ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


January 1996/39

Washington 
Hotline

L yn n e  E. B ra d le y

K ey issues in  C ong ress
The 104th Congress is end­
ing 1995 with many conten­
tious issues and with vigor­
ous debate, trying to find 
closure before the pending 
1996 presidential election 
battles begin. Key issues ALA 
has been addressing include:

C y b e rp o rn  a n d  re fo rm
One o f the hottest issues in 
Washington is the debate 
over “cyberporn” in the tele­
communications reform leg­
islation in conference committee. There was 
tremendous pressure from the industry  and parts 
o f Congress to complete this legislation before 
the holiday recess. The prevailing assumption 
was that little productive w ork w ill be con­
ducted on major issues during the election year.

The House version o f S. 652 includes the 
Cox-Wyden amendment which is a somewhat 
less restrictive and more “carrot” approach to 
controls o f the Internet. The “stick” approach 
to National Information Infrastructure (N II)  con­
trols is inherent in the Exon amendment in the 
original Senate version o f S. 652. Coupled with 
an amendment by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), 
the Exon approach w ould subject online ser­
vice providers (commercial as w ell as library 
or “public” providers) to criminal liabilities for 
merely providing access or conducting usual 
library functions. (Detailed analyses o f these 
amendments are available in various issues o f 
the ALA Washington Newsletter.:)

During conference committee proceedings, 
which began around Thanksgiving, Rep. Rick 
White (R-Wash.) has been attempting to craft a 
“compromise” on these cyberporn issues. Al­
though many o f his attempts were appreciated, 
ALA determined the White proposal is not a 
“fix” for libraries and educators, or for the gen­
eral public. It still includes criminal penalties 
and, at this writing, also includes an overbroad 
“indecency” standard rather than a “harmful to 
minors” standard for prosecution. ALA’s posi­
tion has been that no new law is needed in this 
area; existing law is sufficient. Attempts to “con­
trol” the Internet and NII would curtail the ben­

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f ALA ’s 
Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org

efits o f these new  telecom­
m unications systems and 
threaten intellectual freedom 
in the electronic age.

In a Decem ber 4 letter 
signed by ALA and eleven 
other library and education 
organizations, the following 
points w ere made: the Hyde 
amendment w ould criminal­
ize a vaguely defined and 
overly broad range o f elec­
tronic communications, sub­
jecting educational institu­
tions and libraries to criminal 

liability, and severely impair the ability o f these 
institutions and libraries to provide access to 
computer networks. If Congress must proceed 
with such proposals, then the provisions should 
1) assure that no library or educational institu­
tion w ould be subject to liability merely for 
providing access to the Internet or for perform­
ing other traditional library organizational ser­
vices; 2)  that such provisions be geared spe­
cifically to protecting minors from “harmful” 
material rather than dangerously vague “inde­
cent” material (w hich courts have struggled 
unsuccessfully to define for decades); and 3) 
that only those w h o specifically and intention­
ally direct harmful material to minors be sub­
ject to criminal penalties.

At this writing, S. 652 was likely to be re­
solved in the first half o f December unless the 
bill became one o f those Washington train 
wrecks. There is still much speculation about 
whether President Clinton will veto the bill or 
not. ALA has also worked extensively on the 
Snow e-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon amendment 
which would provide a type o f affordable tele­
communications rates for K—12 schools and 
public libraries. Thus far it has been maintained 
in the conference committee deliberations.

W h ite  P a p e r u p d a te
ALA continues to be an active supporter o f the 
Digital Futures Coalition (DFC), which was or­
ganized in November for the purpose o f assur­
ing that intellectual property debate on critical 
legal and social issues is thorough, broad, and 
balanced. ALA concerns include that the “White 
Paper” could delay or even prevent the emer­
gence o f new commercial technologies which 
“add value” to digital information by increas­

mailto:leb@alawash.org


40/C&RL News

ing copyright owners’ effective control over data
resources and stifle innovation and job creation
in the private sector with overbroad prohibi­
tions against manufacture and sale o f legiti­
mately useful consumer electronic devices. ALA
continues to argue that to reduce educators’
and the public’s access to digital information
by creating a new  “transmission right” w ould
make electronic communications “distributions”
within the meaning o f the Copyright Act. The
White Paper w ould categorize even “brows­
ing” as a potentially infringing “reproduction.”
(For additional information about the DFC, its
other members, and activities contact Adam M.
Eisgrau at the ALA Washington Office at (202)
628-8410 or e-mail: AME@alawash.org.)

