Removal of Personally Identifiable Information From Registration Records, 9004-9009 [2017-02238]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 21 / Thursday, February 2, 2017 / Rules and Regulations
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By the Commission.
Issued: January 19, 2017.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
Note: The following appendix will not
appear in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Appendix—Commenters
Abbreviation
Commenter
APS ......................................
BPA ......................................
CEA ......................................
EEI ........................................
Idaho Power .........................
IESO .....................................
Joint Commenters ................
Arizona Public Service Company.
Bonneville Power Administration.
Canadian Electricity Association.
Edison Electric Institute.
Idaho Power.
Independent Electricity System Operator.
Alberta Electric System Operator, California Independent System Operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas,
Inc., Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., Southwest Power Pool,
Inc., and IESO.
Naturener USA, LLC.
North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Naturener .............................
NERC ...................................
NRECA .................................
TVA ......................................
[FR Doc. 2017–02175 Filed 2–1–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Parts 201 and 204
[Docket No. 2016–7]
Removal of Personally Identifiable
Information From Registration Records
U.S. Copyright Office, Library
of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Copyright Office is
issuing a final rule to allow authors and
claimants to replace or remove
personally identifiable information
(‘‘PII’’) from the Office’s online
registration catalog. This rule allows
authors and claimants, or their
authorized representatives, to request
the replacement or removal of certain
PII that is requested by the Office and
collected on a registration application,
such as a home addresses or personal
phone numbers, from the Office’s
internet-accessible public catalog, while
retaining that information in the Office’s
offline records as required by law. The
rule also codifies an existing practice
that removes extraneous PII, such as
driver’s license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, and
credit card information, on the Office’s
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SUMMARY:
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own volition or upon request by
authors, claimants, or their authorized
representatives.
DATES: Effective March 6, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cindy Abramson, Assistant General
Counsel, by email at ciab@loc.gov, or
Abioye Mosheim, Attorney Advisor, by
email at abmo@loc.gov. Each can be
reached by telephone by calling 202–
707–8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On September 15, 2016, the Copyright
Office published a notice of proposed
rulemaking (‘‘NPRM’’) to create
procedures to request removal of certain
‘‘personally identifiable information’’
(‘‘PII’’) from the Office’s registration
records.1 PII is generally considered to
be any information that has the
potential to identify a specific
individual. The NPRM concerned two
distinct categories of PII.
First, the Office requests and receives
certain types of PII during the
registration process (e.g., dates of birth,
addresses, telephone numbers, fax
numbers, and email addresses). The
collection of some of that information is
mandated by statute or regulation; other
information is optional.2 This
1 81
FR 63440 (Sept. 15, 2006).
Copyright Act requires the Office to gather
the name and address of the copyright claimant; the
name of the author(s), for works that are not
anonymous or pseudonymous; the nationality or
2 The
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information is referred to herein as
‘‘requested PII.’’
Second, the Office does not request,
but sometimes receives, additional PII
that applicants include in their
registration applications, such as
driver’s license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, and
credit card information on their
registration applications. Such
information is extraneous and
unnecessary for the processing and
maintenance of copyright registration
records. This information is referred to
herein as ‘‘extraneous PII.’’
With respect to requested PII—
information that the Copyright Office
purposely collects as part of
registration—the Copyright Act imposes
certain obligations on the Office to
preserve that information as part of the
public record. The Act requires the
Register to ensure that ‘‘records of . . .
registrations . . . are maintained, and
that indexes of such records are
prepared,’’ and that ‘‘[s]uch records and
indexes . . . be open to public
inspection,’’ thus creating a public
record. 17 U.S.C. 705(a), 705(b). The
public record of copyright registrations
serves several important functions.
Chief among these is that the record
domicile of the author(s); and date(s) of death for
deceased author(s). See 17 U.S.C. 409. The Act also
gives the Register of Copyrights the authority to
require applicants to supply any other information
‘‘bearing upon the preparation or identification of
the work or the existence, ownership, or duration
of copyright.’’ Id.
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provides essential facts relevant to the
copyright claim and information that a
potential user of a copyrighted work can
use to locate the work’s owner. The
registration record can also be a
valuable aid for determining the term of
copyright protection, by providing
information such as the author’s date of
death, the publication date for the work,
or the year of creation of the work.
A separate provision of the Act
requires the Register of Copyrights to
‘‘compile and publish . . . catalogs of
all copyright registrations.’’ 17 U.S.C.
707(a). For most of the Office’s history,
this catalog was maintained in paper
form as the Catalog of Copyright Entries
(‘‘CCE’’). Starting in 1994, however, the
Office began providing the public with
access to a computerized database of
post-1977 copyright registration and
recordation catalog entries via the
internet. Then, in 1996, the Office
decided to end publication of the
printed CCE and publish copyright
registration information solely via an
online public catalog. See 61 FR 52465
(Oct. 7, 1996).
Initially, the PII revealed in the online
public catalog was limited to names
and, when volunteered, the author’s
year of birth. By 2007, however, with
the advent of the Copyright Office’s
online registration system (‘‘eCO’’), a
broader range of PII was pushed from
the Office’s registration records into the
online public catalog, including the
postal address of the claimants, and the
name, postal address, email address and
phone number of the person authorized
to correspond about, and/or provide
rights and permission to use, the
registered work. See 72 FR 36883, 36887
(July 6, 2007). The current online public
catalog, however, does not contain all of
the information that is contained in the
Office’s full registration records. For
instance, the online public catalog
currently does not include the text of
correspondence between the Office and
the applicant. This information is
maintained solely in the Office’s offline
records, although members of the public
can obtain copies of it by making a
request to the Office.
In addition, while the information in
the online public catalog initially could
only be searched and retrieved via the
Office’s Web site, in 2007 third parties
began harvesting registration
information, including PII, from the
catalog, and posting that information on
alternative Web sites, which were then
indexed by search engines. As a result,
authors and claimants began noticing
their personal information appearing in
internet search results, and began asking
the Office to remove that information
from the Office’s online public catalog.
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In 2008, the Office published a list of
frequently asked questions (‘‘FAQs’’) on
privacy to address some of these
concerns.3 In the FAQs, the Office
stressed that, by statute, it was required
to collect certain information as part of
the registration application and
maintain it as part of its public records.
The FAQs advised the public that if
they did not wish sensitive personal
information to appear in the online
public catalog, they should refrain from
providing it during the registration
process, if possible. Applicants were
advised to instead consider providing
non-personal information, such as
information about a third-party agent, a
post office box, or a non-personal email
address. But the Office warned that, if
the applicant provided personal
information, it would be included in the
online public catalog. Both the Web
page to log in to the online registration
system and the Web page to download
paper application forms include links to
the privacy FAQs. See eCO Registration
System, Privacy: Copyright Public
Records, https://www.copyright.gov/
registration/; Forms, https://
www.copyright.gov/forms/; see also U.S.
Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S.
Copyright Office Practices
(‘‘Compendium (Third)’’) 205 (3d ed.
2014).
