From: Goldman, Ava (Ava_Goldman@CalPERS.CA.GOV)
Date: Fri May 06 2005 - 13:23:53 PDT
Subject: Court rules for libraries, consumers... Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 13:23:53 -0700 Message-ID: <781B30BA0EB0904F8203EC15339A3B690460E17E@hqk110.calpers.ca.gov> From: "Goldman, Ava" <Ava_Goldman@CalPERS.CA.GOV>
Cross-posted.
I am forwarding this message from ALAWON as is (with permission of
course!)
Barbara Ryken
Governement Relations Chair
NCNMLG
ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume
14, Number 50 May 6, 2005
In This Issue: Court rules for libraries, consumers in broadcast flag
case
(WASHINGTON) The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia today issued a decisive 3-0 opinion in favor of libraries and
consumers when it ruled that the FCC overstepped its jurisdiction by
mandating a "broadcast flag" copy protection in new technologies.
The decision is being hailed as a significant step towards restoring the
rights of consumers to make lawful copies of digital content. "This is a
big victory for consumers and libraries," said Emily Sheketoff,
executive director of the American Library Association (ALA) Washington
Office, representing the petitioners in the case.
"The broadcast flag seriously undermined the rights allowed nonprofit
educational institutions under the TEACH Act to distribute digital
content over the Internet for distance learning purposes. It even
imposed restrictions on how consumers are able to use digital content in
their own homes. We are happy the court has restored the rights of
libraries and consumers by ruling that the FCC does not have the right
to mandate technological copy protections," Sheketoff added.
The FCC order required that all digital electronic devices, such as
television sets and personal computers, include code that accompanies
digital television (DTV) signals to prevent redistribution of the
digital content over the Internet. The petitioners in the case believed
that the FCC ruling constituted another step toward giving content
providers too much control over what users can do with digital content.
The broadcast flag prevented the use of an entire category of works-high
definition television programs-from being used in distance education.
The petitioners in the case are the American Library Association,
Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law
Libraries, Medical Library Association, Special Libraries Association,
Public Knowledge, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and
Electronic Frontier Foundation.
******
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