USACM letter sent to Congressional leaders regarding concern with Terrorism Bill, sent prior to bill becoming law. October 19, 2001
USACM letter to Senator Judd Gregg regarding his proposal to revive government controls on encryption. The proposal calls for a ban on all non-key-escrow systems. Read the press release here. October 2, 2001
USCAM letter to Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, expressing concerns with the potential legislative proposal known as the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). September 26, 2001
USACM letter to members of Congress in the wake of terrorist attacks. September 20, 2001
ACM CEO and Executive Director Registers Concern Over Copyright Provisions in Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Treaty. John White submitted a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick urging that DMCA-like anti-circumvention measures be removed from the FTAA treaty currently under negotiation. Here is the US Trade Representative's response to John White's letter. More DMCA files. August 22, 2001
USACM Submits Letter to Office of the U.S. Trade Representative regarding the draft Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) treaty's intellectual property provisions. Thirty-four countries are participating in the FTAA treaty process. As part of the discussions, negotiators are considering including copyright provisions that would require all nation-signatories to enact DMCA-like anti-circumvention provisions. August 17, 2001
USACM Co-Chairs Respond to Senator Diane Feinstein's statement on opposition to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Senator Feinstein, the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information, stated that she had heard of no credible opposition to the DMCA. July 31, 2001
USACM Co-Chairs Address Association of American Publishers (AAP) Regarding AAP's Support for Sklyarov Arrest and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). August 1, 2001 USACM Co-Chairs Barbara Simons and Gene Spafford submitted a letter to the AAP expressing concern over the AAP's support for the DMCA in general and the arrest of Russian cryptographer Dmitry Sklyarov in particular. (ACM is a member of AAP.) Here is a response from the AAP. More information on the DMCA can be found on our Intellectual Property page.
USACM Co-Chairs Barbara Simons and Gene Spafford submitted a letter to the Secretary of commerce urging a complete evaluation of the public policy requirements for the current and future management of the usTLD. July 19, 2001
USACM Co-Chairs Submit Letter on Electronic Voting. UASCM co-chairs Barbara Simons and Gene Spafford submitted a letter to the House Science Committee expressing concerns about the premature implementation of fully electronic and Internet voting. The text of the letter is here. This letter was also sent to the Committee on House Administration which is considering Security in Voting Technology. May 29, 2001
USACM Co-chairs Contact Congressional Committees Regarding Database Legislation. USACM co-chairs Barbara Simons and Gene Spafford sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner and House Commerce Committee Chairman Tauzin expressing concern regarding congressional consideration of new database protection legislation. The letter urged the Chairmen to carefully consider the effects of restriction of "transformative use" on nonprofit publishers, students, researchers and the general public. See USACM's Intellectual Property page for info regarding past database legislation proposals. April 3, 2001