The Office’s practices have differed
with respect to extraneous PII—such as
driver’s license numbers, social security
numbers, credit card information, and
banking information—that applicants
sometimes include on registration
applications, even though the
application does not require or request
such information. Given the particular
sensitivity of that information, and the
fact that it is not requested as part of the
registration application, the Office has
developed an informal practice of
removing extraneous PII from its
registration records, including the
online public catalog and the offline
records, for no fee. During the
registration process, the Office may
remove extraneous PII, particularly if it
is sensitive information, on its own
volition. After the registration is
complete, the Office will remove
extraneous PII upon request. See
Compendium (Third) 1804.2 (‘‘If the
registration specialist discovers a social
security number, driver’s license
number, credit card number, or bank
account number in the application, he
or she will remove that information
from the record without communicating
with the applicant [and] [i]f this
3 See U.S. Copyright Office, Privacy: Copyright
Public Records, https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/
faq-privacy.html.
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9005
information is not discovered during the
examination process . . . [t]he Office
will remove [it] upon written request.’’).
The NPRM explained in detail the
rationale for and basic operation of the
proposed rule. The Office solicited and
received sixteen comments on the
proposed rule. Having reviewed and
carefully considered all of the
comments received, the Copyright
Office now issues a final rule that
closely follows the proposed rule, with
some alterations in response to the
comments, as discussed below.
II. Discussion of Public Comments
Replacement of Name After Legal
Name Change. The NPRM proposed to
allow authors and claimants to request
the removal of certain PII from the
online public catalog only, and replace
it with non-personal information.
Names were specifically excluded from
this category in the proposed rule. In the
NPRM, the Office gave three reasons for
not allowing authors or claimants to
remove their names from the online
public catalog, or replace an author or
claimant’s name with a pseudonym or
an anonymous designation: (1)
Changing or removing a name is not
necessary to prevent privacy invasions
as long as associated PII is removed; (2)
allowing authors or claimants to alter
their names in the online public catalog
may lead to confusion regarding the
term of copyright protection for the
work; and (3) removal of a claimant’s
name could lead to confusion about the
correct copyright term.
Two commenters urged the Office to
allow authors or claimants to replace
their names in the online public catalog.
They argued that, for transgender
individuals, disclosure of a birth name
equals disclosure of transgender status.
National Center for Transgender
Equality (‘‘NCTE’’) Comments at 1; T.
Brown Comments. Although it may be
possible to use a supplementary
registration to change one’s name, both
the original registration and the
supplementary registration appear in
the online registration record.
According to these commenters, having
a transgender individual’s birth name
and changed name both appear in the
record could jeopardize the ‘‘well-being
and personal and professional life’’ of a
transgender individual, put them in
danger, or subject them to ‘‘employment
discrimination, bodily harm and/or
worse.’’ T. Brown Comments. NCTE
argued that not allowing a person who
has received a legal name change to
replace their original name with the
legally changed name may affect victims
of domestic violence as well. NCTE
Comments at 1.
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NCTE suggested two revisions to the
NPRM, one of which the Office
reproduces here:
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201.2(e)(2)(iii) Names of authors or claimants
may not be removed or replaced with a
pseudonym. Requests to substitute the prior
name of the author or claimant with the
current legal name of the author or claimant
must be accompanied by official
documentation of the legal name change.
NCTE Comments at 1. The Office finds
compelling NCTE’s and T. Brown’s
arguments for allowing a name change
in the online record, and adopts the
above suggested language in the final
rule.
NCTE also recommended that the
Office not include a note in the online
record indicating that the legal name
has been modified because it could pose
safety and privacy concerns to
transgender individuals. NCTE
Comments at 3. While the Office takes
seriously these concerns, as mentioned
in the NPRM, the Copyright Act
imposes certain obligations on the
Office to preserve information as part of
the public record. See 17 U.S.C. 705(a),
705(b). Pursuant to the new rule, ‘‘a note
indicating that the online record has
been modified will be added to the
online registration record.’’ 17 U.S.C.
201.2(e)(6). This note, however, will
merely indicate that a change was made
to the record but will not specify
whether or not a change to the legal
name was made. The Office believes
that this clarification addresses NCTE’s
concerns.
Retention of Original PII in Offline
Records. The NPRM also proposed that
the original information would be
maintained in the Office’s offline
records and would be available for
public inspection by visitors to the
Copyright Office and upon request,
consistent with the Office’s statutory
responsibilities to maintain such
records and make them available to the
public. The NPRM sought to strike an
appropriate balance between the
public’s interest in a robust online
record and concerns of privacy and
safety in individual cases.
The Software and Information
Industry Association (‘‘SIIA’’) expressed
concern about this aspect of the rule,
commenting that ‘‘the very reason for
the registration data is to enable the
licensing of works’’ and the ‘‘proposal
makes that more difficult.’’ SIIA
Comments at 3. In SIIA’s view, ‘‘[t]hose
seeking information would have to hire
someone in Washington to physically go
to the Copyright Office records and
search them.’’ Id. The Office, however,
crafted the rule with that exact concern
in mind. The Office does not intend to
make it more difficult to license works,
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which is why the rule does not permit
a claimant to eliminate address
information from the online public
catalog, but instead only allows for the
replacement of a home address with a
verifiable substitute address, such as a
current post office box or third-party
address. As the NPRM explained,
‘‘allowing the wholesale removal of a
claimant address would impede the
public’s ability to contact a copyright
owner to obtain permission to use the
work.’’ 81 FR at 63441. The Office has
made this point even more explicit in
the final rule.
With respect to other types of PII,
alternate information must be provided,
unless a stringent standard is met:
Specifically, the requester must
demonstrate that the stated concern
substantially outweighs the need for the
information to remain in the public
record. As the NPRM explained, ‘‘[t]his
higher standard is warranted because
removing information entirely from the
online public catalog would result in a
diminished record available for search
via the internet.’’ 81 FR at 63442. The
Office does not anticipate that it will
liberally grant such requests.
Additionally, under existing practices,
one does not have to travel to
Washington to physically search
records. Members of the public may
obtain a search for and copies of
registration records upon request and
have the results sent to them via U.S.
mail or courier. See generally
Compendium (Third) 2406, 2407.
The Copyright Alliance also
recommended revising the rule to allow
for bulk access to offline records.
Copyright Alliance Comments at 4. The
Office’s current technology systems
does not permit bulk access. While the
Office declines to adopt this suggestion
under the PII rule, it will consider the
recommendation as part of its broader
technology modernization efforts.
Various Concerns Regarding
Collection of PII in Registration Process.
Some commenters including the
National Writers Union and the
American Society of Journalists and
Authors (‘‘NWU/ASJA’’), stated that the
Office should not require an author or
claimant to make any contact
information publicly available. See
NWU/ASJA Comments at 4–5, 7–8;
Alexander Kunz Comments. Other
commenters asked the Office to do away
with the collection of physical
addresses and only collect email
addresses. See e.g., V.E. Anonymous
Comments; Helen Zhang Comments
(stating that even providing a substitute
non-personal address or P.O. Box may
give an unwanted party the author or
claimant’s approximate location). But,
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as stated in the NPRM, the Office is
mandated by statute to collect and make
public a claimant’s address. See 17
U.S.C. 409(1) (‘‘The application for
copyright registration shall . . . include
the name and address of the copyright
claimant.’’). Given that section 409(1)
was added to the Copyright Act before
electronic mail existed, the Office
interprets that provision to mean that
the claimant must provide a physical
mailing address—not an electronic
mailing address. See H.R. Rep. 155–156.
