Look Inside A PC-killing WIPO Treaty

mouthbeef writes "The Broadcast Treaty is a proposal from a WIPO Subcommittee that's supposedly about stopping 'signal theft.' But along the way, this proposal has turned into a huge, convoluted hairball that threatens to make the PC illegal, trash the public domain, break copyleft and put a Broadcast Flag on the Internet. The treaty negotiation process is unbelievably convoluted and hard-to-follow, and they've just wrapped up the latest round in Geneva. But for the first time, a really large group of "civil society" orgs were accredited to attend. Me and another EFF staffer and the Coordinator of the Union for the Public Domain created a heavily editorialized impressionistic transcript of the meeting (EFF mirror, UPD mirror), trying to untie the knots in the negotiation. This is the first time that a really exhaustive peek inside a WIPO treaty negotiation has ever been published -- get it while it's legal!"

Comments

That else are the gonna do?

[Skyshadow]

Hey, if the government doesn't trash the economy and the rights of individuals in order to protect an outdated and relatively small sector of the business community, what good are they?

Re:That else are the gonna do?

[Tristan7]

And as much as I hate what my senators vote for, they do represent the firmly held beliefs of the assholes that live down the street.

Stop stealing the photons I'm emitting

[IvyMike]

I'm serious. I keep emitting photons, and all these people keep engaging in signal theft, usually by looking at me, or even more nefariously by having cameras.

Re:Stop stealing the photons I'm emitting

[JeffTL]

Actually you are REFLECTING photons, therefore infringing on the intellectual property of General Electric, Westinghouse, many other lumination consultancy firms, and moreover the stars themselves. Pirate!

Re:Stop stealing the photons I'm emitting

[DaHat]

I'm more concerned about the evil radio waves which keep trespassing on my property, permeating my entire home and being. My tin foil hat just isn't enough!!!

I'm thinking I need to construct a large set of lead shielded antennas and satellite dishes so as to keep them from getting inside my home... and... while I've got em captured, might as well do something with em, same I have no clue what to do.

Re:Stop stealing the photons I'm emitting

[WormholeFiend]

I encrypt the photons that I reflect with Hawaiian Flower print shirts.

Uh, if you don't want your signal stolen..

[the_rajah]

for Pete's sake just don't broadcast it!! How simple is that. Duh!!

"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain

NPA

[freejung]

wouldn't that make sex illegal too?

They can have my penis when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!