The 9/28/95 Congression Report states that Senators Hatch and Leahy have introduced a bill to amend the Copyright Act in accord with the suggestions of the recent White Paper on the National Information Infrastructure. In relevant part, S. 1284: 1) makes transmission of copies a type of publication (and thus potentially a means of infringing a copyright); and 2) prohibits the importation, manufacture, or distribution of any device the primary purpose of which is to deactivate any technological protections that prevent or inhibit the violation of copyrights. Though I can imagine cypherpunks objecting to the first of these two provisions, I'm especially interested in how you regard the second. Imagine that Microsoft devised a program to prevent unauthorized copying of its software, and that you (perhaps in response to another of Sameer's contests!) wrote a program to counteract it. It looks as the proposed law would forbid your counter-programming. Bob would thus find it easier to sell defective copyright protection devices. I'm thinking of writing an article about the White Paper and S. 1284, arguing that cypherpunks render a valuable public service in finding gaps in copyright protection, and that they therefore ought not be forbidden from pursuing their research. I invite you to email me privately if you have a strong opinion about the proposed changes to the Copyright Act. I've attached a copy of the proposed s1201 below. In a related vein, Senators Leahy and Feingold have introduced S. 1122, which criminalizes willful infringements that do not have the purpose of commercial gain. This aims to close a percieved loophole under the current law, by which LaMacchia was able to distribute copyrighted works. S. 1284, s1201: "No person shall import, manufacture or distribute any device, product, or component incorporated into a device or product, or offer or perform any service, the primary purpose or effect of which is to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or otherwise circumvent, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law, any process, treatement, mechanism or system which prevents or inhibits the violation of any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner under section 106." Tom W. Bell Assistant Professor Law and Technology Program UD Law School bell@odo.law.udayton.edu PGP fingerprint: 78 06 76 AC 32 38 A6 4C B3 81 F4 1E 2E 27 AC 71