Therefore, the Office declines to adopt
any regulation that would do away with
the collection and maintenance of
physical claimant addresses. That said,
the Office has always advised in its
Privacy FAQs that the inclusion of any
physical address other than the
claimant’s address is optional;
accordingly, applicants are advised to
think carefully before providing a
claimant’s personal physical address,
and are instead encouraged to provide a
third-party agent’s address, a post office
box, or a non-personal email address.
Several commenters recommended
that the Office amend the rule to either
provide notice to applicants at the time
of registration that their PII will be on
the internet and to advise them of their
options for avoiding publication of their
PII, or to provide an ‘‘opt out’’
mechanism on the registration
application that would allow the
applicant to opt out of providing his or
her PII. See e.g., Copyright Alliance
Comments at 3; Alexander Kunz
Comments. But, as mentioned in the
NPRM and above, the Office already
provides links to its Privacy FAQs on
both the online registration application
and the Web page that houses the
downloadable paper registration
applications. Additionally, eCO and
each paper registration application
contains a Privacy Act Notice that
advises the applicant that by completing
the application it is authorizing the
Office to collect the applicant’s PII and
consenting to routine uses of the PII,
including publication to give legal
notice of the applicant’s copyright
claim.
The Copyright Alliance suggested that
the rule provide a ‘‘do not contact’’
mechanism at the time of registration.
Copyright Alliance Comments at 3. It
stated that ‘‘providing registrants with
the option of indicating they do not
wish to be contacted . . . should
decrease the amount of unwanted
contact and encourage creators to feel
more comfortable about providing their
information.’’ Copyright Alliance
Comments at 3. Without any empirical
evidence to support such an assertion,
the Office declines to adopt this
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recommendation; it is unclear how
providing PII but asking members of the
public to not contact an author using
that PII will actually deter unwanted
contact. Additionally, eCO is not
currently designed to permit a ‘‘do not
contact’’ option at registration, and
adding such an option would require
updates to the eCO system. Accordingly,
at this time the Office declines to adopt
the Copyright Alliance’s ‘‘do not
contact’’ suggestion, but may consider it
at a later date as part of its broader
technology modernization efforts.
Finally, the Office notes that NWU/
ASJA made several comments not
relevant to the NPRM, including that the
Office should repeal the requirement of
registration for enforcement and
remedies and withdraw proposed
orphan works legislation. See NWU/
ASJA Comments at 3. NWU/ASJA also
alleges that the requirement to make
contact information public is a
prohibited formality under the Berne
Convention and that the Office’s
gathering and maintaining information
on a registration application violates the
Privacy Act because the information
gathered is not relevant and necessary to
accomplish the mission of the Copyright
Office, and is not mandated by statute.
See NWU/ASJA Comments at 4–5, 7.
Although the Office does not agree that
these requirements violate Berne or the
Privacy Act, this rulemaking is not the
proper forum in which to address these
concerns in detail. The requirements
that NWU/ASJA complain of, however,
are part of the Copyright Act, and the
Office cannot create exceptions to them
as part of this rulemaking.
‘‘Verified’’ Addresses. As the NPRM
explained, the proposed rule does not
allow a claimant to eliminate address
information from the online public
catalog, but instead would only allow
for the replacement of a home address
with a verifiable substitute address,
such as a current post office box or
third-party address.
One commenter, Music Reports,
recommended the following change to
the proposed rule: The Office should
require the substitute address
information be ‘‘verified’’—not just be
verifiable—at time of application, by
requiring notarized documentation of
the requester’s identity, and by
requiring the requester to provide
evidence that one is able to receive mail
at that address. Music Reports
Comments at 2. The Office believes that
adding this burden is unnecessary. The
rule already requires that the requester
provide the Office with ‘‘verifiable’’
information, meaning that the requester
will have to aver that the replacement
address is one at which the author
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and/or claimant can receive mail. And
the requester is required to append an
affidavit to the request stating as much.
Therefore, the Office declines to adopt
Music Reports recommendations in the
final rule.
Fees. The NPRM proposed that the
cost for filing an initial request for
replacement or removal of requested PII
would be $130, and the fee for
reconsideration of denied requests for
replacement or removal of requested PII
would be $60. There would be no fee for
requests to remove extraneous PII. For
reconsiderations, the NPRM proposed a
flat fee of $60 per request, regardless of
the number of registration records
referenced in the request. As the NPRM
stated, both fees are non-refundable.
Several commenters thought the
initial fee for requesting the replacement
or removal of requested PII was
unreasonable. See e.g., Copyright
Alliance Comments at 3; Cletus Price
Comments; Alexander Kunz Comments;
Helen Zhang Comments. The Office
calculated the fee, however, after
carefully considering the time and labor
required to review and process these
requests, including the salaries of junior
and senior staff who will take part in the
review, draft the decisions, and perform
the data entry; costs associated with
docketing and responding to requests
via U.S. mail; system costs related to
entering changes into the online public
catalog as well as updating the offline
registration records; and costs
associated with printing a new
registration certificate.
One commenter stated that
‘‘[r]equiring [an] applicant to submit
requested PII then wait for the Office to
publish it in its online records and then
requiring the individual to request and
pay $130 to have some of it taken down
would be a very inconvenient process.’’
Cletus Price Comments. But the Office
notes that PII does not necessarily need
to be provided as part of the initial
registration application. The registration
application instructions, as well as the
above-mentioned privacy FAQs, warn
applicants at the time of registration that
any PII provided on the registration
application will be made public and
that, in order to avoid any issues
regarding security or privacy, to provide
non-personal information (like a P.O.
Box or business address) where
possible, or where the information is
optional, to not provide PII at all.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Parts 201 and
204
Copyright, Information, Privacy,
Records.
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9007
Final Regulations
For the reasons set forth in the
preamble, the Copyright Office amends
37 CFR parts 201 and 204 of 37 CFR
chapter II as follows:
PART 201—GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The authority citation for part 201
continues to read, in part, as follows:
■
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
*
*
*
*
*
2. In § 201.1, revise the section
heading and add paragraph (c)(8) to read
as follows:
■
§ 201.1
Office.
Communication with the Copyright
*
*
*
*
*
(c) * * *
(8) Requests to remove PII from
registration records. Requests to remove
personally identifiable information from
registration records pursuant to
§§ 201.2(e) and (f) should be addressed
to: U.S. Copyright Office, Associate
Register of Copyrights and Director of
the Office of Public Information and
Education, P.O. Box 70400, Washington,
DC 20024–0400. Requests should be
clearly labeled ‘‘Request to Remove
Requested PII,’’ ‘‘Request for
Reconsideration Following Denial of
Request to Remove Requested PII,’’ or
‘‘Request to Remove Extraneous PII,’’ as
appropriate.
■ 3. In § 201.2, add paragraphs (e) and
(f) to read as follows:
§ 201.2
Office.
