effectively overrule the Supreme Court's decision in
Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984), which
A much better WIPO implementation bill, which punishes the *act* of
unlawful infringement and maintains fair use protections, is H.R. 3048,
the "Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act." H.R. 3048 would encourage
the development of new technologies and markets for copyrighted works in
they need to go after infringing conduct.
Virtually no one outside of the content community supports H.R. 2281.
Unfortunately, Congress has been feeling a lot of pressure from the
Clinton Administration and intellectual property interests to pass this
legislation. YOUR immediate action is needed to stop it from passing out
of the Judiciary Committee.
_________________________________________________________________
Free speech (i.e. fair use and encryption) supporters, *especially
asked to IMMEDIATELY contact these key Representatives and ask them to
House Judiciary Committee markup meeting this Tuesday, March 31, 1998.
We ask you to take JUST TWO MINUTES or so per call to contact the offices
of the Committee members and express your opposition to this legislation!
Urge the Representatives to refrain from burdening the development of new
technologies and ensure that fair use exemptions are protected in the
Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below.
This is a full committee, with quite a few members. If you don't have the
Rep., if in this list, commitee chairman Henry Hyde, and ranking member
John Conyers.
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX
DIST
---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)---
IL 06 R Hyde, Henry (chair) 225-4561 225-1166
WI 09 R Sensenbrenner, F.J. 225-5101 225-3190
FL 08 R McCollum, Bill 225-2176 225-0999
PA 17 R Gekas, George 225-4315 225-8440
NC 06 R Coble, Howard 225-3065 225-8611
TX 21 R Smith, Lamar 225-4236 225-8628
NM 01 R Schiff, Steven 225-6316 225-4975
CA 23 R Gallegly, Elton 225-5811 225-1100
FL 12 R Canady, Charles 225-1252 225-2279
SC 04 R Inglis, Bob 225-6030 226-1177
VA 06 R Goodlatte, Bob 225-5431 225-9681
IN 05 R Buyer, Stephen 225-5037 n/a
TN 07 R Bryant, Ed 225-2811 225-2989
OH 01 R Chabot, Steve 225-2216 225-3012
GA 07 R Barr, Bob 225-2931 225-2944
TN 01 R Jenkins, William 225-6356 225-5714
AR 03 R Hutchinson, Asa 225-4301 225-5713
IN 07 R Pease, Edward 225-5805 765-423-2808
UT 03 R Cannon, Chris 225-7751 225-5679
CA 27 R Rogan, James 225-4176 225-5828
SC 03 R Graham, Lindsey 225-5301 225-3216
MI 14 D Conyers, John 225-5126 225-0072
MA 04 D Frank, Barney 225-5931 225-0182
NY 09 D Schumer, Charles 225-6616 225-4183
CA 26 D Berman, Howard 225-4695 225-5279
VA 09 D Boucher, Rick 225-3861 225-0442
NY 08 D Nadler, Jerrold 225-5635 225-6923
VA 03 D Scott, Robert 225-8351 225-8354
NC 12 D Watt, Melvin 225-1510 225-1512
CA 16 D Lofgren, Zoe 225-3072 225-5336
TX 18 D Jackson-Lee, Sheila 225-3816 225-3317
CA 35 D Waters, Maxine 225-2201 225-7854
MA 05 D Meehan, Martin 225-3411 226-0771
MA 10 D Delahunt, William 225-3111 225-5658
FL 19 D Wexler, Robert 225-3001 225-5974
NJ 09 D Rothman, Steven 225-5061 225-5851
_________________________________________________________________
SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
For best results, try to put this in your own (short!) words, and
be emotive without being hostile.
the Rep. you are contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I
am a constituent, and I'm calling/writing because...."
behalf of Personal Technologies to ask the Representative to...."
Business interests carry a lot of weight with many legislators,
especially if they are in the legislator's home district.
Legislators also generally heed organizational voices over
ndividual ones.
PHONE "SCRIPT"
You: [ring ring]
Legislative staffer: Hello, Representative Lastname's office.
You: I'm calling to urge Representative Lastname to REJECT the
WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act, H.R. 2281. This bill
would go much further than the WIPO treaties require and make
illegal the use or manufacture of any technology that can be, but
is not intended to be, used to circumvent copyright protections.
Rather than burden emerging technologies, a far more balanced
approach would be to punish the *act* of circumvention itself. I
urge Representative Lastname to REJECT H.R. 2281 and instead support
H.R. 3048. Thank you.
Staffer: OK, thanks. [click]
You can optionally ask to speak to the legislator's technology
& intellectual property staffer. You probably won't get to, but
the message may have more weight if you succeed. The staffer who
first answers the phone probably won't be the tech/i.p. staffer.
SAMPLE FAX
Relevant Congressional fax numbers are in the contact list above.
n your own words, rather than send a copy of this sample letter.
(However, sending a copy of the sample letter is far better than
taking no action!)
Dear Rep. Lastname:
I am writing to ask you to oppose H.R. 2281, the WIPO Copyright
Treaties Implementation Act. The Act would impose a variety of
civil and criminal penalties for the use, manufacture or sale of
technologies, including multi-purpose computers, home electronic
devices and software programs, that could be used to overcome
technological safeguards on copyrighted works. This bill would
impede encryption research that helps ensure secure networks, prevent
legitimate reverse engineering in the development of new software,
and effectively overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Sony Corp.
v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984), which
permitted the home taping of television broadcasts. It also could
jeopardize education and research by allowing copyright owners to
lock up public domain materials, and by frustrating the fair use
rights of information consumers.
H.R. 2281 goes much farther than is necessary under the WIPO
treaties. Instead, a more balanced and rational bill is H.R. 3048,
the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act, a measure providing
protection and legal remedies against the *act* of circumvention
itself when that circumvention is undertaken for an unlawful purpose.
Please oppose H.R. 2281 and support H.R. 3048. Thank you.
Sincerely,
My Name Here
My Address Here
(Address is especially important if you want your letter to be taken
as a letter from an actual constituent.)
For brief tips on writing letters to Congress, see:
The most important tip is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT
_________________________________________________________________
MORE ACTION TO TAKE
After calling/faxing members of the House Judiciary Committee, please
contact your own Representatives and urge them to oppose H.R. 2281, the
WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act. Do this even after the March
House leaders and ask them to oppose any such legislation. (See contact
list below.)
You may also wish to follow up your calls and faxes with e-mail.
the EFF Congress Contact Factsheet at:
For more information about the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation
Act and why it should be opposed, see the Digital Future Coaltion web
HOUSE LEADERSHIP
ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX
DIST
---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)---
GA 6 R Gingrich, Newt 225-4501 225-4656
TX 26 R Armey, Richard 225-7772 226-8100
MO 3 D Gephardt, Richard 225-2671 225-7452
TX 22 R DeLay, Tom 225-5951 225-5241
MI 10 D Bonior, David 225-2106 226-1169
OH 8 R Boehner, John 225-6205 225-0704
CA 47 R Cox, Christopher 225-5611 225-9177
CA 3 D Fazio, Vic 225-5716 225-5141
MD 5 D Hoyer, Steny 225-4131 225-4300
_________________________________________________________________
House leaders are, respectively: Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority
Leader, Maj. Whip, Min. Whip, Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Policy
Committee Chair, Democratic Caucus Chair, Dem. Steering Cmte. Chair.
[end of alert]
_____________________________________________________________________
ADMINISTRIVIA
EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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