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Rumors of a 'Whisper Campaign' Forming Against Fair Use

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica reports that a group of companies and organizations it calls 'big content' is currently engaged in a worldwide 'whisper campaign' against Fair Use. 'The counter-reformation in question takes the form of a "whispering campaign" in which ministries in different countries are told that plans to expand fair use rights might well run afoul of the Berne Convention's "three-step test." The Convention, which goes back to the late 1800s, was one of the earliest international copyright treaties and is now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).'"

4 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Only the US has fair use anyway... by dev_eddie · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Spain we have "Private Copy Right" granted by Constitution that forbids Penal cases against copyright infringement (in absence of lucre). Discovery causes can't be Civil, so copyright infringement is not illegal. That is not inflexible or narrower than the "fair use" doctrine. The war over the lucre definition is over and we won.

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    /usr/bin/cookie: Permission Denied.
  2. Re:The "3 steps" by reddburn · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am a linguist. Dialect and grammar evolve in a matrix of formal and informal uses. Dialects are systematic and regular, and socially favored versions of the language are mimicked. Certain "correct" usages fall into disuse - how many of us use "Shall" when asking a first person question (Shall I go?) anymore?

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    "Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand" - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  3. Re:The "3 steps" by mlund · · Score: 2, Informative

    The only clause we need to apply to them is the BOOT.

    Unless, of course, you're saying that these people (mostly eligible to vote in free elections in Mexico) have some inalienable right to cut in line ahead of those poor unfortunate souls playing by the rules while trying to escape genocide in Dafur or totalitarianism in China.

    Legal immigration = Good
    Criminal border-crossings and lawless subcultures = Bad

  4. Re:Anyone remember when... by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 2, Informative

    Oh read the Bible before, it's totaly dispicable of course, but at least you have to get a few chapters in before the hate speech starts, but the Koran opens with a rant against unbelievers right at the start. Kind of sets the tone for the rest of the book. I could probably read the bible for half an hour before I get to some part promising death and pain for unbelievers, whereas the Koran, I get there in about 20 seconds.