You know it would be nice if all  the circulation of this info indicated the
author who is Cory Doctorow and included the original source URL for this
material which is
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/29/usa-canada-and-the-e.html.

That way people could see that there was an update here since the original
posting which states:

Update: Victory! -- the treaty proposal survived this meeting and will be
back on the agenda at the next one. We've got a couple months to lobby our
governments and make sure that the next time they show up, they don't
embarrass us by opposing this. 

The term victory is a link to the URL
http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/05/29/final-conclusions-of-sccr-18/#more
-1961.

Further, the original blog posting was posted under a creative commons
license that States:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting
non-commercial sharing with attribution.

Creative Commons License is a link to
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/.

I'm not saying the issue here isn't important but taking a couple minhutes
to ensure the right details and sharing permissions are followed is a good
idea in my opinion.

Kelly
-----Original Message-----
From: the braille_cat [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 1:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VICUG-L] The Right of Blind People to Read:

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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    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
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    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]