MEDIA ADVISORY

December 12, 2002

Contact Information: Marjorie Heins, Director, Free Expression Policy Project, 212.807.6222 x 12

Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Communications Director, Free Expression Policy Project, 212.807.6222 x 17

FREE EXPRESSION THINK TANK RELEASES GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT BATTLES

Should teenagers be allowed to swap music over the Internet? Should computer hackers be permitted to decrypt the entertainment industry’s electronic locks on e-books, songs, or movies? Where should we draw the line between rewarding creativity through the copyright system and society’s competing interest in the free flow of ideas?

In light of these and other concerns which have become the subject of heated debate in Congress, academia, and the arts and entertainment industries, the Free Expression Policy Project announces its release of "The Progress of Science and Useful Arts": Why Copyright Today Threatens Intellectual Freedom. This policy report -- available online at www.fepproject.org/policyreports/copyrightorig.html demystifies such complex laws as the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and deconstructs the underlying conflicts over "fair use," parody, copying, and the public domain.

The report contains eight recommendations for a better-balanced public policy on copyright and free expression. What with the U.S. government prosecuting a Russian company for creating a device to decrypt electronic books, and entertainment companies trying to shut down file-sharing programs like Grokster and KaZaA, this timely report will be an invaluable guide to the copyright battles that lie ahead.

Founded in 2000, the Free Expression Policy Project is a think tank on artistic and intellectual freedom that seeks free-speech friendly solutions to the concerns that drive censorship campaigns. For more information about copyright and other free expression issues, visit www.fepproject.org.