CA: Michael Geist on DMCA author's change of heart

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1826/125/

"Lehman says that we are entering the "post-copyright" era for music, suggesting that a new form of patronage will emerge with support coming from industries that require music (webcasters, satellite radio) and government funding. While he says that teens have lost respect for copyright, he lays much of the blame at the feet of the recording industry for their failure to adapt to the online marketplace in the mid-1990s.

In a later afternoon discussion, Lehman went further, urging Canada to think outside the box on future copyright reform. While emphasizing the need to adhere to international copyright law (ie. Berne), he suggested that Canada was well placed to experiment with new approaches. He was not impressed with Bill C-60, seemingly because he does not believe that it went far enough in reshaping digital copyright issues. Given ongoing pressure from the U.S., I'm skeptical about Canada's ability to chart a new course on copyright, yet if the architect of the DMCA is willing to admit that change is needed, then surely our elected officials should take notice."

UK Knowledge Politics publications, brochure

via A2K
This update email is from Knowledge Politics, the information society think-tank.

We are delighted to announce the publication of a new series of pamphlets on the future of intellectual property rights in the digital age.

In Part One of the series, Derek Wyatt, Pete Wishart and campaigner Becky Hogge respond to the recommendations of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. In Part Two, experts discuss the global intellectual property regime - featuring contributions by Susan K Sell, Debora Halbert and Sam Howard-Spink. In Part Three, the changing nature of intellectual property theory is considered by Christopher May, Rosemary Bechler, David M Berry and Martin McIvor.

The pamphlets and accompanying press release can be downloaded at:
http://www.knowledgepolitics.org.uk/frontiers.html

Further upcoming publications from Knowledge Politics will include a report on the EU's proposed revision of the Television Without Frontiers directive.

http://www.knowledgepolitics.org.uk/frontiers.html

Tell me a Turing

Cultural anthropologist Gregory Bateson was asked in the 1950s if he believed that computer artificial intelligence was possible. He responded that he did not know, but he believed when you would ask a computer a yes-or-no question and it responded with "that reminds me of a story," you would be close.

ARTstor and Metropolitan Museum provide access to institutions and their scholars for specified uses.

Organisations are freeing up access for each other and individuals who are defined by the organisation. This is making the broadcast model of sharing information more distributed. There are more nodes participating. Still not public access to public resources imho. I think it would be a 'pioneering' change if it encouraged participative wrangling and also was publically available, but perhaps at least this is thinking one step closer to the right direction:

ARTstor and Metropolitan Museum will distribute, free of charge, high-resolution digital images from an expanding array of works in its renowned collection for use in academic publications. This new service, which is effective immediately, is available through ARTstor, a non-profit organization that makes art images available for educational use.

ARTstor makes available a restricted database of images of art works and other materials to non-profit institutions. These materials are only made available for educational and scholarly uses that are noncommercial in nature.

Your institution may provide access to only the following categories of individuals: those individuals who have a current official or unofficial affiliation with your institution, or individuals who do not have a current official or unofficial affiliation, but who are using that institution’s library or other facilities (referred to as “Walk-In Users”). For more information on Authorized Users, contact your institution.

Prohibited Uses. You may not: (a) use the ARTstor Digital Library, or use, display or make performances with, reproduce, or distribute Content from the ARTstor Digital Library, for any commercial purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to fee-for-service use of the ARTstor Digital Library, or make any use, display, performance, reproduction, or distribution that exceeds or violates these Terms and Conditions of Use; (b) distribute and/or make available Content in the ARTstor Digital Library to persons other than as expressly permitted herein; (c) provide and/or authorize access to the ARTstor electronic database, such as through the sharing of passwords, to persons or entities other than Authorized Users; (d) download or print, or attempt to download or print, substantial portions of the ARTstor Digital Library; (e) incorporate Content into print or electronic materials that are for purchase or are disseminated for commercial purposes (such as by a scholarly or commercial press); (f) use (including reproduce, distribute, display or make performances of) the ARTstor Digital Library in any way that is not authorized under this Agreement and that infringes another’s Intellectual Property Rights therein; (g) make any adaptation or modification of, or any derivative work from, Content; or (h) attempt to override, circumvent, or disable any encryption features or software protections employed in the ARTstor Digital Library.

