LISNews: Librarian News

The Denver Post reports that \"police will be allowed to search customer purchase records\" at the Tattered Cover Book Store.

Astute readers will no doubt have already drawn a comparison to the 1998 case involving Kramerbooks & afterwords, the Washington DC bookstore that told Ken Starr to mind his own business. So why has a judge given the police carte blanche this time? Perhaps because they said the magic word: \"drugs\".

\"If it only takes one or two records from a bookstore to help us eliminate drugs on the street, then so be it,\" said Lt. Lori Moriarty, commander of the North Metro Drug Task Force, which is seeking the Tattered Cover records.

Ah, so that\'s the problem. It\'s not that Prohibition has failed again -- it\'s just those pesky booksellers who are protecting readers\' right to privacy...

Rory had this over on Library JuiceThis week, but it is important enough for me to reprint here.

The Association of Research Libraries is sponsoring a Satellite Teleconference on UCITA, the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. It is important that you do something if you are in the United States. Why?

*   UCITA legitimizes a non-negotiable contract-based system
of intellectual
property with no exemptions and fair use defenses for the research, education,
and library communities as provided for in federal copyright law. 

*   UCITA permits this same kind of contract to apply to mixed
media
transactions where a book accompanied by a CD, for example, could be governed
by
the same restrictions as placed on the CD. 

*   UCITA permits provisions that prohibit reverse engineering
or the public
comment or criticism of a product. 

*   UCITA allows the licensor to electronically disable, remove,
or prevent the
usage of computer information or software that resides on your system creating
significant security issues along with interrupting services and operations. 

*   UCITA allows software firms to waive liability for known
defects in their
software that they failed to disclose to their customers. 

UCITA can directly impact the ability of libraries and educational institutions
to carry out their missions, to effectively manage their operations, and
to
preserve and apply community values in their daily work.

With four panelists who were actively involved in the UCITA debates in
their
states, this teleconference will help you learn more about UCITA and what
you
can do to deal with it in your state!
Details and registration information can be found at arl.org/ucita.html -- Read More

A trio of stories on COPA(A). It\'s either COPAA or COPA, I just can\'t figure out which is what is who. You get the point though.

An Ordeal: Copin\' With COPPA from
Wired that says the Children\'s Online Privacy Protection Act is a flawed piece of
legislation, and decides it\'s easier to help kids forge their ages
to set up email accounts than it is to submit a credit card number,

COPA: Peddle Smut, Go to Jail from
Wired
Conservative members of the
Commission on Child Online Protection suggested during a
meeting a week ago that the government should shield Junior from dirty pictures by
imprisoning owners of \"obscene\" websites.

Online Children\'s Section from News.com
Telage said there is a \"50-50 shot\" that new Web domain categories could be created,
such as \".kids,\" reserved for child-friendly content. Others have advocated \".xxx\"
for adult sites, although Telage said the commission has free-speech reservations
about that suggestion.

In what can only be bad news, Wired is predicting a grim battle in Congress next year as a result of the ongoing Napster lawsuit. They Say the loser of the Napster case will be inmportant to this area of law.
The two-day international intellectual property conference was held last week.

\"We must protect the rights of the creator,\" Hatch said. \"But we cannot, in the name of copyright, unduly burden consumers and the promising technology the Internet presents to all of us.\"
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch