US Copyright Office Requests Comments on IE-Only Service (Groklaw)

Posted Aug 12, 2005 22:07 UTC (Fri) by pr1268 (guest, #24648)
Parent article: US Copyright Office Requests Comments on IE-Only Service (Groklaw)

I'd like to perhaps bring up a different tangent to the discussion: The fact that the US Copyright Office is only allowing IE in Windows for the online pre-registration form smacks of endorsement. In other words, The Government (or a sub-division thereof) is only endorsing one of many Web browsers which means that users have to use that one particular browser to make use of the service being offered (The Copyright pre-registration in this case). If I read the article correctly, this restriction has to do with the Copyright Office choosing some prepackaged software from a contractor with the same browser requirement, and thus the restriction propagated to the online form.

This is analogous to me having to pay my federal income tax by using a Bank Of America Check because the IRS systems cannot interface with Wells Fargo or Citibank! (Okay, bad example, but it's the principle of the matter at stake here.)

I truly admire Norway's model system of eliminating proprietary formats in communicating information with its citizens via electronic means. Perhaps one day the US Government will choose this route so that we're not forced to use "only browser X" or "media player Y" to utilize our government's Internet resources.