[nfb-talk] Fw: [BlindLikeMe] Copyright Treaty BackingE-Books Survives Resistance From US and EU

David Andrews dandrews at visi.com
Sat Jun 13 02:33:18 UTC 2009


Ray:

I am not sure you are correct.  I know for a fact that Cory Doctor is 
a relatively well-known published author, and I believe he was at the 
treaty negotiations!

Dave

At 08:52 PM 6/10/2009, you wrote:
>Well Joseph, I agree with you; especially when you consider the real source
>of this article.  It was written by a fellow named Cory Doctoro.  What did
>he rely on for his information?  I'll tell you.  He relies on something
>called the Huffington Post.  What's that?  It's an anti American Anti
>Catholic web site filled with hate, hate, hate and more hate.  For the NFB
>to officially rely on such as this is quite frankly beneath our usual
>standards of professionalism.  I am not just disappointed, I'm extremely
>disappointed!!! I thought we vetted things better than that.
>
>Sincerely,
>The Constantly BAREFOOTED Ray
>
>"Old friend, what are you looking for?  After those many years abroad you
>come With images you tended Under foreign skies Far away from your own land"
>George Seferis
>
>Phone or Fax::
>+1 (985) 360-3614
>Cell:
>+1 (985) 791-2938
>e-mail:
>rforetjratcomcastdotnet
>Skype Name:
>barefootedray
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Cc: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:42 PM
>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: [BlindLikeMe] Copyright Treaty BackingE-Books
>Survives Resistance From US and EU
>
>
>My question is why does the Vatican oppose it?  The Vatican does
>nothing without a reason, and going around denying scholarly pursuit
>to people with disabilities isn't the sort of thing cardinals do
>without justification.  This suggests to me that there is something
>in particular that the treaty requires, and it may not be obvious to
>us sitting here talking about it.
>
>I'll enquire next week of the appropriate office.
>
>Joseph
>
>
>On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 02:47:17PM -0400, Sherri wrote:
> > I don't understand why the U.S. opposes this policy. Guess they don't
> > want blind people to read.
> >
> > Sherri
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Claudia" <cdelreal1973 at sbcglobal.net>
> > To: <our-safe-haven at googlegroups.com>;
> > <makinghouseworkeasier at googlegroups.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 6:15 PM
> > Subject: Fw: [BlindLikeMe] Copyright Treaty Backing E-Books Survives
> > Resistance From US and EU
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: Victor
> >> To: Blind Like Me Listserv
> >> Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 4:52 AM
> >> Subject: [BlindLikeMe] Copyright Treaty Backing E-Books Survives
> >> Resistance
> >> From US and EU
> >>
> >>
> >> Cross-Border Sharing of Books for Disabled Users Survives Resistance From
> >> the EU and US
> >> Copyright treaty backing e-books for disabled readers survives US and EU
> >> resistance
> >> Copyright treaty backing e-books for disabled readers survives US and EU
> >> resistance
> >> OUT-LAW News, 03/06/2009
> >> A proposed treaty that would change copyright laws to allow the supply of
> >> books across borders for the benefit of blind people has survived
> >> resistance
> >> from the US, UK, France, Germany and other countries.
> >> A committee of the World Intellectual Property Organisation agreed on
> >> Friday
> >> "to continue without delay" its work on "facilitating the access of
> >> blind,
> >> visually-impaired and other reading-disabled persons to
> >> copyright-protected
> >> works."
> >> At the heart of this work is a treaty proposed by the charitable
> >> organisation World Blind Union (WBU) and written with the help of the
> >> UK's
> >> Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) .
> >> RNIB campaign manager Dan Pescod attended the five-day meeting in Geneva.
> >> Pescod told OUT-LAW today that the UK and the US were among a group of
> >> countries that did not support the treaty and preferred 'soft options',
> >> though they stopped short of formally opposing it.
> >> Around 95% of books are never published in any format other than standard
> >> print, according to the WBU. But visually impaired people need books in
> >> other formats, such as large print, Braille and audio. People with other
> >> disabilities, such as cognitive impairments, can also find themselves
> >> 'print
> >> disabled'.
> >> "Imagine if you walked into a bookshop or library, and were told that you
> >> were only allowed to choose from five percent of the books on the shelf,"
> >> said WBU president Dr William Rowland in a speech last year. "What would
> >> such a limited choice do to your education, to your leisure reading
> >> opportunities?"
> >> The WBU, RNIB and others have prepared a draft treaty that would relax
> >> copyright restrictions to allow the creation and supply of accessible
> >> books
> >> without the need for prior permission from the copyright owner. The
> >> treaty
> >> requires this generally to be done on a non-profit basis.