Information given by the Copyright
*
*
*
*
*
(e) Requests for removal of requested
personally identifiable information from
the online public catalog. (1) In general,
an author, claimant of record, or the
authorized representative of the author
or claimant of record may submit a
request to remove certain categories of
personally identifiable information
(‘‘PII’’) described in paragraph (e)(2) of
this section from the Copyright Office’s
online public catalog by following the
procedure set forth in paragraph (e)(3) of
this section. Where the requester
provides verifiable, non-personally
identifiable substitute information to
replace the PII being removed, the
Office will grant the request unless it
determines that the need to maintain the
original information in the public record
substantially outweighs the safety,
privacy, or other stated concern. If the
requester does not provide verifiable,
non-personally-identifiable substitute
information, the Office will grant the
request only if the safety, privacy, or
other stated concern substantially
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outweighs the need for the information
to remain in the public record. The
Office will review requests by joint
authors or claimants on a case-by-case
basis.
(2) Categories of personally
identifiable information that may be
removed from the online public catalog
include names, home addresses,
personal telephone and fax numbers,
personal email addresses, and other
information that is requested by the
Office as part the copyright registration
application except that:
(i) Requests for removal of driver’s
license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, credit
card information and other extraneous
PII covered by paragraph (f) of this
section are governed by the provisions
of that paragraph.
(ii) Requests to remove the address of
a copyright claimant must be
accompanied by a verifiable substitute
address. The Office will not remove the
address of a copyright claimant unless
such a verifiable substitute address is
provided.
(iii) Names of authors or claimants
may not be removed or replaced with a
pseudonym. Requests to substitute the
prior name of the author or claimant
with the current legal name of the
author or claimant must be
accompanied by official documentation
of the legal name change.
(3) Requests for removal of PII from
the online catalog must be in the form
of an affidavit, must be accompanied by
the non-refundable fee listed in
§ 201.3(c), and must include the
following information:
(i) The copyright registration
number(s).
(ii) The name of the author and/or
claimant of record on whose behalf the
request is made.
(iii) Identification of the specific PII
that is to be removed.
(iv) If applicable, verifiable nonpersonally-identifiable substitute
information that should replace the PII
to be removed.
(v) In the case of requests to replace
the names of authors or claimants, the
request must be accompanied by a court
order granting a legal name change.
(vi) A statement providing the reasons
supporting the request. If the requester
is not providing verifiable, nonpersonally-identifiable substitute
information to replace the PII to be
removed, this statement must explain in
detail the specific threat to the
individual’s personal safety or personal
security, or other circumstances,
supporting the request.
(vii) The statement, ‘‘I declare under
penalty of perjury that the foregoing is
true and correct.’’
(viii) If the submission is by an
authorized representative of the author
or claimant of record, an additional
statement, ‘‘I am authorized to make this
request on behalf of [name of author or
claimant of record].’’
(ix) The signature of the author,
claimant of record, or the authorized
representative of the author or claimant
of record.
(x) The date on which the request was
signed.
(xi) A physical mailing address to
which the Office’s response may be sent
(if no email is provided).
(xii) A telephone number.
(xiii) An email address (if available).
(4) Requests under this paragraph (e)
must be mailed to the address listed in
§ 201.1(c).
(5) A properly submitted request will
be reviewed by the Associate Register of
Copyrights and Director of the Office
Public Information and Education or his
or her designee(s) to determine whether
the request should be granted or denied.
The Office will mail its decision to
either grant or deny the request to the
address indicated in the request.
(6) If the request is granted, the Office
will remove the information from the
online public catalog. Where substitute
information has been provided, the
Office will add that information to the
online public catalog. In addition, a note
indicating that the online record has
been modified will be added to the
online registration record. A new
certificate of registration will be issued
that reflects the modified information.
The Office will maintain a copy of the
original registration record on file in the
Copyright Office, and such records shall
be open to public inspection and
copying pursuant to paragraphs (b), (c),
and (d) of this section. The Office will
also maintain in its offline records the
correspondence related to the request to
remove PII.
(7) Requests for reconsideration of
denied requests to remove PII from the
online public catalog must be made in
writing within 30 days from the date of
the denial letter. The request for
reconsideration, and a non-refundable
fee in the amount specified in § 201.3(c),
must be mailed to the address listed in
§ 201.1(c). The request must specifically
address the grounds for denial of the
initial request. Only one request for
reconsideration will be considered per
denial.
(f) Requests for removal of extraneous
PII from the public record. Upon written
request, the Office will remove driver’s
license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, credit
card information, and other extraneous
PII that was erroneously included on a
registration application from the public
record. There is no fee for this service.
To make a request, the author, claimant,
or the authorized representative of the
author or claimant, must submit the
request in writing using the contact
information listed in § 201.1(c). Such a
request must name the author and/or
claimant, provide the registration
number(s) associated for the record in
question, and give a description of the
extraneous PII that is to be removed.
Once the request is received, the Office
will remove the extraneous information
from both its online and offline public
records. The Office will not include any
notation of this action in its records.
■ 4. In § 201.3, add paragraph (c)(19) to
read as follows:
§ 201.3 Fees for registration, recordation,
and related services, special services, and
services performed by the Licensing
Division.
*
*
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*
Fees
($)
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*
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(19) Removal of PII from Registration Records
(i) Initial request, per registration record ......................................................................................................................................
(ii) Reconsideration of denied requests, flat fee ..........................................................................................................................
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 21 / Thursday, February 2, 2017 / Rules and Regulations
*
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*
PART 204—PRIVACY ACT: POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES
5. The authority citation for part 204
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702; 5 U.S.C. 552(a).
■
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§ 204.7 Request for correction or
amendment of records.
(a) Any individual may request the
correction or amendment of a record
pertaining to her or him. Requests for
the removal of personally identifiable
information requested by the Copyright
Office as part of an application for
copyright registration are governed by
§ 201.2(e) of this chapter. Requests for
the removal of extraneous personally
identifiable information, such as
driver’s license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, and
credit card information from registration
records are governed by § 201.2(f) of this
chapter. With respect to the correction
or amendment of all other information
contained in a copyright registration,
the set of procedures and related fees
are governed by 17 U.S.C. 408(d) and
§ 201.5 of this chapter. With respect to
requests to amend any other record that
an individual believes is incomplete,
inaccurate, irrelevant or untimely, the
request shall be in writing and delivered
either by mail addressed to the U.S.
Copyright Office, Supervisory Copyright
Information Specialist, Copyright
Information Section, Attn: Privacy Act
Request, P.O. Box 70400, Washington,
DC 20024–0400, or in person Monday
through Friday between the hours of
8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., eastern time,
except legal holidays, at Room LM–401,
Library of Congress, U.S. Copyright
Office, 101 Independence Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20559–6000. The
request shall explain why the individual
believes the record to be incomplete,
inaccurate, irrelevant, or untimely.
(b) With respect to requests for the
correction or amendment of records that
are governed by this section, the Office
will respond within 10 working days
indicating to the requester that the
requested correction or amendment has
been made or that it has been refused.
If the requested correction or
amendment is refused, the Office’s
response will indicate the reason for the
refusal and the procedure available to
the individual to appeal the refusal.
