Hello Sarah,

Thanks for your posting.

In message  <[log in to unmask]> Sarah Hamrick via
[log in to unmask] writes:

>When the UNESCO and WIPO Copyright Conventions are modified to provide
>exemptions for people with disabilities, e.g., allowing for changing format
>to enable access, individual nations will modify their copyright laws to
>implement these changes.  How can we work together to ensure a harmony
>across nations to facilitate access to information by disabled people?

That's a good question.  You could work towards electronic access, and
publishing on the web.  The disabled user would have a password or a
decryption key to access a repository of information (including books)
stored in digital form on the web.  The web has no boundaries -
so there is harmony by default.  A global scheme for passwords and/or
encryption needs to be sorted.  Perhaps it should allow non-disabled
users to pay for access.

Once information is in digital form, it can be presented to the
user in visual, audio or tactile modalities.

The copyright waiver is only needed inasmuch as a translation between
modalities is allowed.  When a person receives the information they
should still be bound not to copy it for use by other people.

Cheers from Chiswick,

John
--
Access the word, access the world       Tel/fax +44 181 742 3170/8715
John Nissen                             Email to [log in to unmask]
Cloudworld Ltd., Chiswick, London, UK   http://www.tommy.demon.co.uk