Commonwealth copyright audit

w00t!

This document explicitly asks about the form copyright takes in each of the commonwealth nations. Fantastic to see some work going into the Access to Knowlege facet of copyright.
____

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has put out an audit report for copyright law, prepared in December 2006 by Tobias Schonwetter of the University of Cape Town and I, which may be of interest/use to some:

The document was designed for policymakers as a concise intro to copyright, a2k and learning - through a set of about 50 short questions. COL is in the process of sending this out to Commonwealth member states, and if you would like more information on the exercise, please contact Paul West, pwest -at- col.org

via A2k

Connectivist teachers

Donna has been talking about teachers who live at the pointy end of the pencil.
TALO is a group of folks interested in the thinking and practice of education online. The recent unconference/swapmeet at Adelaide TAFE was amazing.
Check out the photos by mobology.

These folks are thinking about pedagogy within secondlife, aggregating educational competency data feeds, web 2.0 and read write participative culture and constructivist teaching .v. content blocking, business models and identity online.

Similar challenges in the education sector regarding risk mitigation and broadcast business model based policy and the ground swell of participative 'open source' collaboration. Broadcast models of defining scope are faced with teachers and students who flow around the outside to explore participative practice. Reminds me of Ed Felten's freedom to tinker.

It feels like a chrysalis moment, where the shell doesn't fit and things are
moving under the surface. The potential for funky things to emerge is great.
It also feels unfamiliar which is strange because in many ways this is a 'return to traditional values' of shared academic and scientific knowledge, peer review and appreciation of information as the flow of dialogue which generates our local culture. The end of a phase of compulsive 3 layer plastic wrapping.

People's thoughts and experiments are converging, which is great.
I am looking forward to the next generation of education technologies.
Folksonomies meet taxonomies. Content control meets collaborative writing.
Copyright meets the social flows and functions of information.
It will take some adjustment but will be an interesting journey.

As with Eben Moglen's 'proof of concept is running code', I think that applied connectivist teaching will be the best catalyst for new forms of educational policy. We need to watch how we learn in these contexts and adapt accordingly.

IP and IT conferences: A resource for scholars

Great list of law/it events and programs including:

Knowledge Policy for the 21st Century
Western Law and Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law announce two exciting conferences at the University of Western Ontario:
Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) as Democratic Principle
Monday April 9, 2007
Digital Copyright in a User Generated World
Tuesday April 1, 2007

Intellectual Property and Developing Countries: The WIPO Development Agenda
UCLA, March 11-12, 2007
Our conference will address what the Development Agenda does and should entail; what is the latest empirical research on intellectual property, access to knowledge, and development; how IP could and should be tailored to account for the needs of countries in various stages of development; competition law, industry structure, and innovation in the global economy; whether there are plausible alternatives to proprietary intellectual property rights; global copyright industries and cultural sovereignty; and how, if at all, the existing intellectual property treaty regime can and should be modified to promote development and serve the needs of developing countries.

Australia exports iron and imports irony.

freeculture.org gets behind a proposed reform (eff) to US DMCA which protects the right of innovators and developers for development of tools which have both an infringing and non-infringing purpose. The reform uses 'fair use' as the means to protect innovators.

As a result of the US Free Trade Agreement AUDMCA, Australian innovators now face DMCA restrictions on innovation without fair use protection.
According to the attorney general, fair use was not included in Australian copyright law because it would not have complied with international treaty requirements (and he thought it would be messy).

Boucher and Doolittle introduced the amendment.
John Doolittle (R-CA):
"America can and must be a world leader in technological innovation," said Doolittle. "This objective is hindered by the provisions in the DMCA that discourage the free flow of ideas and information. The FAIR USE Act removes those disincentives, and I look forward to seeing the benefits that will ensue."

If a tariff is a barrier to trade, what kind of device is a law which can be exported to other nations which criminalises their participation?
I hope the proposed amendment goes through and that Australian legislators reconsider their options.

Paris by night

Line of sight, public photography and copyright
Is the publishing of a photo of the Eiffel Tower permitted?

A : There are no restrictions on publishing a picture of the Tower by day. Photos taken at night when the lights are aglow are subjected to copyright laws, and fees for the right to publish must be paid to the SETE.

http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/pratique/faq/index.html