19:35 Feb 01, 2017
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BILLING CODE 1410–30–P
6. Revise § 204.7 to read as follows:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Dated: January 23, 2017.
Karyn Temple Claggett,
Acting Register of Copyrights and Director
of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Approved by:
Carla Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 73
[MB Docket No. 16–306, GN Docket No. 12–
268; DA 17–34]
Transition Progress Report Form and
Filing Requirements for Stations
Eligible for Reimbursement From the
TV Broadcast Relocation Fund
Federal Communications
Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
In this document, the Federal
Communications Commission
(Commission) describes the information
that must be provided in periodic
progress reports (FCC Form 2100—
Schedule 387 (Transition Progress
Report)) by full power and Class A
television stations that are eligible to
receive payment of relocation expenses
from the TV Broadcast Relocation Fund
in connection with their being assigned
to a new channel through the Incentive
Auction. The Commission previously
determined that reimbursable stations
must file reports showing how the
disbursed funds have been spent and
what portion of the stations’
construction in complete. These
Transition Progress Reports will help
the Commission, broadcasters, those
involved in construction of broadcast
facilities, other interested parties, and
the public to assess how disbursed
funds have been spent and to monitor
the construction of stations.
DATES: Effective February 2, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Federal Communications
Commission, 445 12th Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20554.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joyce Bernstein, Joyce.Bernstein@
fcc.gov, (202) 418–1647, or Kevin
Harding, Kevin.Harding@fcc.gov, (202)
418–7077.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a
summary of the Commission’s
document, DA 17–34, MB Docket No.
16–306, GN Docket No. 12–268, released
January 10, 2017. The complete text of
this document is available for
inspection and copying during normal
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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9009
business hours in the FCC Reference
Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th
Street SW., Room CY–A257,
Washington, DC 20554. The complete
text of this document is also available
for download at https://
transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_
Business/2017/db0110/DA-17-34A1.pdf.
Synopsis
The Media Bureau (Bureau)
announces that each full power and
Class A television station that is eligible
for reimbursement of its relocation costs
from the TV Broadcast Relocation Fund
established by the Middle Class Tax
Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 must
periodically file an FCC Form 2100—
Schedule 387 (Transition Progress
Report) that is attached as Appendix A
to the Public Notice. The appendix is
available at https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_
public/attachmatch/DA-17-34A1.docx.
Reimbursable stations must file
Transition Progress Reports using the
Commission’s electronic filing system
starting with first full calendar quarter
after completion of the Incentive
Auction and on a quarterly basis
thereafter. In addition to these quarterly
reports, reimbursable stations must file
the reports: (1) 10 weeks before the end
of their assigned construction deadline;
(2) 10 days after they complete all work
related to construction of their postauction facilities; and (3) five days after
they cease broadcasting on their preauction channel. Once a station has
filed Transition Progress Reports
certifying that it has completed all work
related to construction of its postauction facilities and has ceased
operating on its pre-auction channel, it
will no longer be required to file reports.
In the Incentive Auction R&O, the
Federal Communications Commission
(Commission) adopted rules and
procedures for conducting the broadcast
television incentive auction. See
Expanding the Economic and
Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum
Through Incentive Auctions, GN Docket
No. 12–268, Report and Order, 79 FR
48442, August 15, 2014. The incentive
auction is composed of a reverse auction
in which broadcasters offer to
voluntarily relinquish some or all of
their spectrum usage rights, and a
forward auction of new, flexible-use
licenses suitable for providing mobile
broadband services. The reverse auction
incorporates a repacking process to
reorganize the broadcast television
bands so that the television stations that
remain on the air after the transition
will occupy a smaller portion of the
ultra-high frequency (UHF) band,
thereby clearing contiguous spectrum
that will be repurposed as the 600 MHz
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9004-9009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02238]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Parts 201 and 204
[Docket No. 2016-7]
Removal of Personally Identifiable Information From Registration
Records
AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule to allow
authors and claimants to replace or remove personally identifiable
information (``PII'') from the Office's online registration catalog.
This rule allows authors and claimants, or their authorized
representatives, to request the replacement or removal of certain PII
that is requested by the Office and collected on a registration
application, such as a home addresses or personal phone numbers, from
the Office's internet-accessible public catalog, while retaining that
information in the Office's offline records as required by law. The
rule also codifies an existing practice that removes extraneous PII,
such as driver's license numbers, social security numbers, banking
information, and credit card information, on the Office's own volition
or upon request by authors, claimants, or their authorized
representatives.
DATES: Effective March 6, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Abramson, Assistant General
Counsel, by email at ciab@loc.gov, or Abioye Mosheim, Attorney Advisor,
by email at abmo@loc.gov. Each can be reached by telephone by calling
202-707-8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On September 15, 2016, the Copyright Office published a notice of
proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'') to create procedures to request removal
of certain ``personally identifiable information'' (``PII'') from the
Office's registration records.\1\ PII is generally considered to be any
information that has the potential to identify a specific individual.
The NPRM concerned two distinct categories of PII.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 81 FR 63440 (Sept. 15, 2006).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, the Office requests and receives certain types of PII during
the registration process (e.g., dates of birth, addresses, telephone
numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses). The collection of some of
that information is mandated by statute or regulation; other
information is optional.\2\ This information is referred to herein as
``requested PII.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The Copyright Act requires the Office to gather the name and
address of the copyright claimant; the name of the author(s), for
works that are not anonymous or pseudonymous; the nationality or
domicile of the author(s); and date(s) of death for deceased
author(s). See 17 U.S.C. 409. The Act also gives the Register of
Copyrights the authority to require applicants to supply any other
information ``bearing upon the preparation or identification of the
work or the existence, ownership, or duration of copyright.'' Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second, the Office does not request, but sometimes receives,
additional PII that applicants include in their registration
applications, such as driver's license numbers, social security
numbers, banking information, and credit card information on their
registration applications. Such information is extraneous and
unnecessary for the processing and maintenance of copyright
registration records. This information is referred to herein as
``extraneous PII.''
With respect to requested PII--information that the Copyright
Office purposely collects as part of registration--the Copyright Act
imposes certain obligations on the Office to preserve that information
as part of the public record. The Act requires the Register to ensure
that ``records of . . . registrations . . . are maintained, and that
indexes of such records are prepared,'' and that ``[s]uch records and
indexes . . . be open to public inspection,'' thus creating a public
record. 17 U.S.C. 705(a), 705(b). The public record of copyright
registrations serves several important functions. Chief among these is
that the record
[[Page 9005]]
provides essential facts relevant to the copyright claim and
information that a potential user of a copyrighted work can use to
locate the work's owner. The registration record can also be a valuable
aid for determining the term of copyright protection, by providing
information such as the author's date of death, the publication date
for the work, or the year of creation of the work.
A separate provision of the Act requires the Register of Copyrights
to ``compile and publish . . . catalogs of all copyright
registrations.'' 17 U.S.C. 707(a). For most of the Office's history,
this catalog was maintained in paper form as the Catalog of Copyright
Entries (``CCE''). Starting in 1994, however, the Office began
providing the public with access to a computerized database of post-
1977 copyright registration and recordation catalog entries via the
internet. Then, in 1996, the Office decided to end publication of the
printed CCE and publish copyright registration information solely via
an online public catalog. See 61 FR 52465 (Oct. 7, 1996).
Initially, the PII revealed in the online public catalog was
limited to names and, when volunteered, the author's year of birth. By
2007, however, with the advent of the Copyright Office's online
registration system (``eCO''), a broader range of PII was pushed from
the Office's registration records into the online public catalog,
including the postal address of the claimants, and the name, postal
address, email address and phone number of the person authorized to
correspond about, and/or provide rights and permission to use, the
registered work. See 72 FR 36883, 36887 (July 6, 2007). The current
online public catalog, however, does not contain all of the information
that is contained in the Office's full registration records. For
instance, the online public catalog currently does not include the text
of correspondence between the Office and the applicant. This
information is maintained solely in the Office's offline records,
although members of the public can obtain copies of it by making a
request to the Office.
