Intellectual Property:
Library Associations Spearhead New Copyright Coalition
A group of technology companies, trade associations, and civil society organizations have joined forces to form Re:Create, a national coalition to advocate for balanced copyright policy. In the wake of recent proposals to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as constant advances in the field of knowledge creation, coalition members are calling for responsive copyright law that balances the interests of those who create information and products with those of users and innovators, providing robust exceptions as well as limitations to copyright law in order that it not limit new uses and technologies. Particular attention will be paid to the concept of fair use, considered a "safety valve" within U.S. copyright law and an important reinforcement of the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. This emphasis is particularly timely, as on April 29 register of copyrights Maria Pallante announced at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that the U.S. Copyright Office would launch a Fair Use Index – a searchable database listing court opinions pertaining to fair use.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/04/copyright/library-associations-spearhead-new-copyright-coalition/.
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Freedom of Information:
Security-Cleared Population Declined by 12% Last Year
The number of persons holding security clearances for access to classified information decreased by more than 635,000 (or 12.3 percent) last year, according to a new report to Congress from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It was the first reported drop in the total security-cleared population since the government began systematically collecting statistics on security clearances in 2010. What makes the new reductions particularly interesting is that they were not simply a statistical blip or an artifact of changes in the budget. Rather, they were purposefully achieved through a "concerted effort" by agencies seeking to reduce the number of security clearances.
http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2015/04/clearances-2014/.
CPJ releases annual assessment of press freedom worldwide
Terrorist groups and the governments who purport to fight them have made recent years the most dangerous period to be a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its annual global assessment of press freedom, Attacks on the Press. Some journalists are kidnapped or killed by militant groups while others are surveiled, censored, or imprisoned by governments seeking to respond to that threat, real or perceived. Non-state actors, including criminal organizations and violent political groups, pose a significant threat to journalists as well as a challenge to press freedom advocates and news organizations. In places like Mexico and Paraguay, trafficking organizations are the primary threat.
http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=4960.
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Public Policy:
If You Thought Corporate Personhood Was Bad, Wait Until You See Corporate Nationhood in the New Trade Treaty
The government of El Salvador was so concerned that its water was so fouled by mining companies that it passed a moratorium on new mines in 2008. Oceana Gold, an Australian corporation, didn’t like the law, so it sued El Salvador for $301 million, the amount the company said the policy cost it in lost profits. The case was not heard in a Salvadoran court, but rather by a special, secretive corporate tribunal based in the United States and overseen by a panel of three judges, all corporate lawyers. If the tribunal rules in favor of the mining company, El Salvador has no right to appeal.
The El Salvador case is unfortunately not a bad science fiction story. Thanks to something known as the investor-state dispute settlement process (ISDS), which is part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, corporations can sue if they think their interests are negatively impacted by the host country’s laws. And this is only one of a number of international trade agreements that grant corporations these special rights. To date, more than 500 suits have been filed against sovereign national governments by aggrieved corporations claiming that national laws and regulations have constrained their ability to realize the profits they counted on.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/blog/if-you-thought-corporate-personhood-was-bad-wait-until-you-see-corporate-nationhood-new-trade-t.
Senate Committee Fails to Fix Flawed Chemical Bill
On April 28, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works reviewed proposed legislation from Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Tom Udall (D-NM) to revise the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), our nation’s primary chemical safety law. Despite numerous attempts to constructively amend the flawed bill, the committee failed to fix the legislation and sent it on to the Senate floor. When Vitter and Udall introduced their so-called TSCA "reform" bill in March, they claimed it would improve current law by eliminating some of the analytical requirements that TSCA imposes on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and allowing the agency to move faster to restrict dangerous chemicals. However, when combined with damaging provisions that would weaken the existing law and override strong state protections, the proposal represented a step backward, not meaningful reform. The Vitter revisions prohibit states from adopting or enforcing a new chemical restriction or ban once EPA issues a plan to review a specific chemical of concern. This provision would apply to state actions taken after Aug. 1, 2015. States are also banned from taking any action on the chemical during this multi-year review process. If EPA determines that the chemical is "safe," states are blocked – indefinitely – from restricting or banning the chemical, even if they have evidence that the chemical poses a risk to their residents.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/blog/senate-committee-fails-fix-flawed-chemical-bill.
