ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 368 / C&RL News ■ M ay 2002 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Camille Bowman and Carol Ashworth Antipiracy bill introduced in the Senate The chairm an of the Senate Commerce, Sci­ ence, and Transportation Committee, Ernest F. Hollings (D-South Carolina), has introduced a bill to stop piracy of copyrighted digital works. Hollings introduced the bill, the Con­ sum er Broadband and Digital Television Act of 2002 (S. 2048) on March 21. The intent of the bill is to require electronics m anufactur­ ers to include anticopying technologies in consum er electronics such as computers, digi­ tal video devices, and other digital devices. Digital works would include em bedded “flags” or waterm arks so that com puters and other digital devices w ould recognize the markers and play only copy-protected materials. The bill comes at the encouragem ent of entertainm ent industry executives, such as Disney’s Michael Eisner, w ho claim they lose millions of dollars each year because of pi­ rated content. Prior to introducing Hollings’s bill, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Trans­ portation Committee held hearings on Feb­ ruary 28 at which Eisner testified that gov­ ernm ent intervention was n e ed ed to ensure that the information technology industry d e ­ velops technological standards to prevent pi­ racy of digital content. Studios say that if antipiracy technology w ere available, content providers w ould have incentives to m ake digital libraries of their films available to the public. Hollings’s bill encourages electronics manufacturers, tech­ nology com panies, and content providers to develop technologies to prevent illegal copy­ ing of digital w orks w hile protecting the consum er’s right to make personal copies. W hether technology legislation can achieve the latter goal is one area of contention. Information technology m anufacturers ar- gue-that governm ent intervention will only stifle innovation in the marketplace, resulting in few er choices for consumers. Companies like Intel and Microsoft, and other groups like the Consum er Electronics Manufacturers As­ Camille Bowman is legislative info rm atio n specialist and Carol Ashw orth is UCITA grassroots coordinator at ALA'S W ashington Office, e-mail: cbowman@alawash.org and cashworth@alawash.org sociation, o ppose the idea, stating that one technological solution does not fit all. Some also argue that once technologies are devel­ o p ed and put into place, hackers will find a way to circumvent the protection measures and render them useless. The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing on March 14 to discuss proposed governm ent m andates for digital technology protections, “Com petition, Innovation and Public Policy in the Digital Age: Is the Mar­ ketplace Working to Protect Digital Creative Works?” Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) em phasized the com m ittee’s historical role in balancing the rights and interests of consum ­ ers, creators, and innovators. Leahy, commit­ tee members, and panelists agreed that pi­ racy of movies, music, and other creative content is a serious econom ic problem , but that preserving the right of consumers to flex­ ibly use legally purchased copyrighted m ate­ rial is equally as important. The controversy rests in determ ining how to resolve the issue w ithout com prom ising consum er rights; pri­ vate sector negotiations continue. Joe Kraus, founder of the Internet portal Excite, cautioned the committee about accept­ ing standards designed by the content com ­ munity w ho “will not admit that there is such a thing as ‘fair use.’ They will not admit that once consum ers have legally purchased m e­ dia that they should be free to engage with it in a w ide variety of personal uses. This d e ­ nial persists despite 30 years of congressional action and Supreme Court rulings affirming consum ers’ fair use rights.” Kraus founded a digital consumer advocacy group that is press­ ing Congress to accept a digital consum er bill of rights, see http://www.digitalconsumer.org. Hollings’s bill must be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, w here it will be consid­ ered by committee chairm an Leahy. Leahy has prom ised that no bill will be passed this year unless the technology industry and con­ tent providers can resolve their differences. He requested that the technology and con­ tent industries keep the committee apprised of their progress. (con tin u ed on p a g e 373) mailto:cbowman@alawash.org mailto:cashworth@alawash.org http://www.digitalconsumer.org C&RL News ■ M ay 2002 / 373 century such as Ladies H om e J o u rn a l and