TeleRead Update #1
TeleRead Update #1 
Publisher
Treats Supreme Court Justices to Free Trips
The Central
Intelligence Agency and the National Information Infrastructure
The old saw is that the Supreme Court follows the election returns. But in interpreting copyright law, will justices pay heed to something else, too--whoever last treated them to a trip to Hawaii or the Virgin Islands? The Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported questionable relationships between some federal judges and a powerful publishing company in Minneapolis that finances $15,000 awards to judges for service deemed outstanding. Seven past or present Supreme Court members have helped judge the contest--the reason offered for trips to some rather pricey destinations.
Since when, though, have librarians or educators treated Supreme Court justices to expensive travel and doled out $15,000 awards to judges? New copyright law will be based partly on precedents, and one wonders how sound the existing ones are, now that a major newspaper has exposed those dubious practices. What else is happening to endanger the impartiality of our justices and other judges?
Please note that the Star Tribune isn't saying anyone is corrupt--nor am I, given the absence of a documented quid pro quo, or violation of current law--but clearly the Supreme Court justices and other federal judges merit close watching. See the links below for details on West.
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Although West's government relations policies are controversial, this is far from a fly-by-night company. West has provided many valuable services. TeleRead is pro-citizen and pro-library, but not anti-corporate; it potentially could send a lot of money in the direction of publishers. West is a legal publisher but is presumably interested in expanding into other areas.
Under TeleRead, West and other publishers could contract directly with writers or buy "dial-up rights" to future payments from a national digital library. They would simply have to add value in the form of editing, promotion, or up-front payments to creators. Otherwise, independent writers wouldn't deal with them. My own belief is that publishers can indeed add value, though a number have grown rather smug under the present copyright system, which is clearly pro-publisher at the expense of writers and the public at large. Writers typically can't even control the titles that appear on their books.
If nothing else, West and other publishers should recognize the broader public interest--and the fact that without affordable e-text from libraries, the market for their books will be far smaller, especially in this era of video games and similar high-tech distractions. The new technology doesn't just drain money away from books; it steals time. We need to make e-text as attractive as possible to children and society at large. Children, especially, need exposure to a large variety of books serving their exact needs, and the library model would be a good one to use, just so it allowed for fair compensation of writers and publishers.
Interestingly, Vance Opperman of West sits on the NII Advisory Council, which, among other things, has submitted comments to the Clinton Administration on copyright issues. He is close to Vice President Al Gore. Opperman has also been friends with Mack McLarty, Clinton's first chief of staff. What's more, Opperman cochaired the finance committee during the 1994 re-election campaign of Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic U.S. senator from California who sits on a copyright subcommittee within the Judiciary Committee. By way of a Political Action Committee and gifts from lawyers and lobbyists and family members, West in five years gave more than $738,000 to Congress members and the Democratic National Committee, according to the Taxpayer Assets Project.
Between Opperman's friendships and West's generosity to judges and politicians, it's safe to say that these people enjoy Access. The question is, Can they rise above their own short-term interests?
Minneapolis Star
Tribune series on West Publishing. The Star Trib says:
"U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges accepted
luxurious trips and other benefits from West Publishing Co.
during a period when they made decisions, on and off the bench,
worth millions to the Twin Cities company." According to the
Star Trib, "Seven Supreme Court justices took
trips at West's expense to help select the winner of a $15,000
cash award that West bestows on a federal judge each year. The
meetings sometimes were held at locations recommended by the
justices, including the Virgin Islands, Florida and California.
Since 1983, the court declined to review five cases that lower
courts had decided in West's favor--including two copyright
matters of high importance to the company." The Star Trib
says the justices involved were "Justices Sandra Day
O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy
and now-retired Justices Lewis Powell, Byron White and William
Brennan." Bravo to the Star Trib for what just could
turn out to be a Pulitzer Prize-winner! The Star Trib
commendably has put the material on the Net (by way of NewsShare).
The main reporters on the series were Tom
Hamburger and Sharon Schmickle, aided by John Oslund.
The
Taxpayer Assets Project, a brave and diligent group of
Naderites who have so rightly criticized West for taking public
information, adding copyrighted citations to it, then reselling
it to the public and the government at rather high prices. To
bring those prices down, we need a system of public-domain
citations. Measures could be taken to assure that these citations
weren't offered in such a way to favor the government. Among
other activities, TAP's runs several mailing
lists on topics ranging from drug regulation to federal
information policy. To learn about some other Nader-related
groups, ranging from Public Citizen to the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, click here.
West Publishing's own home
page. Ruth E. Stanoch, manager of government and media relations
for West, gave her employer's side in a response
published in the Star Trib.
Recent
opinions from federal
courts, including the Supreme
Court.
Full TeleRead
proposal, the Net version of a forthcoming chapter in a book from
M.I.T. Press and the American Society for Information Science.
E-mail me at rothman@clark.net.
Yes, we know about the intelligence community and the brain-dead plans for the Clipper-style chips, which, beyond violating our privacy, could actually endanger American security by making it harder for U.S. firms overseas to use the full-strength encryption they need. But what about the CIA's influence on content? I have no problem with the agency declassifying internal publications and posting them on the Net; indeed, I would encourage that. The CIA World Factbook is a wonderful example of the benefits here. Still, CIA material should be clearly identified as such; and for the benefit of readers outside the U.S., may I add that most everything said here about The Company could apply to other intelligence agencies within the U.S. and in other countries.
Some people in the CIA are scholars, and if their .sigs carry their agency identifications, I myself wouldn't object to their being on the Net, which, after all, is a public library of sorts. But the CIA and the rest of the government should beware of usurping the private sector in regard to content.
A well-meaning Company alum once talked about the government paying for a national encyclopedia. Please, no! Databases of legal opinions and the CIA World Factbook are one thing, but as much as possible, books themselves should be privately originated--with ample opportunities for writers and publishers to bypass librarians by gambling up-front fees to qualify for payments from the National Library. What's fascinating about the CIA Web area is how a history page glosses over some of the controversial practices of the agency, including massive spying on law-abiding U.S. citizens.
The references in this time line are entertainingly oblique. One of the entries, for example, says: "The Senate establishes its Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities under the chairmanship of Senator Frank Church (D-ID). The Church Committee investigated the nation's intelligence activities for 15 months and was disestablished upon submission of its final report on 26 April 1976."
Huh? Nothing about Sen. Church's conclusions? 1984, here we come. I myself would love to read the CIA's answer to allegations that an East Coast publisher more or less acted as a Company conduit.
At the same time I heartily agree with a complaint from Robert David Steele of Open Source Solutions, a former CIA man, that the United States lacks a good information strategy.
The challenge is to achieve such a goal while preserving the independence of book publishers, newspapers, and other private information-providers. TeleRead would do this not only through bypass procedures but through a network of librarians in many cities--not just Washington or New York. Our national library system should be like the Net, distributed. Al Gore mustn't be our chief information officer.