But the interoperability API would be created by private entities, not Federal government works, and AFAIK even federal-but-subcontracted work is copyrightable.
>But the interoperability API would be created by private entities,
That's true. I was wrong.
However, the interoperability specs will be developed by NIST as specified in Section 6(c):
"(c) Technical standards.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall develop and publish model technical standards by which to make interoperable popular classes of communications or information services, including—
(1) online messaging;
(2) multimedia sharing; and
(3) social networking."
Those standards certainly can't be copyrighted, and as such, it's still not really an issue.
It absolutely is. In fact, in the email I sent to my senators/representative (included in another comment[0] in this discussion), I write:
"I'd further urge you to introduce amendments to this bill to accomplish the following:
[...]
2. In addition to tasking the National Institute for Standards and Technology with creating the protocols and interfaces required to implement this bill, invite the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to participate as well. The IETF (https://ietf.org/about/ ) are the people who have, for more than 30 years, been developing, documenting and implementing the technical standards that have made the Internet the economic and cultural dynamo it is today."
[0] Is it possible to reference a specific comment via URL that is a reply to someone else's comment? Not sure how to do that.
I don't believe that would be an issue, since Federal government works are not entitled to copyright and are in the public domain[0].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_t...