[DMCA-Activists] DMCA anticircumvention hearings - testimony requests by 4/1/03

[Seth Finkelstein]

[ See http://www.copyright.gov/1201/index.html#hearings ]
[ Converted from PDF  http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2003/hearings.pdf ]

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS      Copyright Office          37 CFR Part 201 
[Docket No. RM 2002-4B] 

Notice of Public Hearings: Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention
of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies

AGENCY:  Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 

ACTION:  Notice of Public Hearings. 

SUMMARY: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress will be
holding public hearings on the possible exemptions to the prohibition
against circumvention of technological measures that control access to
copyrighted works.  In accordance with the Copyright Act, as amended
by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Office is conducting its
triennial rulemaking proceeding to determine whether there are
particular "classes of works" as to which users are, or are likely to
be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses if
they are prohibited from circumventing such technological measures.

DATES: Public hearings will be held in Washington, DC on Friday, April
11, 2003, Tuesday, April 15, 2003, Wednesday, April 30, 2003 and
Friday, May 2, 2003, beginning at 9:30 a.m.  Public hearings will also
be held in California in May at a time and location to be announced later.
Requests to testify must be received by 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. on April 1, 2003.

See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional information on other
requirements.

ADDRESSES: The Washington, DC round of public hearings will be held as
follows: April 11 in the Mumford, Room, LM-649, of the James Madison
Building of the Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave, S.E.,
Washington, DC.  April 15 in the West Dining Room, LM-621, of the
James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress, 101
Independence Ave, S.E., Washington, DC.  April 30 and May 2 at the
Postal Rate Commission, 1333 H Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, DC.

Additional public hearings will be held in California at a time and
location to be subsequently announced.

See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional address information and
other requirements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rob Kasunic, Senior Attorney, Office
of the General Counsel, Copyright GC/IR, PO Box 70400, Southwest
Station, Washington, DC 20024.  Telephone (202) 707-8380; fax (202)
707-8366.  Requests to testify must be sent by email to address@hidden .
Email inquiries regarding the hearings may be sent to address@hidden . 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 15, 2002, the Copyright Office
published a Notice of Inquiry seeking comments in connection with a
rulemaking pursuant to section 1201(a)(1) of the Copyright Act, 17
U.S.C. 1201(a)(1), which provides that the Librarian of Congress may
exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against
circumventing a technological measure that controls access to a
copyrighted work.  67 FR 63578 (October 15, 2002).  For a more
complete statement of the background and purpose of the rulemaking,
please see the Notice of Inquiry and the full record of the
previous rulemaking proceeding available on the Copyright Office's
website at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ .

The 51 written comments proposing classes of works to be exempted and
the 338 reply comments have been posted on the Office's website; see
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ .

        The Office will be conducting public hearings in Washington,
DC in April and May and in California in May to hear testimony
relating to the rulemaking. Interested parties are invited to submit
requests to testify at one of these hearings.  The dates for the
hearings in Washington, DC are April 11, 15 and 30, and May 2.
Depending on the number of requests to testify that we receive, it may
not be necessary to conduct hearings on all four of these days.  The
date or dates for the hearings in California will be announced later.

Requirements for persons desiring to testify: 

A request to testify must be submitted to the Copyright Office.  All
requests to testify must clearly identify: 

  C        the name of the person desiring to testify, 

  C        the organization or organizations represented, if any, 

  C        contact information (address, telephone, and email), 

  C the class of work to which your testimony is responsive (if you
            wish to testify on more than one proposed class of work,
            please state your order of preference),

  C        a brief summary of your proposed testimony, 

  C a description of any audiovisual material or demonstrative
            evidence, if any, that you intend to present,

  C the location of the hearing at which you wish to testify
            (Washington, DC or California).

  C preferences as to dates on which you which to testify.  Note:
            Because the agenda will be organized based on subject
            matter, we cannot guarantee that we can accommodate
            requests to testify on particular dates.

         All persons who submit a timely request to testify will
receive confirmation by email or telephone by April 4.  The Copyright
Office will notify all witnesses of the date and expected time of
their appearance, and the time allocated for their testimony.

Addresses for requests to testify: 

         All requests to testify must be sent by email to
address@hidden and must be received by 5:00 E.S.T.  on April 1, 2003.
Persons who are unable to send requests by email should contact
Rob Kasunic, Senior Attorney, at (202) 707-8380 to make alternative
arrangements for submission of their requests to testify.

Form and limits on testimony at public hearings: 

         There will be time limits on the testimony allowed for
persons testifying that will be established after receiving all
requests to testify.  In the written comment period, the Office
received nearly 400 written comments.  Given the time constraints,
only a fraction of that number could possibly testify at the hearings.
A timely request to testify does not guarantee an opportunity to
testify at these hearings.  The Copyright Office encourages parties
with similar interests to select common representatives to testify on
behalf of a particular position.

         The Copyright Office stresses that factual arguments are at
least as important as legal arguments and encourages persons who wish
to testify to provide demonstrative evidence to supplement their
testimony.  While testimony from attorneys who can articulate legal
arguments in support of or opposition to a proposed exempted class of
works is useful, testimony from witnesses who can explain and
demonstrate the facts is also solicited.

         An LCD projector and screen will be available in the hearing
rooms.  An overhead projector may be made available if arrangements
are requested in advance.  Other electronic or audiovisual equipment
necessary for a presentation should be brought by the person testifying.
 Persons intending to bring such equipment into the Library of
Congress, e.g., laptops, slide projectors, etc., will need to arrive
early in order to register the equipment with the Library Police.

         The Office intends to organize individual sessions of the
hearings around particular or related classes of works proposed for
exemption.  If a request to testify involves more than one proposed
exemption or related exemption, please specify, in order of preference, 
the proposed exemptions on which you would prefer to testify.

        Following receipt of the requests to testify, the Copyright
Office will prepare an agenda of the hearings which will be posted on
the Copyright Office website at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ and
sent to all persons who have submitted requests to testify.  To
facilitate this process, it is essential that all of the required
information listed above be included in a request to testify.

DATED:  March 17, 2003 
_______________________________ 
Marybeth Peters, 
Register of Copyrights. 

-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  address@hidden  http://sethf.com
Anticensorware Investigations - http://sethf.com/anticensorware/
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/