In addition, while the information in the online public catalog
initially could only be searched and retrieved via the Office's Web
site, in 2007 third parties began harvesting registration information,
including PII, from the catalog, and posting that information on
alternative Web sites, which were then indexed by search engines. As a
result, authors and claimants began noticing their personal information
appearing in internet search results, and began asking the Office to
remove that information from the Office's online public catalog.
In 2008, the Office published a list of frequently asked questions
(``FAQs'') on privacy to address some of these concerns.\3\ In the
FAQs, the Office stressed that, by statute, it was required to collect
certain information as part of the registration application and
maintain it as part of its public records. The FAQs advised the public
that if they did not wish sensitive personal information to appear in
the online public catalog, they should refrain from providing it during
the registration process, if possible. Applicants were advised to
instead consider providing non-personal information, such as
information about a third-party agent, a post office box, or a non-
personal email address. But the Office warned that, if the applicant
provided personal information, it would be included in the online
public catalog. Both the Web page to log in to the online registration
system and the Web page to download paper application forms include
links to the privacy FAQs. See eCO Registration System, Privacy:
Copyright Public Records, https://www.copyright.gov/registration/;
Forms, https://www.copyright.gov/forms/; see also U.S. Copyright
Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices (``Compendium
(Third)'') 205 (3d ed. 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Privacy: Copyright Public
Records, https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-privacy.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Office's practices have differed with respect to extraneous
PII--such as driver's license numbers, social security numbers, credit
card information, and banking information--that applicants sometimes
include on registration applications, even though the application does
not require or request such information. Given the particular
sensitivity of that information, and the fact that it is not requested
as part of the registration application, the Office has developed an
informal practice of removing extraneous PII from its registration
records, including the online public catalog and the offline records,
for no fee. During the registration process, the Office may remove
extraneous PII, particularly if it is sensitive information, on its own
volition. After the registration is complete, the Office will remove
extraneous PII upon request. See Compendium (Third) 1804.2 (``If the
registration specialist discovers a social security number, driver's
license number, credit card number, or bank account number in the
application, he or she will remove that information from the record
without communicating with the applicant [and] [i]f this information is
not discovered during the examination process . . . [t]he Office will
remove [it] upon written request.'').
The NPRM explained in detail the rationale for and basic operation
of the proposed rule. The Office solicited and received sixteen
comments on the proposed rule. Having reviewed and carefully considered
all of the comments received, the Copyright Office now issues a final
rule that closely follows the proposed rule, with some alterations in
response to the comments, as discussed below.
II. Discussion of Public Comments
Replacement of Name After Legal Name Change. The NPRM proposed to
allow authors and claimants to request the removal of certain PII from
the online public catalog only, and replace it with non-personal
information. Names were specifically excluded from this category in the
proposed rule. In the NPRM, the Office gave three reasons for not
allowing authors or claimants to remove their names from the online
public catalog, or replace an author or claimant's name with a
pseudonym or an anonymous designation: (1) Changing or removing a name
is not necessary to prevent privacy invasions as long as associated PII
is removed; (2) allowing authors or claimants to alter their names in
the online public catalog may lead to confusion regarding the term of
copyright protection for the work; and (3) removal of a claimant's name
could lead to confusion about the correct copyright term.
Two commenters urged the Office to allow authors or claimants to
replace their names in the online public catalog. They argued that, for
transgender individuals, disclosure of a birth name equals disclosure
of transgender status. National Center for Transgender Equality
(``NCTE'') Comments at 1; T. Brown Comments. Although it may be
possible to use a supplementary registration to change one's name, both
the original registration and the supplementary registration appear in
the online registration record. According to these commenters, having a
transgender individual's birth name and changed name both appear in the
record could jeopardize the ``well-being and personal and professional
life'' of a transgender individual, put them in danger, or subject them
to ``employment discrimination, bodily harm and/or worse.'' T. Brown
Comments. NCTE argued that not allowing a person who has received a
legal name change to replace their original name with the legally
changed name may affect victims of domestic violence as well. NCTE
Comments at 1.
[[Page 9006]]
NCTE suggested two revisions to the NPRM, one of which the Office
reproduces here:
201.2(e)(2)(iii) Names of authors or claimants may not be removed or
replaced with a pseudonym. Requests to substitute the prior name of
the author or claimant with the current legal name of the author or
claimant must be accompanied by official documentation of the legal
name change.
NCTE Comments at 1. The Office finds compelling NCTE's and T. Brown's
arguments for allowing a name change in the online record, and adopts
the above suggested language in the final rule.
NCTE also recommended that the Office not include a note in the
online record indicating that the legal name has been modified because
it could pose safety and privacy concerns to transgender individuals.
NCTE Comments at 3. While the Office takes seriously these concerns, as
mentioned in the NPRM, the Copyright Act imposes certain obligations on
the Office to preserve information as part of the public record. See 17
U.S.C. 705(a), 705(b). Pursuant to the new rule, ``a note indicating
that the online record has been modified will be added to the online
registration record.'' 17 U.S.C. 201.2(e)(6). This note, however, will
merely indicate that a change was made to the record but will not
specify whether or not a change to the legal name was made. The Office
believes that this clarification addresses NCTE's concerns.
Retention of Original PII in Offline Records. The NPRM also
proposed that the original information would be maintained in the
Office's offline records and would be available for public inspection
by visitors to the Copyright Office and upon request, consistent with
the Office's statutory responsibilities to maintain such records and
make them available to the public. The NPRM sought to strike an
appropriate balance between the public's interest in a robust online
record and concerns of privacy and safety in individual cases.
The Software and Information Industry Association (``SIIA'')
expressed concern about this aspect of the rule, commenting that ``the
very reason for the registration data is to enable the licensing of
works'' and the ``proposal makes that more difficult.'' SIIA Comments
at 3. In SIIA's view, ``[t]hose seeking information would have to hire
someone in Washington to physically go to the Copyright Office records
and search them.'' Id. The Office, however, crafted the rule with that
exact concern in mind. The Office does not intend to make it more
difficult to license works, which is why the rule does not permit a
claimant to eliminate address information from the online public
catalog, but instead only allows for the replacement of a home address
with a verifiable substitute address, such as a current post office box
or third-party address. As the NPRM explained, ``allowing the wholesale
removal of a claimant address would impede the public's ability to
contact a copyright owner to obtain permission to use the work.'' 81 FR
at 63441. The Office has made this point even more explicit in the
final rule.
With respect to other types of PII, alternate information must be
provided, unless a stringent standard is met: Specifically, the
requester must demonstrate that the stated concern substantially
outweighs the need for the information to remain in the public record.
As the NPRM explained, ``[t]his higher standard is warranted because
removing information entirely from the online public catalog would
result in a diminished record available for search via the internet.''
81 FR at 63442. The Office does not anticipate that it will liberally
grant such requests. Additionally, under existing practices, one does
not have to travel to Washington to physically search records. Members
of the public may obtain a search for and copies of registration
records upon request and have the results sent to them via U.S. mail or
courier. See generally Compendium (Third) 2406, 2407.
