| Court of Appeal Affirms in
Livermore Case |
| 3/6. The California
Court of Appeal issued its opinion
in Kathleen
R. v. Livermore, a case brought by the mother
of a child who used Internet access computers at the Livermore Public
Library; she seeks to compel the library to install
filtering software on children's computers at the library. The
Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's dismissal
of the case. The plaintiff's original
complaint against the City of Livermore asserts three
novel legal theories under California state law: (1) the use
of public funds to pay for children's access to pormography
constitutes a "waste of public funds" under § 526
of the Calif. Code of Civil Proc., (2) the library's policy
constitutes a "nuisance",
and (3) "premises liability." The amended
complaint added a fourth theory: substantive due process.
The City of Livermore argued that Section 230 of the Telecom Act
of 1996 bars the action. See, respondent's
brief. (See also, amicus
brief filed by the ACLU Northern Cal. and PFAW, and amicus
brief filed by the Calif.
State Assoc. of Counties.) The Court of Appeal, like the
trial court, held that the state causes of action are
precluded by § 230(c)(1) of the Telecom Act, which
states that "No provider or user of an interactive
computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker
of any information provided by another information content
provider." The Court of Appeal relied upon previous
§ 230 cases, including Blumenthal
v. Drudge, Zeran
v. AOL, and the Mainstream Loudoun v. Loudoun cases, Loudoun
I and Loudoun
II. The Court also held that the claim to a "right to
substantive due process also fails. The government has an
interest in protecting minors from harmful materials on the
Internet ... but it does not have a constitutional duty to do
so." See, TLJ
case summary. |
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| Internet Voting |
3/6. A report
[62 pages in PDF] commissioned by the National Science Foundation
(NSF) and the Internet
Policy Institute concluded that "Trials should
proceed in which Internet terminals are used at traditional
polling places, but remote voting from home or the workplace
is not viable in the near future." The report states that
"remote Internet voting systems pose significant risk and
should not be used in public elections until substantial
technical and social science issues are addressed." It
also states that "Internet-based voter registration poses
significant risk to the integrity of the voting process ...
." See, release.
3/6. On The Senate
Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday
morning to examine voting technology reform. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
and Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-SC), the Chairman and Ranking Democrat on the Committee,
respectively, are cosponsoring S
368, the American Voting Standards and Technology Act,
that would direct the NIST to conduct a study of several
voting related topics, including "any future and emerging
technologies for use in elections, such as Internet
voting." |
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| New Documents |
Cal.:
opinion
in Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore re Internet filtering, 3/6
(HTML, TLJ).
Boucher:
speech
re proposed changes to fair use doctrine in the context of
digital media and the Internet, 3/6 (HTML, TLJ).
Patel:
injunction
in A&M Records v. Napster, 3/6 (HTML, TLJ). |
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| Quote of the Day |
"Some now foresee a time when virtually all new
material will be sent to libraries on CD ROMs, with the
material encrypted or guarded by passwords. In exchange for a
fee for each viewing, the password may then be used. And so it
is predicted that under Section 1201, what is available today
on the library shelves for free will be available on a pay per
use basis only. The student who wants even the most basic
access to material to write his term paper will have to pay
for each item that he uses."
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), speech
of March 6. |
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| Boucher Proposes Changes to
Copyright Law |
| 3/6. Rep.
Rick Boucher (D-VA) gave a major policy address
in which he advocated changes to copyright law to
"reaffirm the fair use doctrine" in the
context of digital and Internet media. Rep. Boucher is a
senior member of the House Courts, Internet and Intellectual
Property Subcommittee, and has long been active in debating
and drafting IP legislation. He criticized the anti-circumvention
provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He
would like to amend the law to provide that only circumvention
for the purpose of infringement be prohibited. He also stated
that "the time has come for the motion picture studios to
present a proposal" to protect copyright in digitally
broadcast TV programs along the model that Section 1201(k)
provides for VCR copying. He next proposed that the Congress
"reaffirm the fair use doctrine" in six specific
areas. First, the existing copyright exemption for distance
learning applications in broadcast and closed circuit
television should be extended to personal computers and the
Internet. Second, the "the first sale doctrine
should be made applicable for online sales of copyrighted
material." Third, "temporary copies, which
are essential to the operation of digital products and
networks, should be made unequivocally lawful under the
copyright law." Fourth, computer users should be
permitted to back up data associated with programs.
Fifth, the in store exemption that permits musical
sampling in record stores should be extended to the Internet.
