Slashdot Mirror
IEEE Adds DMCA Clause for Submitted Papers
xpccx writes: "Newsforge has this blurb about the IEEE changing its 'IEEE Copyright Form' for submissions to the 'IEEE Copyright Transfer & Export Control Compliance Form.' From the IEEE site: 'While the IEEE standard manuscript submission process has always required authors to represent that the necessary clearances and approvals have been obtained, the newly revised Form now requires the author's explicit affirmation that the manuscript does not violate U.S. export laws or restrictions.' And specifically from the new form, 'The undersigned further warrants that the publication or dissemination of the Work shall not violate any proprietary right or the Digital Copyright Millennium Act (the "DCMA").' Maybe the IEEE just wants to protect itself from DMCA lawsuits, but I hope their intention is not to abandon authors who get sued."
I strongly agree with your sentiments, but it is an American organisation and thus very bound by US laws. Perhaps a better solution would have been to relocate the headquarters to a country with more sensible IP laws.
flossie
Write now. Defend liberty
What about foreign authors, are they required to be aware of US law and abide by it even if their own country doesn't have such a law?
And who decides what violates the DMCA, if not a court of law?
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
The IEEE does not pay authors - it is all academics and professionals. They do not pay editors or review boards - again all volunteer. They charge very high fees to libraries and even individuals. The online subscriptions cost almost as much as the print subscriptions.
In short they do very little for the huge amount paid to them. Why can the academic community not form a purely web based journal that is of the same academic peer review quality of the IEEE and available to all for free? Seems like this might be a good time to figure out the answer to that questions.
Why else would they make authors warrant that their work does not conflict with the DMCA? If the IEEE finds themselves named in a DMCA suit, they will go after the author (more probably, the author's employer) to recover their costs in a breach of contract action.
Bottom line, IEEE is folding like a full-service laundry. (Boo, hiss as appropriate)
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
(disclosure: I have signed one of these once, but I do not remember this clause either. It's possible it was there already but that I didn't pay enought attention.)
Also, it seems like all foreign authors now also must comply with the DMCA if they want to be published in an IEEE publication. I wonder what happens if they sign, but the work is later found to be in violation of the DMCA. Can you be prosecuted for that even if you don't live in the US, or performed the work in the US?
This leaves me with a lot of questions...
Right now, it is a small group of people devoting a limited amout of resources to fighting the DMCA. As the Felten case showed, it is possible to use the threat of lawsuit to prevent publication, no matter how constitutionally unsound (remember, when it looked like it was headed for the Supreme Court, the plaintiff backed down). This announcement by IEEE should send shockwaves around the world. With "more than 377,000 individual members in 150 countries" and as the producer of "30 percent of the world's published literature in electrical engineering", this will make more than a little noise.
IEEE has clout and reputation, it is doubtful that something like this is going to kill their journals. I am an optimist; I like to think that they are stepping up to the plate rather than backing down.
(* Engineers have zero political clout *)
Doctors and lawyers have trade unions, or at least PAC groups. How come computer and engineering geeks can never get together?
Perhaps we are too anti-social to organize?
Table-ized A.I.
...for shame. I'm seriosly considering cancelling my membership.
Damn, I would too but I cancelled when they came out with their "ethics" statement. If I agree to donate my labor for some cash it doesn't mean I'm a serf who can't check my e-mail on my lunch break because I'd be using my employer's computer. IEEE might as well fault me for using employer air, at least that is used up in the process.
...just publish your tech reports, research papers, etc, on your own University web page. Use your own University's department to organize conferences and other get-togethers.
Although I believe the IEEE only protects _itself_ from legal issues, its time for the IEEE-members and other people to show how much they believe in DMCA. What are the Alternatives to IEEE - where can people publish tech stuff? Mind the IEEE values: 1) reputation (died today) 2) size 3) influence (shouldn't matter to publishers, but does) The voice here are consistent: cancel your IEEE membership. m
The IEEE is a global technical professional society...
I is not for international.
Although global implies more than just the US.
Personally I don't think that an institution which only accepts membership fees in $ and has no decent payment sheme for non-USians besides credit cards is hardly international.
And yet I am able to pay my membership fees in Australian dollars if I so choose... In fact, the IEEE sets an exchange rate anually which tends to be more favourable than the actual exchange rate, meaning I effectively save money by paying with a personal cheque in Aussie dollars.
However, I am getting more and more concerned that the IEEE is becoming far too US-centric. There is less and less distinction between the IEEE and IEEE-USA.