Delineator, “Portfolio of Costumes,” and “Re­ search by Time and Topic.” The third shelf is probably the most useful to librarians, as it provides links to fashion Web sites by time period, culture, and fashion designer. “Prod­ uct Palace” lists links to “businesses that pro­ vide products and services related to the cos­ tum e” while “Designer’s Hall” lists “websites ow ned by costume designers.” In addition, “Costume Classroom” offers online classes on how to make costumes and “Courtyard” pro­ vides recreational fun with costuming such as fashion postcards and paper dolls and an an­ nual online costume ball. Searching the Costume Gallery is straight­ forward, but not always easy. The categories are broad and require users to browse a hier­ archy to find what they need. Many icons that seem like they should provide navigation links go nowhere, so it can be awkward to move from page to page, especially since there is no search mechanism. Each link opens a new browser window, so users can very quickly be working with a dozen open pages. As with quote books, the best resource for costumes is the one where you find the cos­ tume that you need. The Costume Gallery is in fact one of the best available on the Web, and it complements the traditional print reference sources very nicely. For a list of more costume Web sites to consult if the costume you seek is n o t in th e C o stu m e G a lle ry , c o n s u lt “GladRags.com,” a guide to fashion and cos­ tume compiled by Monica Fusich for C&RL News in April 1999 (http://www.ala.org/acrl/ resapr99.html).—Mark Emmons, University o f New Mexico, emmons@unm.edu American Museum o f Natural History| Congo Expedition 1 9 0 9-1915. A c­ cess: http://diglibl.am nh.org. The Congo Expedition 1909 to 1915 Web site is produced by the Digital Library of the A m e ric a n M u seu m o f N a tu ra l H is to ry (AMNH). It provides a unique and informa­ tive venue for researchers, educators and stu­ dents alike. The site details the Congo Expe­ dition carried out by AMNH scientists Herbert Lang and James Chapin from 1909 to 1915. The expedition’s mission was to gather bio­ logical and ethnographic materials to be dis­ played at the museum. Many of these materi­ als, along with diaries, field notes and photo­ graphs, have been digitally docum ented and made available to the public. The site is designed to interest both the lay­ person and the scholar. “Introduction,” “Read­ ings,” and “Gallery” offer an array of stimulat­ ing multimedia, including stereophonic pho­ tographs, video and audio clips, and interac­ tive Geographic Information Systems. Many of these features require a plug-in, which may be easily downloaded. “Scientific Publications,” “Search,” and “Resources” primarily serve the scientific community, offering several avenues for research into the AMNH’s archival databases. The narrated slide show in the introduction provides historical context for the Congo Ex­ pedition and sets the m ood for the highly in­ teractive nature of the site. This is worth the few minutes it may require to load. Other large files in the site load faster. The Map Gallery, for instance, uses TilePic and quickly displays historical maps of Africa and the Congo Re­ gion. The primary database is accessed through the search section of the site. The search capa­ bility is relatively sophisticated, offering nine search fields and the option to limit by mate­ rial type. Among the digitized materials fea­ tured are Lang and Chapin’s diaries and field notes, which have been reproduced digitally and transcribed for indexing; 2,000 of the 9,000 photographs taken by Lang during the expe­ dition; and descriptions of more than 4,000 an­ thropological objects, over half of which have been photographed. The AMNH’s Digital Library should be com­ m ended on its efforts to provide a stimulating learning environment, a well-indexed and fully searchable archival database, and com prehen­ sive bibliographies. These materials have tre­ mendous educational, historical, and scientific value. The site however, does not meet the Priority One Accessibility checkpoints estab­ lished in the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. In spite of this, the site is highly recom m ended for the student, educator, sci­ entist, or historian.— Sheri Webber, Purchase College, SUNY, sheri.webber@purchase.edu ■ ( “Washington Hotline ” continued from page368) H ollings’s bill is c o sp o n so re d by Ted Stevens (R-Arkansas), Daniel K. Inouye (D- Hawaii), Jo h n B. Breaux (D-Louisiana), Bill Nelson (D-Florida), and Dianne Feinstein (D- California). ■ http://www.ala.org/acrl/ mailto:emmons@unm.edu http://diglibl.amnh.org mailto:sheri.webber@purchase.edu