FYI.. 
Colleagues:
> > 
> > I am circulating a lengthy post regarding efforts to limit an
> > international
> > treaty that would allow for rules that parallel existing domestic
> > exceptions
> > to the copyright law for blind people to govern in an international
> > context.
> > Please help bring pressure on authorities by letting President Obama
> > know
> > that these provisions would be useful, and ask him to direct his
> > representatives to abandon their hostile posture toward aspects of the
> > treaty that would be helpful. You may Email your concerns to:
> > 
> > [log in to unmask]
> > 
> > The post follows:
> > 
> > 
> > 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'
> > 
> > US 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
> > 
> > 
> > 


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