[infoshare] Obama administration sides with the blind

From: "Maria" <malyn87@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "NYI-L" <nyi-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:30:35 -0500
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:29 PM
Subject: [blindusersVerizon] Obama administration sides with blind


  
Of interest to the list members:

Mike T

Copied from:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/obama-blind-treaty/
<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/obama-blind-treaty/> 

Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate By David Kravets

The Obama administration announced Tuesday it supports loosening
international copyright protections to enable cross-

border distribution of
special-format reading materials for the blind, a move that puts it at odds
with nearly all of U.S. industry.
The government announced its support for the underlying principle of the
WIPO Treaty for Sharing Accessible Formats of Copyrighted Works for Persons
Who are Blind or Have other Reading Disabilities.
The announcement was made in Geneva
(.pdf) before a subcommittee of the the World Intellectual Property
Organization, which has about 180 members.
The move comes as a broad spectrum of American enterprise, ranging from
major software makers and book publishers to motion picture and music
companies, have opposed the proposed international treaty that would make
books more accessible to the blind . The chief complaint is that the treaty
creates a bad precedent by loosening copyright restrictions, instead of
tightening them as have every other international copyright treaty.
"We recognize that some in the international copyright community believe
that any international consensus on substantive limitations and exceptions
to copyright law would weaken international copyright law," Justin Hughes, a
Department of Commerce senior adviser, told the WIPO on Tuesday. "The United
States does not share that point of view."
But the administration was careful Tuesday not to alienate U.S. industry
even as it supported the blind and visually impaired. For example, Hughes
acknowledged that the government was willing to strengthen international
copyright laws in other regards.
"The United States is committed to both better exceptions in copyright law
and better enforcement of copyright law," Hughes said. "Indeed, as we work
with countries to establish consensus on proper, basic exceptions within
copyright law, we will ask countries to work with us to improve the
enforcement of copyright. This is part and parcel of a balanced
international system of intellectual property."
Toward that end, the United States is one of the lead negotiators of a
proposed international accord that the European Union suggested was too
friendly to business. A leaked EU document connected to the
Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement suggested that the Obama
administration's "
overriding object" is to "facilitate the continued development of industry
."
The documents suggest the United States might want ISPs around the world to
punish suspected, repeat downloaders with a system of "graduated response" -
code for a three-strikes policy that results in digital copyright offenders
eventually being disconnected from the internet, with the ISP alone deciding
what constitutes infringement and fair use.
Regarding the treaty for the blind, the proposal would sanction the
cross-border sharing of DRM-protected digitized books - without payment to
the publisher - that tens of thousands of blind and visually disabled people
read with devices and tools like the Pac Mate, Book Port and Victor Reader.
Many WIPO nations, most in the industrialized world including England, the
United States and Canada, have copyright exemptions that usually allow
nonprofit companies to market copyrighted works without permission. As it
now stands, none of the nations may allow persons outside their borders to
access these works, which are usually doled out for little or no charge by
nonprofit groups.
The treaty seeks to free up the cross-border sharing of the books for the
blind.
Usually, they are published in a universal Daisy format, which includes
features like narration and digitized Braille. It could take a year or more
before an international consensus might be reached.



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[infoshare] Obama administration sides with the blind

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