C o p y r ig h t te r m  e x te n s io n  le g is la tio n
Legislation to extend the term o f copyright from
“life-plus-50” to “life-plus-70” years remains
pending before the Judiciary Committees o f
both Houses o f Congress. Consideration o f the
measure, however, remains stalled w hile ne­
gotiations on another bill (regarding the licens­
ing o f music by commercial and other estab­
lishments) continue. ALA, acting in concert with
four other national library organizations, has

(Bill cont.from page 33)
access to information on the grounds that it is
perceived to be frivolous or lacking value,”
w ave red flags before administrators o f cam­
puses. Moreover, just because a professor wants
extensive materials in a controversial area, for
example, he/she should not warrant ALA Intel­
lectual Freedom championing any more than
the professor with a similar level o f unrealistic
acquisitions expectations in a narrow area o f
the Classics.

3.) Since Annual Conference another re­
lated concern has arisen. It comes from a re­
sponse made by Judith Krug, w h o is the very
heart and voice o f Intellectual Freedom, to a
question asking the relationship between intel­
lectual freedom  and intellectual participation.
In the September 1995 American Libraries‚ she
is quoted as saying that “they’re one and the
same.” W e do not believe that these issues are
the same or that intellectual participation is “just
the next step after intellectual freedom .”

In fact, the major information problem— the
intellectual participation problem— confronting
most people today is not having access to or
not knowing what information is available to

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

written to the chairmen o f both committees re­
questing that the legislation be amended to 
provide libraries with the authority to “use” 
copyrighted works during the 20-year exten­
sion period. Language crafted by the library 
groups, and endorsed by Register o f Copyright 
Marybeth Peters, w ould create the presump­
tion that such use was permissible provided 
that it was neither undertaken with a prior profit 
motive, nor subsequently affected the market 
for the copyrighted w ork adversely. At ALA’s 
request, House Courts & Intellectual Property 
Subcommittee chairman Carlos Moorhead (R- 
Calif.) wrote to Peters on Novem ber 29 request­
ing that she bring library and copyright ow ner 
industry representatives together to negotiate 
the text o f a “library” amendment acceptable 
to both groups. At this writing it appeared likely 
that this meeting, perhaps the first o f several, 
w ould take place between Decem ber 11 and 
22. Library groups are acting under the assump­
tion that time is o f the essence. W hile no meet­
ing o f M oorhead’s subcommittee to consider 
the term extension bill has been scheduled, 
should the music licensing issue be resolved, 
such a session could rapidly be convened be­
fore Congress’ holiday recess. ■

help them address the problems o f their daily 
lives. These information needs can and do run 
the gamut from h o w  I can apply for unem­
ployment, to where I can find reliable afford­
able child care, to what financial help I can get 
to g o  to college, to information on a recently 
diagnosed illness. And A LA ’s efforts within its 
Goal 2000 to address this larger issue should 
not be diminished to an add-on o f the IFC’s 
agenda.

As to the electronic interpretation, ACRL is 
again forwarding to you the m emo it gave to 
you at the annual conference which raises spe­
cific concerns that it has regarding the 1.4 ver­
sion. It w ould be our hope that the IFC would 
seriously consider these concerns as w ell as 
those raised by other people and make changes 
so as to allow  us to support the interpretation. 
W e also hope that the IFC will give substantive 
attention to the larger issues raised in this memo 
and w ill seek to work more cooperatively with 
ALA divisional leadership. Meanwhile members 
o f our Board w ill w ork with ACRL’s IFC in de­
veloping specific wording changes in the elec­
tronic interpretation for what it w ill forward to 
your committee prior to Midwinter. ■

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

mailto:AME@alawash.org