Copyright Office: Is only MS IE acceptable to you?

[ladymecha]

Would it bother you if the only browser you could use to preregister a copyright claim with the United States Copyright Office is Internet Explorer, version 5.1 and higher? Well, you might be getting bothered real soon, because that is what the Library of Congress has in mind.

In a followup to its July 22, 2005, Notice of Proprosed Rulemaking, the Copyright Office is now seeking "information as to whether persons filing the electronic-only preregistration form prescribed by the Copyright Office will experience difficulties if it is necessary to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser in order to preregister a work."

They want your comments on this insane, bureaucratic entangling of monopoly and the public weal no later than August 22, 2005. Here's how you can provide them feedback:

If hand delivered by a private party, an original and five copies of any comment should be brought to Room LM-401 of the James Madison Memorial Building between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and the envelope should be addressed as follows: Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Copyright Office, James Madison Memorial Building, Room LM-401, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559-6000. If hand delivered by a commercial courier, an original and five copies of any comment must be delivered to the Congressional Courier Acceptance Site located at Second and D Streets, NE., Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The envelope should be addressed as follows: Copyright Office General Counsel, Room LM-403, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC. If sent by mail, an original and five copies of any comment should be addressed to: Copyright GC/ I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024-0400. Comments may not be delivered by means of overnight delivery services such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service, etc., due to delays in processing receipt of such deliveries.

NewsForge tried to speak with David O. Carson, General Counsel for the Library of Congress Copyright Office, this morning. His name is given as the primary contact on the request for comments. Unfortunately, Carson is on vacation and is not available.

Next we tried Charlotte Douglass, Principal Legal Advisor, whose name is also provided as a contact point. Alas, she is out of the office until August 15th.

Our last effort was to speak with the author of the notice, Associate General Counsel Tanya Sandros. You guessed it. She is unavailable. It's not that the Library of Congress Copyright Office is closed for the summer, but the receptionist did tell us that everyone connected with situation is unavailable. But you can call to leave each of them voice mail by calling (202) 707-8380.

[bidi]

Can they even do that? Wouldn't there be legal issues if an US office blattenly aided a specific company?

[unobtanium]

And what company do you think could possibly have the money to argue the case - US government + Microsoft vs Joe Bloggs?

[metalsux]

Apple possibly, but then again they have Internet explorer included with mac osx.

[Dolda2000]

Apple possibly, but then again they have Internet explorer included with mac osx.

Not anymore. Microsoft has discontinued the IE line for Macintosh as of version 5.5, which was quite a while ago. And it certainly never came bundled with OSX. It has always been an add-on from Microsoft.

[drakebasher]

We can only hope that all of the high-tech, academic and military-industrial-complex contractors that have never gone the windows way will respond in a dramatic fashion. That the US government would even ask a question like that, especially given that the Internet itself was a product of the US goverment more than anything else kind of loudly suggests that there may be something disturbing underneath. I can imagine all the ignorant f**king seatwarmers in congress saying "Hmm, MS Explorer? yeah, that's what my wife uses...." This, so soon after MS has stated that they have set a target of 5000 patents per year: about 10 times what they have done in the past.... Something stinks.

[carbon8]

That's like saying you can't hand deliver your copyright docs unless you're driving a Lexus.

This won't float. There's too many people, including mac and linux, that don't use IE anymore.

[drakebasher]

]Section 104 of the ART Act directs that preregistration procedures must be in place by October 24, 2005. 17 U.S.C. 408(f)(1). To comply with this time frame and to facilitate efficient processing of preregistration claims, inter alia, the proposed rule calls for filing such claims by electronic means only. At this point in the process of developing the Copyright Office's system for online preregistration, it is not entirely clear whether the system will be compatible with web browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and higher. Filers of preregistration applications will be able to employ these Internet Explorer browsers successfully. Support for Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, and Mozilla 1.7.7 is planned but will not be available when preregistration goes into effect. Present users of these browsers may experience problems when filing claims.

In order to ensure that preregistration can be implemented in a smoothly functioning and timely manner, the Office now seeks comments that will assist it in determining whether any eligible parties will be prevented from preregistering a claim due to browser requirements of the preregistration system. Therefore, this notice seeks information whether any potential preregistration filers would have difficulties using Internet Explorer (version 5.1 or higher) to file preregistration claims, and if so, why. More generally, in the interest of achieving support for browsers in the Office's preregistration processing environment, this notice inquires whether (and why) an eligible party who anticipates preregistering a claim on the electronic-only form will not be able to use Internet Explorer to do so, or will choose not to preregister if it is necessary to use Internet Explorer.

The Office requests that responses to this supplemental notice of inquiry be made part of the responders' comments on the July 22nd Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Whether or not accompanied by comments on the proposed rule, the response to this notice of inquiry should be submitted by the due dates for comment on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, i.e., no later than August 22, 2005, with reply comments due no later than September 7, 2005.

(link here) Looks like uncle George and crew want to do this "preregistration" deal on the cheap like everything else they do, and the copyright office is looking for support in doing it right. We have about a week to write (1 original and 5 copies) and mail our comments saying that we anticipate preregistering, under the ART Act, a copyright claim for an unpublished work which will soon be released for commercial distribution and that it will not be possible to use IE because it is incompatible with our IT systems and it presents unacceptable security risks. We should do this because the US government has a habit of making "temporary" arrangements permanent.

[BriteLeaf]

Apple possibly, but then again they have Internet explorer included with mac osx.

yeah...

Plus Apple and Microsoft are back in cahoots with each other again

[techieMoe]

Plus Apple and Microsoft are back in cahoots with each other again

What makes you say that?