At the April 10 meeting of CPTWG, after a brief debate, the three co-chairs of the group (one each representing the motion picture, consumer electronics and information technology industries) unanimously rejected a request by EFF, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and DigitalConsumer.org that members of the press be permitted to attend the otherwise public meetings of the ARDG.
EFF then proposed that the three co-chairs be supplemented by the addition of a fourth co-chair, representing the views of public interest and consumer groups. The co-chairs indicated that they would consider the request at a future meeting.
The ARDG is a sub-group of the CPTWG and is governed by its press policies. CPTWG has long had a policy of excluding members of the press, while simultaneously representing their meetings as open to the public. The official press policy was recently codified and posted to the CPTWG website after The National Journal wrote a letter to the co-chairs protesting the CPTWG policy.
EFF, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, and DigitalConsumer.org had asked the co-chairs to reconsider their policy, at least as applied to the ARDG, in light of the importance to consumers and the public of the technical issues being discussed by the group. The Center for Democracy and Technology also spoke in favor of allowing press to attend.
Posted by fred at April 17, 2003 04:58 PM