IP: Princeton Scientists Sue Over Squelched Research -- Electronic Frontier Foundation Challenges Record Companies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
>
> For Immediate Release: June 6, 2001
>
>
> Contacts:
>
> Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director, +1 415 436-9333 x108,
>  cindy () eff org
>
> Edward Felten, Princeton University Professor,
>  +1 609 258-5906, felten () cs princeton edu
>
> Robin Gross, EFF Staff Attorney, +1 415 436-9333 x112,
>  robin () eff org
>
> Gino J. Scarselli, Esq., Outside Lead Counsel,
>  +1 216 291-8601, gscarsel () multiverse com
>
> James S. Tyre, Esq., Outside Counsel, +1 310 839-4114,
>  jstyre () jstyre com
>
> Ellie Young, USENIX Executive Director,
>  +1 510 528-8649 x18, ellie () usenix org
>
>
> Princeton Scientists Sue Over Squelched Research
>
> Electronic Frontier Foundation Challenges Record Companies
>
>
> Trenton, NJ - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
> today asked a federal court to rule that Princeton
> University Professor Edward Felten and his research team
> have a First Amendment right to present their research on
> digital music access-control technologies at the USENIX
> Security Conference this August in Washington, DC, despite
> threats from the recording industry.
>
> When scientists from Princeton University and Rice
> University tried to publish their findings in April 2001,
> the recording industry claimed that the 1998 Digital
> Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to
> discuss or provide technology that might be used to
> bypass industry controls limiting how consumers can use
> music they have purchased.
>
> Like most scientists, the researchers want to discuss their
> findings and publish a scientific paper about the
> vulnerabilities of several technologies they studied.
> Open discussion of music customer control technologies
> has resulted in improved technology and enhanced consumer
> choice.
>
> "Studying digital access technologies and publishing the
> research for our colleagues are both fundamental to the
> progress of science and academic freedom," stated
> Princeton scientist Edward Felten. "The recording
> industry's interpretation of the DMCA would make
> scientific progress on this important topic illegal."
>
> Felten's research team includes Princeton University
> scientists and plaintiffs Bede Liu, Scott Craver, and
> Min Wu. Also members of the research team and plaintiffs
> are Rice University researchers Dan Wallach, Ben
> Swartzlander, and Adam Stubblefield. Another scientist
> and plaintiff is Drew Dean, who is employed in the
> Silicon Valley. The USENIX Assocation has joined the
> case as a plaintiff.
>
> The prominent scientist and his research team originally
> planned to publish the paper in April at the 4th
> International Information Hiding Workshop. However, the
> scientists withdrew the paper at the last minute because
> the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and
> the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) Foundation
> threatened litigation against Felten, his research team,
> and the relevant universities and conference organizers.
>
> SDMI sponsored the "SDMI Public Challenge" in September
> 2000, asking Netizens to try to break their favored
> watermark schemes, designed to control consumer access
> to digital music. When the scientists' paper about their
> successful defeat of the watermarks, including one
> developed by a company called Verance, was accepted for
> publication, Matt Oppenheim, an officer of both RIAA
> and SDMI, sent the Princeton professor a letter
> threatening legal liability if the scientist published
> his results.
>
> EFF filed the legal challenge in New Jersey federal
> court against RIAA, SDMI, Verance, and the U.S. Justice
> Department so that the researchers need not fear
> prosecution under DMCA for publishing their research.
>
> "When scientists are intimidated from publishing their
> work, there is a clear First Amendment problem," said
> EFF's Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "We have long argued
> that unless properly limited, the anti-distribution
> provisions of the DMCA would interfere with science.
> Now they plainly have."
>
> "Mathematics and code are not circumvention devices,"
> explained Jim Tyre, an attorney on the legal team,
> "so why is the recording industry trying to prevent
> these researchers from publishing?"
>
> USENIX Executive Director Ellie Young commented,
> "We cannot stand idly by as USENIX members are
> prevented from discussing and publishing the results of
> legitimate research."
>
> EFF is challenging the constitutionality of the
> anti-distribution provisions of the DMCA as part of its
> ongoing Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE).
> The CAFE campaign fights over-reaching intellectual
> property laws and restrictive technologies that threaten
> free speech in the digital age. "The recording studios
> want to control how consumers can use the music they buy.
> Now they want to control scientists and publishers, to
> prevent consumers from finding out how to bypass the
> unpopular controls," said EFF Staff Attorney Robin Gross.
>
> Media professionals are invited to attend a press
> conference or simultaneous teleconference on the Felten
> case featuring the legal team and Professor Felten:
>
> What: Felten Case Press Conference
>
> Date: Wednesday, June 6, 2001
>
> Time: 9:00 am Pacific (12:00 noon Eastern)
>
> Teleconference: Call +1 800 311-9402 with passcode "EFF"
>
> Or In Person--
>
> West Coast Physical Press Conference:
>   Electronic Frontier Foundation, 454 Shotwell Street,
>   San Francisco, CA 94110
>
> East Coast Physical Press Conference:
>   Princeton University, Computer Science Building, Room 105
>   35 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08540
>   Directions: From Route 1, turn toward Princeton on
>   Washington Road. Follow Washington Road across a bridge
>   and into the town of Princeton. At the third stoplight,
>   turn right onto Prospect Street. Go one block on
>   Prospect and turn left onto Olden Street. Go half a
>   block, and the Computer Science building will be the
>   four-story brick building ahead on your left.
>
> Map: http://MapsOnUs.switchboard.com/ or http://mapquest.com/
> (no endorsement implied)
>
> The legal team includes EFF attorneys Lee Tien, Cindy Cohn,
> and Robin Gross. Outside lead counsel Gino Scarselli,
> argued the Junger case where the 6th Circuit Court of
> Appeals ruled unanimously that computer code is creative
> expression worthy of First Amendment protection.
> Also members of the legal team are James Tyre, a
> technology savvy lawyer from Southern California who
> co-founded the Censorware Project and wrote an amicus
> brief in Universal v. Reimerdes, and Joe Liu, a Professor
> of Law at Boston College. Local counsel in New Jersey
> are First Amendment specialists Frank Corrado of Rossi,
> Barry, Corrado, Grassi and Radell, and Grayson Barber,
> chair of the ACLU-NJ privacy committee.
>
> For more background on Professor Felten and his team's
> legal challenge:
> http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/
>
> For EFF's legal filing in the Felten case:
> http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/20010606_eff_complaint.html
>
> RIAA/SDMI letter threatening Professor Felten and his team:
> http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/riaa_sdmi_letter.html
>
> Professor Felten's website:
> http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/sdmi/
>
> Listen to an audio file about EFF's legal challenge to
> SDMI (MP3):
> http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/felten_audio.html
>
> For more information on the August USENIX Security
> conference:
> http://www.usenix.org/events/sec01/
>
> About EFF:
>
> The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
> liberties organization working to protect rights in the
> digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
> and challenges industry and government to support free
> expression, privacy, and openness in the information
> society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
> maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world:
> http://www.eff.org
>
> About USENIX:
>
> The USENIX Association, an organization representing some
> 10,000 computer research scientists is dedicated to the
> free exchange of scholarly information through its many
> conferences and publications. See its website at:
> http://www.usenix.org/
>
>                          - end -
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> James S. Tyre                               mailto:jstyre () jstyre com
> Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
> 10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
> Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net



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