SDOs will impose large restrictions.
Hickey 23 – Legislative Attorney at the Congressional Research Service, former Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Kevin J. Hickey, “Copyright in Standards Incorporated by Reference into Law and the Pro Codes Act,” Congressional Research Service, 09-26-2023, https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R47656.pdf
Opponents of the Pro Codes Act, including public-access groups like PRO and internet-freedom groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that no one should control who can read and distribute the law, including IBR standards.138 They maintain that SDOs “have charged high fees and imposed other restrictions” to access their standards in the past. 139 They also object to the Pro Codes Act’s “limited” public-access requirement, which could require users to submit personal information to view IBR standards, and deny them the ability to print and download standards.140 Under the Pro Codes Act, SDOs may choose to make only an “economy-class version” of the IBR standards available for free, 141 alongside paid versions with more functionality.