Ohio

[Deborah_Showalter-Johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Just received via Email:
"... just learned from law librarians in Ohio about an immediate
legislative crisis there.  H.B. 145, the Electronic Government Services
Act, would prevent state agencies from providing access to information.
It has been added to the budget bill which has already passed the
House.
 This is model legislation promoted by a group called ALEC (American
Legislative Exchange Council, www.alec.org)  that was introduced last
year in a handful of states, including Ohio, and was successfully
stopped. 

H.B. 145 is now an add on to the budget bill, H.B. 95.  It prohibits a
state government agency from providing information if there are two or
more competing private enterprises providing those services. That would
mean that a government agency would not be allowed to post its
regulations or decision on its Web site if, for example, Lexis,
WestLaw,
or other companies offer that information for sale. 

This year's version of the bill exempts the Ohio Supreme Court and
Legislature where much of the opposition last year focused. However,
state agencies would be impacted by the legislation and agency
information that is now available at no cost on agency Web sites will
likely disappear if HB 145 is enacted. 

Here's a link to the bill:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=125_HB_145 
Section 1306.20 Paragraph (I) defines "state agency" as "every
organized body, office, or agency established by the laws of the state
for the exercise of any function of state government, but does not
include the general assembly, any legislative agency, the supreme
court,
the other courts of record in this state, or any judicial agency." 

Section 1306.25 (E)(1) further includes under "state agency" "similar
agency of a county, township, municipal corporation, or other political
subdivision,..." It then substantially limits their ability to publish
electronically. While H.B. 145 is not as onerous as the previously
withdrawn H.B. 482 of last year, it is a huge threat to public access.

This bill threatens the right of residents in Ohio from accessing state
government information, created with their tax dollars, at no cost
through the Internet.  It is an abhorrent model that must be stopped
short.  Please get involved, especially if you have members in Ohio who
can respond immediately to this serious threat.

Deborah K. Showalter-Johnson
Library, U.S. Court of Appeals




Max.Hyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
04/22/2003 11:32 AM

 
        To:     digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        cc: 
        Subject:        Security-conference gag order (RE: In The News)


   Gentlefolk:

   The most interesting aspect of the report
(http://news.com.com/2100-1028-996836.html) is that copyright
isn't mentioned.  The plaintiff claims the presentation may be
blocked because it is ``commercial speech'', which is given a
lower level of First Amendment protection.  The plaintiff says
the students are a ``small competitor''.

``[T]he restraining order was grounded largely in federal and
Georgia state antihacking laws and a state trade secrets act.''

   I find the latter interesting, because I was taught that
reverse-engineering is always a legal way to extract a trade
secret.  (E.g., if you can duplicate Coca-Cola by chemical
analysis, Coke can't do a thing about it.)  Can anyone with
more up-to-date knowledge fill me in?

-- 

                         Best wishes,

                                  Max Hyre

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