The ACM has taken a position against the database bill pending in the U.S. House. Excerpt:
ACM is a publisher and maintains an online digital library. While we have a vested interest in the protection of our copyrighted information, we also shoulder a responsibility for our discipline to promote public policies that advance the open interchange of information in ways that lead to advances in computing technology of benefit to society.
ACM has concluded that current US laws provide adequate protection for collections of data. Additional legal protections would impact the availability and use of data and information that have traditionally been in the public domain, including government-funded data that might not be available from any other source. The open sharing of data and information has been fundamental to the advancement of knowledge, technology and culture. Any broadly constructed effort intended to increase protection for commercial data collections would restrict public data collections, thereby imposing an unwarranted cost on the process of scientific discourse.
Accordingly, ACM agrees with the National Academies of Science, the American Libraries Association, the US Chamber of Commerce, and other scientific societies, public interest groups and businesses that do not see a compelling need to extend new legal protections for collections of data at this time.
A poll at the web site shows an overwhelming majority of ACM members "strongly agree" with its position.
(Thanks to C-FIT.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/21/2004 08:11:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
