[sklyarov-chicago] IEEE response to my message about the AAP press release

[Phillip J. Birmingham]

Here is what the IEEE said about the AAP statement, and the
anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.  Sounds mostly non-commital,
except for the explicit non-endorsement of the AAP statement.

Regards,
Phillip

=====================

Mr. Birmingham,

My name is Bill Williams, I am the Legislative Representative for
IEEE-USA's Intellectual Property Committee.  Your inquiry about a press
release by the American Association of Publishers regarding the Digital
Millenium Copyright Act and the arrest of Dmitry Skylarov was forwarded
to
me.  I appreciate your input on this important issue.

Let me first point out that the IEEE does not endorse the statement by
the
AAP, and the statement does not represent the views of IEEE or IEEE-USA.

The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA was just one part of a
compromise between content providers and content users.  Another part of
the DMCA was exceptions to copyright infringement liabilities that allow
the internet to operate without service providers worrying about being
copyright infringement for actions substantially out of their control.

As with any other law, there is a need to continue to review the DMCA to
see whether it is achieving its goal, or whether there is a better
approach
that can be taken.  IEEE-USA's intellectual property committee is about
to
begin such a review and discussion of the DMCA, and you are invited to
participate by joining the committee's email discussion list.  We expect
to
be proposing a position statement that will be discussed with Congress
near
the end of the year.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Bill Williams
Legislative Representative
Intellectual Property Committee
IEEE-USA
(202)-530-8331