Public Interest Groups Face Uphill Battle at WIPO Meeting

Howard Stern by Cyclone_TBW · 2004-11-19 08:27 · Score: 3, Interesting

Well according to Howard last night on Lettermen. Sat. Radio is the next big thing and he is going there to create is own rights. More power too him. I will pick on up just hear his first show which he said will be "One for the books".

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Click HERE

Civil Disobedience Helps... by brxndxn · 2004-11-19 08:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

Massive complete ignorance of current copyright laws and any future laws will gear the marketplace away from strict standards no matter what the law says. The law once said 'separate but equal' and the marketplace said fuck that.

Well, Internet users are saying fuck that to media corporations. TV-viewers with VCRs and Tivos (and MythTV, you arrogant linux jerks) are saying fuck that to the stupid-loud-ads-in-your face-business-model.

The more the DMCA is being used in its limitless obscurity, the more it is being struck the fuck down. The more software patents become reality, the more prior art can be claimed in open source.

The marketplace controls demand and demand always controls supply. Big bad Joe wouldn't be selling pot to 16yo kids if 16yo kids weren't buyin'.

So, basically, I'm saying to hell with these corporations trying to tell me what to do with something after I already bought it. If I wanna cut a tennis ball in half and use it as a neato door stop, fuck Wilson if they tell me that's unauthorized use. They can fuck off because I paid for the balls... actually, because I have the balls. I already have the mp3s of the songs I want (don't need any new crappy music in my collection) and they weren't available for purchase when I wanted them, and CDs don't always play right and get scratched easily, so why should I go buy the cds of said music now? Make new shit for me to buy... that is worth buying.

There's safety in numbers - especially in a Democracy that gets to vote for who's in power. Crappy laws can be removed. And guess what, media companies?! -- the majority, consequently your own customers, is already against you! So fuck off and go produce something that I will buy instead of treating me like I'm not buying enough.

If it were easier to buy a high-quality mp3 for a buck that came with a keychain or some neato bullshit like that, I wouldn't have pirated them.

So, media companies, here's how to un-piss us off:

- apologize for calling your customers criminals
- make access to media easier rather than harder
- go with the fucking marketplace flow like a good megaconglomerate
- do some market research that doesn't involve what you think you're owed
- act like the consumer has a say in what he or she buys
- quit treating idiots in masses (ie. consumers) as idiots.. we tend to get smart in numbers
- make better shit

And finally, all of you pirates that are too lazy to click twice at the EFF website, donate, or fire off a flaming letter filled with poo at your nearest corrupt government fuck, you're still doing your patriotic duty by pirating. I want to liken you to MLK's stand of civil disobedience - but that would be unfair since you're just downloading Britney Spears while the black dudes got their poor asses beat. So instead, I will just say hurrah for teen angst and continue your P2P deviations.. because you are saying a lot, no matter how ignorant the media companies want to be.

Sorry I said fuck a lot.

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--- We need more Ron Paul!

Re:Civil Disobedience Helps... by glasse · 2004-11-19 09:21 · Score: 3, Interesting

It's my opinion that peer-to-peer filesharing improves sales for RIAA and the like. As such, I no longer find it ethical to distribute their copyrighted works -- it's like giving them advertising. What I would *like* to do to them isn't very ethical either, though, so I'm just going to try to wait for their eventual demise to market forces, and promote things like Webjay and Gnomoradio.

Ethan

Re:What if? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-11-19 09:06 · Score: 1, Interesting

You're assuming that the original parent is suggesting that the EFF is behind the disapearance isntead of either someone who sympathizes with the EFF or someone who is against the people that the EFF are against.

True. I was assuming that. But even if someone else did it that was on the side of the EFF, I don't know if I would disagree with it. That's the kinda stuff the Liberal party does during elections in Canada (the elected party). In the early 90's the Liberals helped distribute (and possibly create) a Tory commercial that depicted the Liberal leader like he was a deformed idiot (basically it was making fun of Jean Chretien's face, which was caused by a childhood case of polio.) This triggered outrage in Canadians and forced the Tories to obtain only two seats. So it works!

