IP: Reading Between the Lines: Lessons from the SDMI Challenge The following statement was read by Edward W. Felten today at the Fourth International Information Hiding Workshop, in Pittsburgh.

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 08:51:31 -0400
From: "Edward W. Felten" <felten () CS Princeton EDU>

To: sdmi-paper-info () CS Princeton EDU

Subject: Reading Between the Lines: Lessons from the SDMI Challenge
The following statement was read by Edward W. Felten today at the Fourth 
International Information Hiding Workshop, in Pittsburgh.

===============
On behalf of the authors of the paper "Reading Between the Lines: Lessons 
from the SDMI Challenge," I am disappointed to tell you that we will not be 
presenting our paper today.

Our paper was submitted via the normal academic peer-review process. The 
reviewers, who were chosen for their scientific reputations and 
credentials, enthusiastically recommended the paper for publication, due to 
their judgment of the paper's scientific merit.

Nevertheless, the Recording Industry Association of America, the SDMI 
Foundation, and the Verance Corporation threatened to bring a lawsuit if we 
proceeded with our presentation or the publication of our paper. Threats 
were made against the authors, against the conference organizers, and 
against their respective employers.

Litigation is costly, time-consuming, and uncertain, regardless of the 
merits of the other side's case. Ultimately we, the authors, reached a 
collective decision not to expose ourselves, our employers, and the 
conference organizers to litigation at this time.

We remain committed to free speech and to the value of scientific debate to 
our country and the world. We believe that people benefit from learning the 
truth about the products they are asked to buy. We will continue to fight 
for these values, and for the right to publish our paper.

We look forward to the day when we can present the results of our research 
to you, our colleagues, through the normal scientific publication process, 
so that you can judge our work for yourselves.

25 April 2001



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