IP: Re: Text of new Exon proposal

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

[During my keynote speach at the MPT Forum in Tokyo, I pointed out the
serious impacts of the Exon proposal on the GII. That talk will shortly
appear in the Real Audio Whats New djf]


From: anonymity requested


Dave,


 (If you can remove my name, you can distribute this, I don't recall your
policy. If not, I'll clean it up for distribution.  But, I am in the
awkward position right now of trying  to simultaneously work the issue and
keep communication lines open and  to keep the community informed.)


The Exon text you distributed is just one of many floating around town
right now. The trouble is, even the best is not much better, certainly not
enough better  to avoid being a serious threat to non-commercial
information providers.  I suspect that, if ANY of the proposals I have seen
become law, many libraries, schools, museums, facing the possibility of
prison terms and severe fines,  will simply choose to close down their
servers and access points. At least that will take care of the congestion
problem.


Anyone who thinks  "they wouldn't do that,"  should hark back  just a few
years to the pitiful case of the City of Cincinnati arresting and trying
its museum director.  The folks pushing this from the outside don't just
want a legislative trophy, they want a new tool with which to harass. Under
the language now being passed around, Federal prosecuters in Cincinnati
could reach across state lines and use Federal law to go after anyone in
the country whose home page or bulletin board they don't happen to like.


Several people have worked very hard to get this stuff fixed, but the
"Family Values" right wing groups have decided to make this a test case.
Friends on both side of the aisle in the House have tried, but the pressure
has been too great. It has been very difficult to find champions in the
Senate on the conference committee.


The conference vote on this piece is scheduled for this Tuesday. If it goes
through, AND if the rest of the bill survives conference (It is a very
complicated communications bill, remember) the next step will be votes in
the House and Senate, then to the president for signature. If it gets that
far, I suspect that the Internet community would be pushing very hard for
veto.