The Copyright Alliance also recommended revising the rule to allow
for bulk access to offline records. Copyright Alliance Comments at 4.
The Office's current technology systems does not permit bulk access.
While the Office declines to adopt this suggestion under the PII rule,
it will consider the recommendation as part of its broader technology
modernization efforts.
Various Concerns Regarding Collection of PII in Registration
Process. Some commenters including the National Writers Union and the
American Society of Journalists and Authors (``NWU/ASJA''), stated that
the Office should not require an author or claimant to make any contact
information publicly available. See NWU/ASJA Comments at 4-5, 7-8;
Alexander Kunz Comments. Other commenters asked the Office to do away
with the collection of physical addresses and only collect email
addresses. See e.g., V.E. Anonymous Comments; Helen Zhang Comments
(stating that even providing a substitute non-personal address or P.O.
Box may give an unwanted party the author or claimant's approximate
location). But, as stated in the NPRM, the Office is mandated by
statute to collect and make public a claimant's address. See 17 U.S.C.
409(1) (``The application for copyright registration shall . . .
include the name and address of the copyright claimant.''). Given that
section 409(1) was added to the Copyright Act before electronic mail
existed, the Office interprets that provision to mean that the claimant
must provide a physical mailing address--not an electronic mailing
address. See H.R. Rep. 155-156. Therefore, the Office declines to adopt
any regulation that would do away with the collection and maintenance
of physical claimant addresses. That said, the Office has always
advised in its Privacy FAQs that the inclusion of any physical address
other than the claimant's address is optional; accordingly, applicants
are advised to think carefully before providing a claimant's personal
physical address, and are instead encouraged to provide a third-party
agent's address, a post office box, or a non-personal email address.
Several commenters recommended that the Office amend the rule to
either provide notice to applicants at the time of registration that
their PII will be on the internet and to advise them of their options
for avoiding publication of their PII, or to provide an ``opt out''
mechanism on the registration application that would allow the
applicant to opt out of providing his or her PII. See e.g., Copyright
Alliance Comments at 3; Alexander Kunz Comments. But, as mentioned in
the NPRM and above, the Office already provides links to its Privacy
FAQs on both the online registration application and the Web page that
houses the downloadable paper registration applications. Additionally,
eCO and each paper registration application contains a Privacy Act
Notice that advises the applicant that by completing the application it
is authorizing the Office to collect the applicant's PII and consenting
to routine uses of the PII, including publication to give legal notice
of the applicant's copyright claim.
The Copyright Alliance suggested that the rule provide a ``do not
contact'' mechanism at the time of registration. Copyright Alliance
Comments at 3. It stated that ``providing registrants with the option
of indicating they do not wish to be contacted . . . should decrease
the amount of unwanted contact and encourage creators to feel more
comfortable about providing their information.'' Copyright Alliance
Comments at 3. Without any empirical evidence to support such an
assertion, the Office declines to adopt this
[[Page 9007]]
recommendation; it is unclear how providing PII but asking members of
the public to not contact an author using that PII will actually deter
unwanted contact. Additionally, eCO is not currently designed to permit
a ``do not contact'' option at registration, and adding such an option
would require updates to the eCO system. Accordingly, at this time the
Office declines to adopt the Copyright Alliance's ``do not contact''
suggestion, but may consider it at a later date as part of its broader
technology modernization efforts.
Finally, the Office notes that NWU/ASJA made several comments not
relevant to the NPRM, including that the Office should repeal the
requirement of registration for enforcement and remedies and withdraw
proposed orphan works legislation. See NWU/ASJA Comments at 3. NWU/ASJA
also alleges that the requirement to make contact information public is
a prohibited formality under the Berne Convention and that the Office's
gathering and maintaining information on a registration application
violates the Privacy Act because the information gathered is not
relevant and necessary to accomplish the mission of the Copyright
Office, and is not mandated by statute. See NWU/ASJA Comments at 4-5,
7. Although the Office does not agree that these requirements violate
Berne or the Privacy Act, this rulemaking is not the proper forum in
which to address these concerns in detail. The requirements that NWU/
ASJA complain of, however, are part of the Copyright Act, and the
Office cannot create exceptions to them as part of this rulemaking.
``Verified'' Addresses. As the NPRM explained, the proposed rule
does not allow a claimant to eliminate address information from the
online public catalog, but instead would only allow for the replacement
of a home address with a verifiable substitute address, such as a
current post office box or third-party address.
One commenter, Music Reports, recommended the following change to
the proposed rule: The Office should require the substitute address
information be ``verified''--not just be verifiable--at time of
application, by requiring notarized documentation of the requester's
identity, and by requiring the requester to provide evidence that one
is able to receive mail at that address. Music Reports Comments at 2.
The Office believes that adding this burden is unnecessary. The rule
already requires that the requester provide the Office with
``verifiable'' information, meaning that the requester will have to
aver that the replacement address is one at which the author and/or
claimant can receive mail. And the requester is required to append an
affidavit to the request stating as much. Therefore, the Office
declines to adopt Music Reports recommendations in the final rule.
Fees. The NPRM proposed that the cost for filing an initial request
for replacement or removal of requested PII would be $130, and the fee
for reconsideration of denied requests for replacement or removal of
requested PII would be $60. There would be no fee for requests to
remove extraneous PII. For reconsiderations, the NPRM proposed a flat
fee of $60 per request, regardless of the number of registration
records referenced in the request. As the NPRM stated, both fees are
non-refundable.
Several commenters thought the initial fee for requesting the
replacement or removal of requested PII was unreasonable. See e.g.,
Copyright Alliance Comments at 3; Cletus Price Comments; Alexander Kunz
Comments; Helen Zhang Comments. The Office calculated the fee, however,
after carefully considering the time and labor required to review and
process these requests, including the salaries of junior and senior
staff who will take part in the review, draft the decisions, and
perform the data entry; costs associated with docketing and responding
to requests via U.S. mail; system costs related to entering changes
into the online public catalog as well as updating the offline
registration records; and costs associated with printing a new
registration certificate.
One commenter stated that ``[r]equiring [an] applicant to submit
requested PII then wait for the Office to publish it in its online
records and then requiring the individual to request and pay $130 to
have some of it taken down would be a very inconvenient process.''
Cletus Price Comments. But the Office notes that PII does not
necessarily need to be provided as part of the initial registration
application. The registration application instructions, as well as the
above-mentioned privacy FAQs, warn applicants at the time of
registration that any PII provided on the registration application will
be made public and that, in order to avoid any issues regarding
security or privacy, to provide non-personal information (like a P.O.
Box or business address) where possible, or where the information is
optional, to not provide PII at all.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Parts 201 and 204
Copyright, Information, Privacy, Records.
Final Regulations
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
amends 37 CFR parts 201 and 204 of 37 CFR chapter II as follows:
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
1. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read, in part, as
follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
* * * * *
0
2. In Sec. 201.1, revise the section heading and add paragraph (c)(8)
to read as follows:
Sec. 201.1 Communication with the Copyright Office.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(8) Requests to remove PII from registration records. Requests to
remove personally identifiable information from registration records
pursuant to Sec. Sec. 201.2(e) and (f) should be addressed to: U.S.