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Privacy Issues:
Legislators Introduce Student Digital Privacy Bill
Months after President Obama proposed to strengthen digital privacy protection for students, two legislators on Wednesday introduced a comprehensive bill in Congress intended to accomplish that goal. Titled the Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015, the bill would prohibit operators of websites, apps and other online services for kindergartners through 12th graders from knowingly selling students’ personal information to third parties; from using or disclosing students’ personal information to tailor advertising to them; and from creating personal profiles of students unless it is for a school-related purpose.
The bill would give parents access to information held about their children and allow them to correct it; to delete information about their children that schools do not need to retain; and to download any material their children have created. It would allow operators of services to use and disclose aggregated student information without personal identifiers to improve their own educational products or market their effectiveness. And it would allow companies to sell or disclose student information as part of a merger or acquisition, provided the successor company continued to be subject to the restrictions under which the data was originally collected.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/legislators-introduce-student-digital-privacy-bill/.
Facebook Warns European Privacy Regulators to Back Off
Facebook has a message for privacy regulators across Europe: You’re endangering the EU. Richard Allan, the Menlo Park, Calif. company’s, head policy official in Europe, said in an opinion piece published Wednesday that the series of probes from national regulators risks fragmenting Europe’s regulatory landscape, strangling companies by forcing them to deal with regulators from Athens to Zagreb. The implicit threat: Facebook’s and other companies’ users in Europe might fall behind the rest of the world when new products and services are rolled out. "Facebook’s costs would increase and people in Europe would notice new features arriving more slowly, or not at all," Mr. Allan wrote in the Financial Times. "If it is allowed to stand, complying with EU law will no longer be enough."
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/04/29/facebook-warns-european-privacy-regulators-to-back-off/.
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Open Access:
Government Releases Massive Trove of Data on Doctors’ Prescribing Patterns
The federal government released detailed data today on nearly 1.4 billion prescriptions dispensed to seniors and disabled people in the Medicare program in 2013, bringing more openness to the medication choices of doctors nationwide. Medicare Part D is popular among seniors for helping to lower their drug costs. But experts have complained that since Part D began in 2006, Medicare has placed a higher priority on getting prescriptions into patients’ hands than on targeting problem prescribers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general has repeatedly called for tighter controls.
The data release comes two years after ProPublica reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had done little to detect or deter hazardous prescribing in its drug program, known as Medicare Part D. ProPublica analyzed several years’ worth of prescription data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and created a tool called Prescriber Checkup that lets users compare individual physicians to others in the same specialty and state. But Medicare itself hadn’t made this information easily accessible – until now.
http://www.longislandpress.com/2015/05/03/government-releases-massive-trove-of-data-on-doctors-prescribing-patterns/.
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Libraries:
Police groups object to ‘Don’t Shoot’ art piece in Madison
Police advocacy groups in Wisconsin on Friday objected to a painting displayed at the Madison Public Library that shows an African-American boy pointing a toy gun at three riot police officers who have their weapons aimed at the child, calling it inflammatory and biased. Artist Mike Lroy said the piece – acrylic and spray paint on canvas, entitled "Don’t Shoot" – is meant to stir emotion and provoke reflection. The criticism comes as demonstrations endure nationwide to protest the killings of black suspects by white police officers, most recently the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody. In March, a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in Madison, sparking demonstrations. The Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Madison Professional Police Officers Association issued a joint statement saying they are "deeply troubled" by the artwork.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/de33dcdf0c6c40d18bb48c2f2a546a0b/police-groups-object-dont-shoot-art-piece-madison.
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The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.