[Blindvet-talk] Fw: [abrcaalist] ACCESS TO WRITTEN MATERIALS: FW:Cory Doctorow: USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people'saccess to written material

Sat May 30 23:05:46 UTC 2009

Based upon the background below, while boingboing might be an excellent blog 
site, there are probably more reliable news resources readily available to 
us.

Boing Boing started as a zine in 1988 by Mark Frauenfelder and Carla 
Sinclair. Issues were subtitled "The World's Greatest Neurozine". Associate 
editors included Gareth Branwyn, Jon Lebkowsky, and Paco Nathan. Along with 
Mondo 2000, Boing Boing was an influence in the development of the cyberpunk 
subculture. Common themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, 
gadgets, intellectual property, Disney and left-wing politics. The last 
issue of the zine was #15.

1990 Boing Boing logo, from a t-shirt
Boing Boing became a Web site in 1995 and later relaunched as a weblog on 
January 21, 2000, described as a "directory of wonderful things." Over time, 
Frauenfelder was joined by three co-editors: Cory Doctorow, David Pescovitz, 
and Xeni Jardin. All four Boing Boing contributors are, or have been, 
contributing writers for Wired magazine.

if anyone can referenced another link, i would be most interested in 
perusing that one as well

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clarence Huggins" <bigmanhuggi at yahoo.com>
To: <blindvet-talk at nfbnet.org>; "Dwight D. Sayer" <misteradvocate at aol.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: [Blindvet-talk] Fw: [abrcaalist] ACCESS TO WRITTEN MATERIALS: 
FW:Cory Doctorow: USA,Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect 
blind people'saccess to written material

>
>
> --- On Sat, 5/30/09, Max Hearn <Vetsline at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>
> From: Max Hearn <Vetsline at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: [abrcaalist] ACCESS TO WRITTEN MATERIALS: FW: Cory Doctorow: USA, 
> Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people's access 
> to written material
> To: "Max Hearn" <vetsline at bellsouth.net>
> Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009, 11:37 AM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Saturday, May 30, 2009
>
> Take a minute to read this article. It appears that, we as the blind and
> physically disabled, could lose some of our access to written materials
> (before we even get it). While I do not read a lot of materials from
> international sources, still, it is important to make a stand for all 
> blind
> and physically disabled people who require access to written materials
> (reading, etc.).
>
> Often, decisions such as this are the basis for reversals or changes in 
> our
> national or local areas. Is this a precedent to deny us access to written
> materials as we know it? POSSIBLY SO !!
>
> Best,
>
> Max
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
>
> From: "Mitch Pomerantz"
>
> To:
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 12:27 PM
>
> Subject: [acb-l] FW: Cory Doctorow: USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill
> treaty to protect blind people's access to written material
>
> FYI:
>
> Mitch
>
> -----Original Message----- 
>
> From: Manon Ress
>
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 2:41 AM To: RRC
>
> Subject: Cory Doctorow: USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to
> protect blind people's access to written material
>
> http://www.boingboi ng.net/2009/ 05/29/usa- canada-and- the-e.html
>
> USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people's
> access to written material
>
> Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 29, 2009 1:52 AM
>
> Right now, in Geneva, at the UN's World Intellectual Property 
> Organization,
> history is being made. For the first time in WIPO history, the body that
> creates the world's copyright treaties is attempting to write a copyright
> treaty dedicated to protecting the interests of copyright users, not just
> copyright owners.
>
> At issue is a treaty to protect the rights of blind people and people with
> other disabilities that affect reading (people with dyslexia, people who 
> are
> paralyzed or lack arms or hands for turning pages). This should be a slam
> dunk: who wouldn't want a harmonized system of copyright exceptions that
> ensure that it's possible for disabled people to get access to the written
> word?
>
> The USA, that's who. The Obama administration' s negotiators have joined 
> with
> a rogue's gallery of rich country trade representatives to oppose 
> protection
> for blind people. Other nations and regions opposing the rights of blind
> people include Canada and the EU.
>
> Update: Also opposing rights for disabled people: Australia, New Zealand,
> the Vatican and Norway.
>
> Activists at WIPO are desperate to get the word out. They're tweeting 
> madly
> from the negotiation (technically called the 18th session of the Standing
> Committee on Copyright and Related Rights) publishing editorials on the
> Huffington Post, etc.
>
> Here's where you come in: this has to get wide exposure, to get cast as
> broadly as possible, so that it will find its way into the ears of the
> obscure power-brokers who control national trade-negotiators.
>
> I don't often ask readers to do things like this, but please, forward this
> post to people you know in the US, Canada and the EU, and ask them to
> reblog, tweet, and spread the word, especially to government officials and
> activists who work on disabled rights. We know that WIPO negotiations can 
> be
> overwhelmed by citizen activists -- that's how we killed the Broadcast
> Treaty negotiation a few years back -- and with your help, we can make
> history, and create a world where copyright law protects the public
> interest.
>
> I am attending a meeting in Geneva of the World Intellectual Property
> Organization (WIPO). This evening the United States government, in
> combination with other high income countries in "Group B" is seeking to
> block an agreement to discuss a treaty for persons who are blind or have
> other reading disabilities.
>
> The proposal for a treaty is supported by a large number of civil society
> NGOs, the World Blind Union, the National Federation of the Blind in the 
> US,
> the International DAISY Consortium, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
> (RFB&D), Bookshare.Org, and groups representing persons with reading
> disabilities all around the world.
>
> The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and export 
> of
> digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in formats that are
> accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have
> other reading disabilities, using special devices that present text as
> refreshable braille, computer generated text to speech, or large type. 
> These
> works, which are expensive to make, are typically created under national
> exceptions to copyright law that are specifically written to benefit 
> persons
> with disabilities. ..
>
> The opposition from the United States and other high income countries is 
> due
> to intense lobbying from a large group of publishers that oppose a 
> "paradigm
> shift," where treaties would protect consumer interests, rather than 
> expand
> rights for copyright owners.
>
> The Obama Administration was lobbied heavily on this issue, including
> meetings with high level White House officials. Assurances coming into the
> negotiations this week that things were going in the right direction have
> turned out to be false, as the United States delegation has basically read
> from a script written by lobbyists for publishers, extolling the virtues 
> of
> market based solutions, ignoring mountains of evidence of a "book famine"
> and the insane legal barriers to share works.
>
> Obama Joins Group to Block Treaty for Blind and Other Reading Disabilities
>
> COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS
>
> Twitter feed for #sccr18
>
> ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* 
> *********
> Manon Ress manon.ress at keionlin e.org Knowledge Ecology International
> 1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel.: +1.202.332.2670,
> Fax: +1.202.332.2673
>
> Equal, not Separate, Reading Rights - http://www.readingr ights.org/
> ---
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> leave-readingrights -6632P at mail. daisy.org .org
>
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