Volume 11, No. 02, Mar. 17, 1998
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities & alerts!
On March 18, 1998, the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property will mark up H.R. 2652, the "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act." Introduced by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), H.R. 2652 expands the rights of database collectors and authorizes enormous civil and criminal penalties (up to $250,000 and/or 5 years in prison for a first offense; $500,000 and/or 10 years in prison for subsequent convictions) against anyone who uses data collected in a database without the express consent of the person who maintains that database.
The Act, backed by major database maintainers such as Microsoft and West Publishing, is designed to create a new crime against those who extract or commercially use a "substantial part" of a collection of information gathered, organized or maintained by another person "through a substantial investment of money or other resources" so as to harm the data collector's "actual or potential" market for a product or service that incorporates that collection of information.
The main problem with the bill is that key terms are either not defined or are poorly defined, leaving huge loopholes that render literally all data vulnerable under the Act. For example, even though the bill is titled the "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act," the term "collection" is not defined. "Substantial part" is not defined. And "information" is defined as "facts, data, works of authorship, or any other intangible material capable of being collected and organized in a systematic way," an extremely broad definition that could include just about anything!
Unfortunately, while Congress has feeling a lot of pressure from the database maintainers to pass this legislation, they have not been hearing from those of us opposed to the bill. YOUR immediate action is needed to stop it from passing out of the Subcommittee.
Free speech supporters, *especially supporters from states represented on the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property*, are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact these key Representatives and ask them to "kill" the database bill, H.R. 2652, at the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property markup meeting this Wednesday, March 18, 1998 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
We ask you to take JUST TWO MINUTES or so per call to contact the offices of Rep. Coble (Chair of the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property) and the rest of the Subcommittee and express your opposition to this legislation! Urge the Representatives to refrain from giving protections to database producers who already see hefty profits and need no additional sheltering of their wares.
Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below.
ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX DIST ---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)--- NC 6 R Coble, Howard (chair) 225-3065 225-8611 CA 26 D Berman, Howard 225-4695 225-5279 VA 9 D Boucher, Rick 225-3861 225-0442 FL 12 R Canady, Charles 225-1252 225-2279 UT 3 D Cannon, Chris 225-7751 225-5629 MI 14 D Conyers, John 225-5126 225-0072 MA 10 D Delahunt, William 225-3111 226-0771 MA 4 D Frank, Barney 225-5931 225-0182 CA 23 R Gallegly, Elton 225-5811 225-1100 VA 6 R Goodlatte, Robert 225-5431 225-9681 CA 6 D Lofgren, Zoe 225-3072 225-3336 FL 8 R McCollum, William 225-2176 225-0999 IN 7 R Pease, Edward 225-5805 765-423-2808 CA 27 R Rogan, James 225-4176 225-5828 WI 9 R Sensenbrenner, F.J. 225-5101 225-3190 _______________________________________________________________
If you would like to both call, and send a fax, this extra action would certainly help.
For best results, try to put this in your own (short!) words, and be emotive without being hostile.
IF YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT (i.e., you live in the same district as the Rep. you are contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I am a constituent, and I'm calling/writing because...."
IF YOU REPRESENT A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION, say so: "I'm Jane Person from Personal Technologies Inc. of Austin. I'm calling on 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 individiual ones.
You: [ring ring]
Legislative staffer: Hello, Representative Lastname's office.
You: I'm calling to urge Representative Lastname to REJECT the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act, H.R. 2652. This bill is missing key definitions and creates new property rights in databases and the raw information contained in them. These new rights threaten the free flow of information, freedom of speech and press, and fair use rights. The database industry has not proven any need for this legislation. The bill is not responsive to WIPO treaty language, provides for excessive and injust penalties, and does not provide clear guidance on how fair use would be protected. There is no need for this legislation, and I urge Representative Lastname to REJECT H.R. 2652. Thank you.
Staffer: OK, thanks. [click]
It's that easy.
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.
Relevant Congressional fax numbers are in the contact list above. Please, if you have the time, write your own 1-3 paragraph letter in 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'm writing to urge you to reject additional intellectual property protections for database maintainers as contained in H.R. 2652, the "Collections of Information Antipiracy Act." This bill, while being touted as as a piece of antipiracy legislation, actually makes most uses of pure information contained in a database illegal without prior permission from the database maintainer. The Act does not create useful exceptions for the fair use of information, and key definitions of crucial terms, such as "collection" and "substantial part" are missing. Furthermore the penalties called for - up to $500,000 and 10 years in prison - are excessive and injust.
The database industry is booming and is quite lucrative for companies collecting and disseminating information. At present, the law requires database collectors to add some originality to the information collected before the collectors receive a legally recognized property right in the database. H.R. 2652 would change this, giving collectors property rights in raw information that has traditionally been in the public domain. This assault on the public's fair use rights and the free flow of information will have dire consequences for free speech and press, and scientific and legal research. Additionally, the bill is simply not responsive in any way to the requirements of recent WIPO treaties. WIPO rejected such a "database giveaway".
The database industry has not demonstrated a clear need for this legislation, and the public interest is harmed by giving these companies additional rights to control plain facts and information.
H.R. 2652 represents an attempt by some information collection owners to fortify their markets through manipulating the legal system (instead of through fair competition and the addition of value) by raising fears of electronic piracy of information over the Internet and through new information technologies. Congress should wait until specific and definable market failures become apparent before acting to correct them in as broad and vague a way as that attempted in H.R. 2652.
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:
http://www.vote-smart.org/contact/contact.html
The most important tip is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT help.
After calling/faxing members of the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, please contact your own Representatives and urge them to oppose H.R. 2652, the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act. Do this even after the March 18 deadline for the main action. If you have time, please also contact 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.
If you are unsure who your legislators are or how to contact
them, see the EFF Congress Contact Factsheet at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
For more information about the Collection of Information Antipiracy
Act and why it should be opposed, see the Digital Future Coaltion web
page at:
http://www.dfc.org/
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]
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