> >> In some countries, it is already legal to create accessible books without
> >> permission. It was made legal in the UK by the Copyright (Visually
> >> Impaired
> >> Persons) Act, passed in 2002. But that law is limited in scope. The
> >> rights
> >> are limited to visually-impaired persons - so while a person with
> >> dyslexia
> >> might benefit from a large-print book, or an electronic book which can be
> >> played using text-to-speech conversion software, the law does not
> >> facilitate
> >> that person.
> >> Also, the UK law, like equivalent laws in other countries, does not allow
> >> the supply of a digital book to a customer overseas.
> >> The WBU treaty, if signed and ratified in its present form, would lift
> >> these
> >> restrictions. It seeks to protect all 'reading disabled' persons and it
> >> allows the supply across borders of accessible works, as a Braille hard
> >> copy
> >> or as an e-book. At present, a tiny fraction of books that are
> >> available in
> >> accessible formats can be supplied across borders because their export
> >> requires the agreement of rights holders.
> >> Pescod said publishers have until recently seen little money to be made
> >> from
> >> converting books into accessible formats, meaning that the work is
> >> normally
> >> done by voluntary organisations like RNIB.
> >> "If we make an accessible version of a book in the UK and want to send
> >> that
> >> to another English-speaking country where they don't have the resources
> >> to
> >> make books accessible, we should be able to do that," he said. "But the
> >> copyright law as it stands doesn't allow the transfer of that accessible
> >> info. The exceptions in place in national legislations stop at the
> >> border."
> >> The preamble to the treaty notes that "90 percent of visually-impaired
> >> persons live in countries of low or moderate incomes." These countries
> >> tend
> >> to have the most limited ranges of accessible works, hence the need for a
> >> right to supply across borders.
> >> Pescod said that voluntary organisations in Chile, Columbia, Mexico,
> >> Nicaragua and Uruguay have only 8,517 books in alternative formats
> >> between
> >> them. However, Argentina has 63,000 books and Spain 102,000. All these
> >> countries speak Spanish. . Spain and Argentina will not share their
> >> libraries with their Latin American colleagues, though, for fear of
> >> breaking
> >> copyright laws, he said.
> >> The proposed treaty would also allow for the circumvention of digital
> >> rights
> >> management (DRM) where necessary to render a work accessible. Some
> >> books are
> >> published in a digital format that is not compatible with the assistive
> >> technologies used by disabled people.
> >> Lobbying for legislative change in the UK, the RNIB noted recently that
> >> DRM
> >> schemes "can react to assistive technology as if it were an illicit
> >> operation." It also said that "while e-book readers may have the
> >> facility to
> >> reproduce synthetic speech, the rights holder can apply a level of
> >> security
> >> which prevents this from working."
> >> The WBU treaty would allow a company to buy an e-book, hack the DRM and
> >> redistribute a DRM-free version of the work, provided copies are supplied
> >> exclusively for disabled customers.
> >> Pescod said that main objective of RNIB and the WBU for the week was to
> >> have
> >> the treaty formally proposed within the WIPO committee. Their second
> >> objective was to have it accepted as a viable proposal. "These were
> >> met," he
> >> said. "Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay tabled the treaty as a proposal."
> >> That put the treaty before WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and
> >> Related Rights. It was strongly supported by delegates representing South
> >> American, African and Asian countries. "India and China were particularly
> >> supportive," said Pescod. Wealthier countries, it seems, were less
> >> enthusiastic.
> >> "Many publishers and rights holders and some states say we need a 'soft'
> >> solution," said Pescod. "RNIB should work with rights holders and
> >> others to
> >> resolve this, they say."
> >> Pescod said these groups want a 'stakeholder platform' to discuss the
> >> sharing of files, but not a treaty. "We're more than happy to speak," he
> >> said. "But where we part company is that the stakeholder platform is
> >> looking
> >> at one set of solutions only." It would address some technical
> >> challenges,
> >> he said; but it would not address other issues, including the
> >> production of
> >> unprofitable Braille works, or the extra work needed to describe images.
> >> "We're insisting that you need to work with rights holders - and we'll
> >> continue to do that - but we still need a treaty which would do three
> >> things: encourage national copyright exceptions for disabled people in
> >> all
> >> countries; allow transfer of accessible books in all countries; and allow
> >> tightening of rules on DRM systems that can block accessibility."
> >> "No country opposed the proposal [for a treaty] outright," said Pescod.
