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Fw: 1998-10-01 VP Announces New Efforts to Crack Down on Software Piracy


To whom it may concern:

----------
| Date: donderdag 1 oktober 1998 20:20:00
| From: The White House
| To: [email protected]
| Subject: 1998-10-01 VP Announces New Efforts to Crack Down on Software Piracy
|
|
|                             THE WHITE HOUSE
|
|                       Office of the Vice President
| ________________________________________________________________________
| For Immediate Release                                    October 1, 1998
|
|
|                      VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES
|          NEW EFFORTS TO CRACK DOWN ON SOFTWARE PIRACY WORLD-WIDE
|
|
|      Washington, DC --Vice President Gore announced today that a new
| Executive Order (EO) will direct federal departments and agencies to
| prevent and combat computer software piracy, and the President also will
| direct the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to press foreign
| governments to enact similar protections.
|
|      "Today, we are declaring war on software piracy," Vice President 
| Gore said.  "The message is clear:  don't copy that floppy.  At home or
| abroad,intellectual property must be protected."
|
|      The federal government is the world's largest buyer of
| computer-related services and equipment, at over $20 billion a year. 
| An estimated $11 billion was lost world-wide to software piracy in 1997,
| translating into as many as 130,000 lost jobs in the United States.
|
|      President Clinton's Executive Order directs agencies to:
|
|      Ensure that only authorized computer software is acquired for,
|      and used on, agency computers.
|
|      Ensure that agency policies and practices related to copyrights
|      on computer software are adequate.
|
|      Prepare an inventory of the software on their computers.
|
|      Develop and maintain adequate record-keeping systems for their
|      computer software.
|
|      Vice President Gore said the President is directing USTR Charlene
| Barshefsky to press other governments over the next year to announce
| programs ensuring that their departments and ministries use only
| legitimate software in an authorized manner.  Working closely with
| software companies, USTR will seek to persuade other governments to
| modernize their software management systems, to assess software use
| through comprehensive audits, and to ensure that procurement practices 
| call for, and budgets provide for, acquisition and use of "legal
| software."
|
|      Finally, the Vice President announced that the Commerce Department
| will award 79 new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grants, worth $82
| million, to keep America at the cutting-edge of technology and
| innovation.  ATP helps fund higher-risk, higher-payoff investments that
| can yield enormous economic benefits.  By requiring cost-sharing from 
| industry, the ATP leverages federal research dollars and encourages
| companies to invest in long-term technological breakthroughs.
|
|      This year's grants will go for, among other things:
|
|      Technology to restore nerve functions to treat victims of
|      spinal cord injuries.
|
|      Life-saving DNA diagnostics at 1/100th of the current cost.
|
|      Digital video technologies that will allow businesses to do
|      video-conferencing over ordinary phone lines.
|
|      Software technologies that will dramatically cut the cost
|      of updating the skills of workers using computer-based
|      training.
|
|                                     ###
|
|