Copyright Office, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of the
Office of Public Information and Education, P.O. Box 70400, Washington,
DC 20024-0400. Requests should be clearly labeled ``Request to Remove
Requested PII,'' ``Request for Reconsideration Following Denial of
Request to Remove Requested PII,'' or ``Request to Remove Extraneous
PII,'' as appropriate.
0
3. In Sec. 201.2, add paragraphs (e) and (f) to read as follows:
Sec. 201.2 Information given by the Copyright Office.
* * * * *
(e) Requests for removal of requested personally identifiable
information from the online public catalog. (1) In general, an author,
claimant of record, or the authorized representative of the author or
claimant of record may submit a request to remove certain categories of
personally identifiable information (``PII'') described in paragraph
(e)(2) of this section from the Copyright Office's online public
catalog by following the procedure set forth in paragraph (e)(3) of
this section. Where the requester provides verifiable, non-personally
identifiable substitute information to replace the PII being removed,
the Office will grant the request unless it determines that the need to
maintain the original information in the public record substantially
outweighs the safety, privacy, or other stated concern. If the
requester does not provide verifiable, non-personally-identifiable
substitute information, the Office will grant the request only if the
safety, privacy, or other stated concern substantially
[[Page 9008]]
outweighs the need for the information to remain in the public record.
The Office will review requests by joint authors or claimants on a
case-by-case basis.
(2) Categories of personally identifiable information that may be
removed from the online public catalog include names, home addresses,
personal telephone and fax numbers, personal email addresses, and other
information that is requested by the Office as part the copyright
registration application except that:
(i) Requests for removal of driver's license numbers, social
security numbers, banking information, credit card information and
other extraneous PII covered by paragraph (f) of this section are
governed by the provisions of that paragraph.
(ii) Requests to remove the address of a copyright claimant must be
accompanied by a verifiable substitute address. The Office will not
remove the address of a copyright claimant unless such a verifiable
substitute address is provided.
(iii) Names of authors or claimants may not be removed or replaced
with a pseudonym. Requests to substitute the prior name of the author
or claimant with the current legal name of the author or claimant must
be accompanied by official documentation of the legal name change.
(3) Requests for removal of PII from the online catalog must be in
the form of an affidavit, must be accompanied by the non-refundable fee
listed in Sec. 201.3(c), and must include the following information:
(i) The copyright registration number(s).
(ii) The name of the author and/or claimant of record on whose
behalf the request is made.
(iii) Identification of the specific PII that is to be removed.
(iv) If applicable, verifiable non-personally-identifiable
substitute information that should replace the PII to be removed.
(v) In the case of requests to replace the names of authors or
claimants, the request must be accompanied by a court order granting a
legal name change.
(vi) A statement providing the reasons supporting the request. If
the requester is not providing verifiable, non-personally-identifiable
substitute information to replace the PII to be removed, this statement
must explain in detail the specific threat to the individual's personal
safety or personal security, or other circumstances, supporting the
request.
(vii) The statement, ``I declare under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct.''
(viii) If the submission is by an authorized representative of the
author or claimant of record, an additional statement, ``I am
authorized to make this request on behalf of [name of author or
claimant of record].''
(ix) The signature of the author, claimant of record, or the
authorized representative of the author or claimant of record.
(x) The date on which the request was signed.
(xi) A physical mailing address to which the Office's response may
be sent (if no email is provided).
(xii) A telephone number.
(xiii) An email address (if available).
(4) Requests under this paragraph (e) must be mailed to the address
listed in Sec. 201.1(c).
(5) A properly submitted request will be reviewed by the Associate
Register of Copyrights and Director of the Office Public Information
and Education or his or her designee(s) to determine whether the
request should be granted or denied. The Office will mail its decision
to either grant or deny the request to the address indicated in the
request.
(6) If the request is granted, the Office will remove the
information from the online public catalog. Where substitute
information has been provided, the Office will add that information to
the online public catalog. In addition, a note indicating that the
online record has been modified will be added to the online
registration record. A new certificate of registration will be issued
that reflects the modified information. The Office will maintain a copy
of the original registration record on file in the Copyright Office,
and such records shall be open to public inspection and copying
pursuant to paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section. The Office
will also maintain in its offline records the correspondence related to
the request to remove PII.
(7) Requests for reconsideration of denied requests to remove PII
from the online public catalog must be made in writing within 30 days
from the date of the denial letter. The request for reconsideration,
and a non-refundable fee in the amount specified in Sec. 201.3(c),
must be mailed to the address listed in Sec. 201.1(c). The request
must specifically address the grounds for denial of the initial
request. Only one request for reconsideration will be considered per
denial.
(f) Requests for removal of extraneous PII from the public record.
Upon written request, the Office will remove driver's license numbers,
social security numbers, banking information, credit card information,
and other extraneous PII that was erroneously included on a
registration application from the public record. There is no fee for
this service. To make a request, the author, claimant, or the
authorized representative of the author or claimant, must submit the
request in writing using the contact information listed in Sec.
201.1(c). Such a request must name the author and/or claimant, provide
the registration number(s) associated for the record in question, and
give a description of the extraneous PII that is to be removed. Once
the request is received, the Office will remove the extraneous
information from both its online and offline public records. The Office
will not include any notation of this action in its records.
0
4. In Sec. 201.3, add paragraph (c)(19) to read as follows:
Sec. 201.3 Fees for registration, recordation, and related services,
special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registration, recordation and related services Fees ($)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
(19) Removal of PII from Registration Records
(i) Initial request, per registration record........ 130
(ii) Reconsideration of denied requests, flat fee... 60
* * * * * * *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 9009]]
* * * * *
PART 204--PRIVACY ACT: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
0
5. The authority citation for part 204 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702; 5 U.S.C. 552(a).
0
6. Revise Sec. 204.7 to read as follows:
Sec. 204.7 Request for correction or amendment of records.
(a) Any individual may request the correction or amendment of a
record pertaining to her or him. Requests for the removal of personally
identifiable information requested by the Copyright Office as part of
an application for copyright registration are governed by Sec.
201.2(e) of this chapter. Requests for the removal of extraneous
personally identifiable information, such as driver's license numbers,
social security numbers, banking information, and credit card
information from registration records are governed by Sec. 201.2(f) of
this chapter. With respect to the correction or amendment of all other
information contained in a copyright registration, the set of
procedures and related fees are governed by 17 U.S.C. 408(d) and Sec.
201.5 of this chapter. With respect to requests to amend any other
record that an individual believes is incomplete, inaccurate,
irrelevant or untimely, the request shall be in writing and delivered
either by mail addressed to the U.S. Copyright Office, Supervisory
Copyright Information Specialist, Copyright Information Section, Attn:
Privacy Act Request, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024-0400, or in
person Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
eastern time, except legal holidays, at Room LM-401, Library of
Congress, U.S. Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20559-6000. The request shall explain why the individual
believes the record to be incomplete, inaccurate, irrelevant, or
untimely.
(b) With respect to requests for the correction or amendment of
records that are governed by this section, the Office will respond
within 10 working days indicating to the requester that the requested
correction or amendment has been made or that it has been refused. If
the requested correction or amendment is refused, the Office's response
will indicate the reason for the refusal and the procedure available to
the individual to appeal the refusal.
Dated: January 23, 2017.
Karyn Temple Claggett,
Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright
Office.
Approved by:
Carla Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2017-02238 Filed 2-1-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P