> >> "Those who wanted to suggest that they weren't happy with it used more
> >> coded
> >> language, like saying discussions were 'premature' or that they wanted to
> >> take it back home and discuss it [at a national level]."
> >> The published conclusions of the committee include the unattributed
> >> objection "that deliberations regarding any instrument would be
> >> premature."
> >> "Those attacking this [treaty] fear it is going to undermine copyright
> >> law,"
> >> he said. "We disagree completely. Ensuring access for a bunch of people
> >> who
> >> the market was not selling to in the first place doesn't undermine
> >> copyright
> >> law."
> >> "This whole idea that it's 'premature' is bizarre," he said. "A WIPO and
> >> UNESCO working group looked at this in 1982. If that's premature, at what
> >> point does it become mature and ready to go?"
> >> Pescod said that support for the stakeholder platform instead of a
> >> treaty is
> >> coming only from those who are not disabled. "They're not blind and they
> >> know better? I would question that," he said.
> >> The UK was represented in two capacities: as a member of the European
> >> Union
> >> and as a member of the so-called 'Group B' countries, a WIPO term that
> >> refers to 17 EU member states, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, New
> >> Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the Vatican. Neither the EU nor Group B
> >> representatives supported the proposal. "Both are sceptical," said
> >> Pescod.
> >> According to another meeting attendee, James Love of Knowledge Ecology
> >> International, a group that promotes access to knowledge, the opposition
> >> from the US 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."
> >> Ville Oksanen, a member of European digital rights group EDRi said Group
> >> B
> >> and the EU "did their best to derail the process of getting the treaty
> >> under
> >> serious consideration." He described the given reasons as "rather
> >> perplexing" and described them as excuses designed to avoid being seen as
> >> opposing help for disabled people.
> >> "It remains to be seen how sceptical they will be next time," said
> >> Pescod.
> >> "At the end of the day, though, we are happy with the way things went."
> >> On Friday night the WIPO copyright committee reached agreement to discuss
> >> the treaty at its next meeting in November, in spite of the objections.
> >> In
> >> the meantime, the committee's conclusions note that "Member States will
> >> continue to consult on these issues at national level and report on the
> >> activities and views on possible solutions."
> >> James Love is confident that the treaty will make progress.
> >> "Group B came in the May [copyright committee] meeting to block any
> >> agreement to discuss a treaty," he told OUT-LAW. "We'll be back in
> >> November,
> >> discussing a treaty. The members of Group B will not be able to
> >> consistently
> >> avoid dealing with the treaty proposal. They will have to say yes or no
> >> in
> >> terms of moving this forward, and to explain why."
> >> "The core issue will be, what will it take to liberalize the cross-border
> >> movement of accessible works created under copyright limitations and
> >> exceptions?" said Love. "Given how harsh the access reality is for people
> >> who are blind or have other reading disabilities, Group B cannot long
> >> avoid
> >> addressing this topic. There will be more and more data, and fewer and
> >> fewer
> >> chances to claim strategic ignorance." <
> >> http://www.out-law.com/page-10059
> >> ___________________ _
> >>
> >> This is an Announce only list. Subscribers are not able to post to this
> >> list.
> >> Recent Activity
> >>  a..  2New Members
> >> Visit Your Group
> >> Sitebuilder
> >> Build a web site
> >>
> >> quickly & easily
> >>
> >> with Sitebuilder.
> >>
> >> Dog Fanatics
> >> on Yahoo! Groups
> >>
> >> Find people who are
> >>
> >> crazy about dogs.
> >>
> >> Support Group
> >> Lose lbs together
> >>
> >> Share your weight-
> >>
> >> loss successes.
> >> .
> >>
> >> __,_._,___
> >>
> >>
> >> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> >> Groups "Our-Safe-Haven" group.
> >> To post to this group, send email to our-safe-haven at googlegroups.com
> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> >> our-safe-haven+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> >> For more options, visit this group at
> >> http://groups.google.com/group/our-safe-haven?hl=en
> >> -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > nfb-talk mailing list
> > nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
>_______________________________________________
>nfb-talk mailing list
>nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>nfb-talk mailing list
>nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
>
>__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
>signature database 4149 (20090611) __________
>
>The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
>
>http://www.eset.com





More information about the nFB-Talk mailing list