The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) has an online notice and request for
comments on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/occ/dmca/dmca.htm. We studied
parts of this law in Intellectual Property in Cyberspace.
The notice touches on several questions addressed in the
course, including the adequacy and effectiveness of technological
measures designed to protect copyrighted works and the protection
of copyright owners against unauthorized access to their
encrypted copyrighted works.
The purpose of the notice is to obtain comments from the
public that will then be used in preparing a report to Congress.
Subscribers to this list may, therefore, be interested in
submitting such comments.
I am also interested in the process of soliciting public
comment via the Internet. While NTIA should be applauded for
making this proceeding accessible via the Internet, I think the
procedures can be improved and I wonder if others feel the same
way.
Specifically, I think it would be an improvement if links to
supporting material were embedded in the online notice. For
example, the NTIA notice could contain links to the relevant
sections of the statute. More boldly, NTIA might provide links
to online articles that discuss the issues, just as Professor
Fisher's course includes links to supplementary works. And, a
threaded forum seems more useful than simply having the public
email comments to NTIA. Since NTIA will use the comments in a
report to Congress, wouldn't it be better to let everyone see
what others are saying?
Jim Johnston
[PS]
Feel free to pass the message on to whomever. I passed my suggestions
to NTIA and it has added the statutory sections to the online notice.
