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Copyright Squabble Threatens Accessibility Boost for the Blind
Ars reports on an international treaty being negotiated that would relax restrictions on versions of books made to be more accessible to blind people. Unfortunately, the MPAA and similar organizations have been lobbying aggressively to have the treaty strengthen copyright protections as well, and could derail the entire process. Quoting:
"In principle, the digital revolution should have dramatically improved blind peoples' access to the world's information. ... Unfortunately, copyright law often stands in the way. Legal restrictions on circumventing digital rights management (DRM) technologies can limit the accessibility of e-books. And in some countries, libraries and other non-profits must seek permission from the creator of each work before producing accessible versions of books in other formats. Getting permission is a laborious process that, in practice, means that only a small fraction of available works is ever converted into accessible formats. ... The pending WIPO treaty would change that. It has two core goals that everyone we talked to supports in principle: requiring countries to enact an exception for blind people similar to America's Chaffee Amendment and allowing nonprofit organizations that help blind people to share accessible works across international borders. ... Negotiators had already excluded audiovisual works from the treaty in order to placate the movie studios. But to the frustration of treaty advocates, Hollywood has gotten involved in the negotiations anyway."
If I own an e-book, how is it illegal to use a text-to-speech program to hear it?
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
I would just like to say thank you to all the hard working dedicated people who make sure that I always have access to accessible ebooks via usenet and torrents, regardless of how many politicians the MPAA buys. And just so it's clear, yes I am really blind, and I am entirely sincere. Were it not for such altruistic individuals, getting my degree would have been much harder.
MPAA and RIAA... Standing in the way of progress for 100 years. Thank you for continuing to provide added value to our shared culture.
It should read Greed Threatens Accessibility Boost for the Blind
Can't you turn down the evil just a little bit?
The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
If you're allowed access to the material..., such as being able to check it out of the library or access it while on the library property or on the library internet connection, then why should there be any limits on transforming the data from one medium to another in order to allow a blind reader to know the words, or to allow automated voice recognition to create captions on the fly to allow deaf library patrons to be able to access and understand movies or disks that do not have intrinsic text captions embedded into the video stream or overlaid on the video itself?
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That sort of transformative change, on the fly, to allow immediate access and use ought to be fully exempt from "copyright restrictions" just as creating a temporary copy in RAM on a computer as the data is in flight from your internet connection through your computer onto your screen also does not count as copyright infringement!!!!
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This must be SO frustrating for the people who really need this access!!! How can we fix this? How can we help??? Is there something to be done?? Somewhere to sign up??? Any clues?
"Unfortunately, the MPAA and similar organizations "
What has the Motion Picture Association Assholes got to do with books?
Anyway it should be up to the individual copyright holder (author or publisher) whether or not to allow the blind to have access to their works.Somehow I don't think Homer would mind
There are a lot of big name companies opposing this treaty, including ones you wouldn't expect. The "Intellectual property owners association", which is headed up by representatives from Exxon Mobil, GE, and Johnson & Johnson wrote a letter opposing the treaty. Their concern is that they think it sets a bad precedent... get this.. for PATENT law:
By isolating L/Es (limitations and exceptions) from the IP holders’ rights, the VIP (visually impaired persons) treaty negotiations could also set a dangerous precedent for other areas of IP law, particularly patent law.
Source.
Let's ignore the massive expansion of copyright without any mention of fair use through free trade agreements, and complain that the one real attempt to clarify limitations and exceptions is "imbalanced." Also from the letter:
"A balanced approach to copyright protection cannot exist when rights and exceptions are treated separately."
That's true, but not for the reasons they think.
Basically, they are saying they would rather blind people have fewer things to read than to even HINT that copyright protection is currently too strong, since that might possibly induce people to question other areas of IP law, like patents. They ought to be ashamed.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
...doing as much evil as possible since 1922. "Who knew we'd be RELEVANT in the 21st century?"
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
"oh yeah? you want to invoke copyright? I'll just make it ACCESSIBLE TO THE BLIND! haHA! Take THAT!"
If we make exceptions for the blind, our next step might to make exceptions for the deaf, for libraries, for schoolchildren, for the poor, and then one day the movie studios might have to actually adapt to new technologies instead of trying to kill them.
Palm trees and 8
I had thought of this idea as a way to ticket those assholes on the road that drive like maniacs when there are no cops around. If 50 (PRESET_LIMIT) people report a car changing lanes without a signal in one day (PRESET_TIME) then a fine could be sent. Speeding, cutting people off, running red lights, etc could be crowd sourced to achieve better driving from the public.
Of course I would not like the idea myself. It seems a little overboard or something. Plus, I'm sure the black-hat hackers would find ways to break it. Hell, even just a group of people who want to mess with someone would be able to trick the system. So it's not a real practical system. In fact, I'm not even sure why I am sharing it here?
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
leading the blind...
http://www.szwipes.com/products/alcohol-prep-pad/