There have been other double dealings since; one where the Liberal candidate and now Premier of Ontario, was depicted in an email as a kitten eater, a blatant reference to a Buffy quote. It was rumored that the Liberals helped to circulate the Tory memo in that regard too. There were other stories but those two stand out in the forefront as similar to this action, except the Liberals held a strong lead in both cases. (and the EFF doesn't have the same financial ability as the Libs)

What it comes down to is that people will do anything for power. But if the EFF doesn't have the advantage that their competitors have, I don't see a problem with them or those who support them, leveling the playing field.

Two places to start by Anonymous Coward · 2004-11-19 09:31 · Score: 1, Interesting

...would be an organization known as Transparency International http://www.transparency.org/; another would be Junior Chamber International http://www.jci.cc/ (for the 18-40 crowd). The two organizations recently signed an agreement to collaborate their efforts.

stolen and recovered in a trashcan? by mark-t · 2004-11-19 09:41 · Score: 2, Interesting

Methinks that phrase is missing a comma.

Otherwise, doesn't this phrase mean that the theft itself, as well as the recovery, took place within a trashcan? (which would imply an awfully small thief, not to mention a rather unusual place to have such important documents in the first place).

[Moderation -1, Grammar Nazi]

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File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'

The Corporation by danila · 2004-11-19 10:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

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Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.

What About Healthcare Information? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-11-19 10:11 · Score: 1, Interesting

There are HUGE power grabs occurring which will transform the US and its citizens' ability to own their own information which are getting very little media notice. Check out the Federal Register's November 15th Request for Information on how best to remove traditional medical record conidentiality and instead make all of your medical information "interoperable" and accessible by the government and others for data mining.

See: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06jun20041 800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/04-25382.htm

Letter to my MP by Morosoph · 2004-11-19 13:14 · Score: 2, Interesting

Dear Anne Campbell,

I'm writing to you on intellectual property, but this time not
specifically in Europe, but rather in the World Intellectual Property
Organization. It appears that the body is not neutrally seeking
informed democratic policy-making, but rather simply attempting to
coerce its members into accepting strong IPR. I do not believe that
this should be the way in which an international body should work,
and I would hope that our government agrees.

Below, I have extracted relevant sections from the linked webpages.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002130.php#0 02130

WIPO: Day 3

November 19, 2004

Today at WIPO saw a flat-out disgraceful cooking of the deliberative
process. The administrators of the meeting -- the chair and secretariat
-- are pushing hard to make this treaty pass, even if no one wants it
to. The solution to the deadlock is "regional meetings" in which
countries that oppose the treaty can be isolated and arm-twisted into
coming into line, and where few or no public-interest NGOs will be
present. Some of the most populous countries in the world -- India and
Brazil -- along with many others called for a better approach: any
region that wants a meeting can have one, but the real action would be
at an "inter-sessional meeting" held in Geneva, with all countries
represented. Even though these countries presented a solution that would
have given regional meetings to those who wanted them, the chair
steadfastly refused to hear from them -- eventually, he used a straw
poll to discard their proposal altogether, and then called it
"democracy."

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002117.php

Both yesterday and again today, written statements provided by IP
Justice and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which were placed on the
table designated for floor papers, were stolen within minutes of being
deposited on the table. Additionally yesterday documents provided by the
Union for the Public Domain were also missing shortly after being placed
on the table.

This morning, many of these documents were recovered from the trash can
in the first floor men's restroom. Another set of IP Justice statements
as well as copies of the alternative NGO Proposal for a Broadcasting
Treaty were recovered from behind a desk on the ground floor. These
documents provided by IP Justice, EFF, and the Union for the Public
Domain were critical of the Broadcasting Treaty. The papers drafted by
the broadcasting industry, urging the treaty's adoption, however, remain
undisturbed on the table for floor papers.

Yours sincerely,

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Public Interest Groups Face Uphill Battle at WIPO Meeting

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