FC: ACM's Barbara Simons replies to Politech on DMCA-paper policy

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Apr 17 2002 - 00:47:29 PDT

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    [Barbara has been one of the most steadfast opponents of the DMCA and its 
    progeny, and has (until recently) sometimes been a lonely voice. Previous 
    Politech message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-03402.html --Declan]
    
    ---
    
    Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 16:40:01 -0700
    Subject: Re: FC: IEEE says authors must certify papers to be
    	DMCA-violation-free
    From: Barbara Simons <simonsat_private>
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20020414102340.0227c890at_private>
    
    Declan,
    
    I hope you will point out to your readers that ACM has taken a very
    different approach to the DMCA.  The U.S. Public Policy Committee of ACM
    (USACM) http://www.acm.org/usacm/ has opposed the anti-circumvention and
    anti-dissemination provisions of the DMCA since prior to its passage.  ACM
    even took the unusual step of submitting a declaration in support of Prof.
    Ed Felten and his colleagues in their legal efforts to oppose the DMCA.  The
    declaration, which I think is quite readable, and a link to an FAQ I wrote
    explaining why ACM submitted the declaration can be found at
    http://www.acm.org/usacm/copyright/felten_declaration.html.
    
    Efforts to suppress research in vulnerabilities of copy protection systems
    do a disservice to potential customers for those systems, threaten academic
    freedom, undermine the First Amendment, and endanger the security of our
    information infrastructure.
    
    Regards,
    Barbara Simons, Past-President, ACM and co-chair USACM
    
    
    
    
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