[bookshare-discuss] Fw: Obama joins group to block treaty for blind and other reading disabilities Huffington Post, May 28, 2009 James Love
- From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 13:55:15 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Flerman" <sflerman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mike.stearn@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "Judy Stearn" <j.stearn@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "Bob
Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:57 PM
Subject: Fw: Obama joins group to block treaty for blind and other reading
disabilities Huffington Post, May 28, 2009 James Love
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ardis Bazyn" <abazyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Kevin.Berkery@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:41 PM
Subject: Obama joins group to block treaty for blind and other reading
disabilities Huffington Post, May 28, 2009 James Love
> Hi everyone,
> Well, more evidence here that Democrats can be just as unfriendly to
> persons with disabilities as Republicans. And, Kareem Dale, Obama's point
> person on
> disability issues is legally blind. Looks like publishers have more
> influence over Obama than Dale does. Or, maybe Dale is one of those PWD
> who also happens
> to be an uncle Tom.
> Please phone the White House at 202-456-1111 ASAP and indicate your
> support for a treaty sponsored by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay which also
> is supported
> by the World Blind Union. This treaty would facilitate movement across
> borders of specially formatted and electronic books for reading by persons
> with
> print disabilities.
>
> From: Mika Pyyhkala
> Hi,
> This comes from the Reading Rights Coalition, and has to do with
> access to book content in alternative formats.
>
> They are requesting that calls be made this afternoon or tonight to
> contacts in the White House, as negotiations will resume in the
> morning.
>
> It may be helpful to forward to Susan Crawford, Careme Dale, and any
> other contacts at the White House.
> Best,
> Mika Pyyhkala
> Association of Blind Citizens
> Tel/SMS: (617) 202-3497
> http://twitter.com/pyyhkala
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/obama-joins-group-to-bloc_b_208693.html
>
> Obama joins group to block treaty for blind and other reading
> disabilities Huffington Post, May 28, 2009 James Love
>
> 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 [See:
> http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/05/27/brazil-ecuador-paraguay/]
> 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 number of accessible works is very small everywhere, relative to
> what "sighted" persons can read. However, in developing countries,
> the collections are super small, and even in the USA, access to works
> in languages other than English [see:
> http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/04/22/access2foreign-works/]
> is
> practically non-existent.
>
> Under the current international legal regime, there is almost no
> sharing of these works across borders. The treaty would change that,
> vastly expanding the availability of works to all persons who are
> blind or have other reading disabilities.
>
> Every regional group in the developing world expressed support for
> advancing work on this proposal, as part of a broader agenda on access
> to knowledge and the protection of consumer interests.
>
> 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.
>
> Last week Obama worked with PhRMA to kill a Medical R&D Treaty [See:
> http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/05/22/wha-rnd-treaty/]
> at the
> World Health Organization. This week he is trying to kill a treaty
> for blind and reading disabled persons. This is not encouraging.
>
> Live tweets (on Twitter) of the WIPO SCCR negotiations use the hash tag
> #sccr18.
> (authors live updates via Twitter)
> http://twitter.com/jamie_love
> --
>
> James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
> http://www.keionline.org |
> mailto:james.love
> at keionline.org
> Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva Mobile
> +41.76.413.6584
>
> ---
> Equal, not Separate, Reading Rights -
> http://www.readingrights.org/
>
> Ardis Bazyn
> For inspirational speaking, business coaching, or writing:
> www.bazyncommunications.com
> Check out my books and other products
> To order Avon products: www.youravon.com/abazyn
>
>
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