Sixth, it should be lawful for people who buy CDs to archive
the content of their music CDs on the Internet, and listen
to these recordings anywhere. |
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| Internet Fraud |
| 3/6. The FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center
(IFCC) and the National
White Collar Crime Center released a report
[PDF] on Internet fraud trends and statistics. It states that
"The IFCC began operating on May 8, 2000. Between the
inception date and November 8, 2000 ... 20,014 filings were
made. ... auction fraud is by far the most reported Internet
fraud, comprising nearly two-thirds of all referred
complaints. Non-deliverable merchandise and payment accounts
for another 22% of complaints, and credit and debit card fraud
make up almost 5% of complaints." See, FBI release. |
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| More News |
3/6. The RIAA
appointed of Rafael Fernandez to be its Vice President
of Latin Music. Previously, Fernandez worked for served 17
years at the Miami-Dade Police Department, most recently as
the Major Fraud Section Commander in the Economic Crimes
Bureau. He directed anti-piracy investigations in conjunction
with the RIAA and the MPAA.
3/6. The FBI's NIPC
released a statement
in which it stated that it "is evaluating an Internet
worm by the name of ...
that has been propagating in the wild. The NIPC considers this
to be a medium threat due to its destructive payload and mass
mailing capability."
3/6. The GAO issued a report [PDF]
titled "Financial Services Regulators: Better Information
Sharing Could Reduce Fraud." It concluded that "a
more integrated financial services industry as envisioned by
the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act highlights the need
for strong information-sharing capabilities among financial
services regulators."
3/6. President Bush announced his intent to nominate John
Graham to be Administrator of the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget. He
is now a Professor of Policy and Decision Sciences at the
Harvard School of Public Health and founding director of the
Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. See, release.
3/5. Hou Wu Ding plead guilty to structuring currency
transactions, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324. He made a
large number of currency deposits in amounts less than $10,000
into domestic financial institutions. Of those deposits,
approximately $164,797 constituted the proceeds of sales of counterfeit
computer software. See also, Feb. 15 information
[PDF], plea
agreement [PDF], and release. |
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| Judge Patel Issues Napster
Injunction |
3/5. The U.S. District Court (NDCal),
Judge Patel presiding, issued its new preliminary
injunction order in A&M Records v. Napster.
This injunction provides that the copyright holders and Napster share
responsibility for identifying infringing files, as directed
by the opinion
[PDF] of the U.S. Court
of Appeals (9thCir) issued on February 12. The order
states that "Napster is preliminarily enjoined ... from
engaging in, or facilitating others in, copying, downloading,
uploading, transmitting, or distributing copyrighted sound
recordings in accordance with this Order." The order
states that "Plaintiffs shall provide notice to Napster
of their copyrighted sound recordings by providing for each
work: (A) the title of the work; (B) the name of the featured
recording artist performing the work ("artist
name"); (C) the name(s) of one or more files available on
the Napster system containing such work; and (D) a
certification that plaintiffs own or control the rights
allegedly infringed."
Then "Once Napster "receives reasonable
knowledge" from any source ... of specific infringing
files containing copyrighted sound recordings, Napster shall,
within three (3) business days, prevent such files from being
included in the Napster index (thereby preventing access to
the files corresponding to such names through the Napster
system)." See also, statement
by Napster CEO Hank Barry, statement
by RIAA
CEO Hillary Rosen, and Warner Music Group release. |
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| Today |
10:00 AM. Oral argument before the U.S. Court of
Appeals (FedCir) in Lans v. Digital Equipment Corp.,
Appeal Nos. 00-1144 and 00-1358. Location: Courtroom 402.
10:30 AM. The Senate
Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to examine voting
technology reform. Sen.
John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-SC), the Chairman and Ranking Democrat on the Committee,
respectively, are cosponsoring S
368, the American Voting Standards and Technology Act,
that would direct the NIST to conduct a study of several
voting related topics, including "any future and emerging
technologies for use in elections, such as Internet voting."
Location: Room 253, Russell Building. The scheduled witnesses
include:
• Bill Bradbury (Secretary of State, Oregon)
• Cathy Cox (Secretary of State, Georgia)
• Ron Thornburgh (Secretary of State, Kansas)
• Joseph Fox (Paralyzed Veterans of America)
• Wade Henderson (LCCR)
• Mary Jane O'Gara (AARP)
• Raul Yzaguirre (La Raza)
FCC Chairman Michael Powell will deliver the luncheon address
at the USTA National Issues Conference. See, USTA
release. Location: Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave.
NW, Washington DC.
2:00 - 4:00 PM. The House
Science Committee will hold a hearing titled "K-12th
Grade Math and Science Education: the View from the
Blackboard." Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.
2:30 - 5:30 PM. The American
Enterprise Institute will host two trade related panel
discussions. The first panel is on regionalism. The
scheduled speakers are Arvind Panagariya (Univ. of Maryland),
Daniel Tarullo (Georgetown Univ. Law School), Sidney Weintraub
(CSIS), Sarath Rajapatirana (AEI). The second panel is titled The
Future of the WTO: Fast Track, Nongovernmental Organizations,
and the Agenda for the Next Trade Round. The scheduled
speakers include Jagdish Bhagwati (AEI), Henry Nau (George
Washington Univ.), Jeffrey Schott (Inst. for Int. Economics),
and Claude Barfield (AEI). Location: AEI, 12th Floor, 1150
17th Street, NW, Washington DC. |
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