'Webcaster's Right' in WIPO Treaty

An anonymous reader writes "Andy Oram examines the new concept of a 'webcaster's right' that major Web portals are trying to introduce through a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty. The treaty would allow Web sites to control the dissemination of content they put up. Using the failed database protection laws as an example, and in the context of the carrier's desire to create a tiered Internet, Andy analyzes this new threat to the public domain."

Comments

Re:Dubious about bittorrent death claims

[civilizedINTENSITY]

I don't understand why you think it is "fair enough" that you would have any rights to public domain material that you put on your website, beyond normal copyright to the "work as a whole". You certainly don't have copyright rights to the snippet you placed on your website. You would have copyright to the collage you create of various public domain materials, and no one should copy enough of it that they would violate your copyright to the material you created. This doesn't apply, via copyright, to the public domain snippet, and I don't see why "broadcasting" public domain material should give you rights to it.

In terms of bittorrent, the only way I can see a problem is if they require written, signed permission. Then you'd recieve postcards, to which you'd have to reply. Likewise, as people get permisssion, and "piggybacking" starts, there would be a snailmail time delay, as postcards roundtrip signatures making it legal to proceed. But this does seem a stretch to me. The question remains, under a "signature requirement", could you grant the public blanket permission to use material that is to be distributed over the internet? But this is a stretch...

Re:This is crap

[zotz]

[Ultimately, my problem with this is that it reeks of the bullshit "harmonization" crap that's been going on in recent years.]

So, if we can find one country to make all works without a copyright notice, new and existing be treated as copyleft instead of all rights reserved, all the rest will have to do the same to harmonize? Which country would be most likely to listen to this idea?

all the best,

drew
---
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/111123
Tings - speaking of copyleft
how about a novel
first draft but still

Think of the bright side.

[zotz]

This could kill off the big portals who try to pull this stunt.

This could give a big advantage to a big portal who pulls this stunt but only asserts a copyleft instead of an all rights reserved.

This could give an even bigger advantage to those portals that don't try to pull this stunt at all.

Besides all of this, where is this hugh supply of public domain sound and video content that would make such a play worthwhile?

all the best,

drew
---
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/111123
"Tings" - try this "copyleft" type novel on for size
Warning! Danger! - first draft and temporal black hole.

Tightens the Noose on P2P and Free Speech Suffers

[xoip]

Looks like this has been dreamed up so that there is another legal tool to go after P2P because you are not talking about the right to copy material for personal use. Now you just won't be able to broadcast/publish/share any information that was generated by someone else.

EFF version

[Anonymous Coward]

At the bottom of this piece is a link to the EFF cliff notes version, it is more understandable for some perhaps:

http://www.eff.org/IP/WIPO/broadcasting_treaty/

It's pretty bogus, think **AA wet dream legislation, now add in the "blessed packets" nonsense that the major telcos want. Not only could the middle men skimmers ownzor their stuff, they could ownzor YOUR stuff as soon as they broadcast it! It would kill news blogging, VOIP except for the carriers versions, any sort of home tivo like action, commercial or DIY, "rich" media transfers outside the already established outlets, and make the net a big whopping version of the AOL walled garden concept.

Basically, it's your normal globalist "screw the little guy, only the already exisiting big guys matter, and you gonna pay us big bux forever, suckah" type deal.

I wondered when this would happen, it was only a matter of time before they started civilizing the free, cheap and easy wild wild west anarchy styled web. No big corporations or governments want YOU to have ANY control, not in the past, not now, and not in the future. And politicians go where the anonymous bags of cash are, end of story.