http://www.ef
f.org/effector/19/20.php#I
EFFector Vol. 19, No. 20 May, 2006
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN
1062-9424
Action Alert - Let the Public Decide Broadcasting Treaty's
Fate!
The United States delegation to the World Intellectual
Property
Organization (WIPO) has been one of the strongest supporters
of
efforts to create a new intellectual property right for
broadcasters and cablecasters through a new WIPO treaty. If
adopted, the treaty would give broadcasters, cablecasters
and
potentially webcasting companies 50 years of copyright-like
rights over anything they transmit, including public domain
and
Creative Commons-licensed works. It would also give
broadcasters
legal protection to use technology to lock down content,
giving
them control over how you use broadcasts received by your
television, radio and possibly personal computer and control
over
how those devices are designed and built.
The new Broadcasting Treaty is likely to restrict your
access to
knowledge and culture, and it lets broadcasters make
decisions
that should be left in the hands of creators and the public.
EFF and other groups have worked hard in Geneva to fix the
proposed treaty, but it has been uphill work. We believe it
would
be a terrible mistake for WIPO to create new rights for
broadcasters, who are merely middlemen, which could restrict
what
ordinary Americans do with their media. We don't think the
U.S.
delegation members have taken the time to hear the views of
the
American public. The delegation should hold a public
consultation
with the American people before it continues to lobby for
expansive new IP rights.
The two committees in Congress that have responsibility for
copyright and telecommunications policy are the House and
Senate
Judiciary Committees. If your representative is on one of
those
committees, write now to ask him or her to request the U.S.
WIPO
delegation seek the public's comments.
Take action:
http://act
ion.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=227
For more on the treaty:
http:
//www.eff.org/IP/WIPO/broadcasting_treaty/
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