LibrarianActivist.org

The NewScientist has pubished a great article on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). According to Wikileaks, ACTA is:

a multi-lateral trade agreement of strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods hiding behind the issue of false trademarks. If adopted, a treaty of this form would impose a strong, top-down enforcement regime, with new cooperation requirements upon internet service providers, including perfunctionary disclosure of customer information. The proposal also bans “anti-circumvention” measures which may affect online anonymity systems and would likely outlaw multi-region CD/DVD players.

Michael Geist has written abundantly on the topic, and the CLA has written an in depth brief to the Government of Canada on the topic back in April.

Here are a couple of quotes from the NewScientist article:

ACTA aims to make it easier to penalise and prosecute people running websites or networks that aid and abet the sharing of copyrighted content, including music, movies, TV shows and books. While copyright infringement is already illegal, policing it across multiple borders has been difficult (…)

So swift and secretive have deliberations been that ACTA might easily have slipped under the radar altogether had it not been for a discussion paper that leaked from a source close to the Canadian government this May. ACTA is ostensibly designed to create a global coalition against the counterfeiting of goods - ranging from medicines to aircraft spares and designer underpants - all currently covered by a confusing array of international laws.

ACTA would make it illegal not just to share copyrighted material, but to operate websites that index the locations of such material that people can download. It would also outlaw systems like BitTorrent or Gnutella that help users find files on “peer-to-peer” (P2P) networks of computers.

Kudos to the CLA for their continued work to support librarians in advocating for copyright reform in Canada. The CLA’s Copyright Information Centre has put together a grassroots toolkit and draft letter to send to your local media and MP — let’s get it out there!

Courtesy of the CLA digest:

The Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques has launched a new tool to help librarians increase public awareness of copyright reform.

A draft article suitable for a community newspaper’s letter to the editor or opinion page is available from CLA’s copyright webpage, www.cla.ca/copyright.

Alana Fontaine of CLA’s government relations firm Impact Public Affairs is available by e-mail or telephone to provide advice on how to use the article. It is part of CLA’s extensive advocacy effort leading up to the introduction of new copyright legislation, which is expected at any time.

For further information on this draft article, please contact Ms. Fontaine at Alana@impactcanada.com or 613-233-8906. For more information on CLA’s copyright advocacy plan, contact CLA Executive Director Don Butcher at dbutcher@cla.ca or 613-232-9625; or the chair of CLA’s Copyright Working Group, Rob Tiessen, University of Calgary, Tiessen@ucalgary.ca.

In addition to the immediate action support, the Copyright Information Centre is a Canadian librarian’s best friend for resources on copyright in Canada. Do check it out.

This is one of those moments when librarians can rock it out and make an impact.

-PC-

Thanks to a colleage at Culture Libre for letting me know about a free conference in Montréal by Brazil’s culture minister, and musician, Gilberto Gil. The conference, entitled Digital Culture: Re-inventing America’s New World Dream, will:

explore innovative policies and practices at the cutting edge of issues like copyright, digital culture and Internet rights. (…) Gil recently hosted the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro (November 2007) where he called for the establishment of an international Internet Bill of Rights. ‘As a creator of music, he is widely known as a central player in the search for more flexible forms of distributing artistic works, Internet rights, free and open source software, and digital culture,’ (…)

.

Friday, 15 February, at 6 p.m. at the Hotel Omni Mt-Royal (map).

Google will soon be releasing their own take on a Wikipedia-style of information resource - Google Knols (screenshot).

Some of the significant differences will be: named authors (who can choose to receive a portion of ad revenue for the “knol” pages they write) instead of Wikipedia’s anonymous author model. The site will allow multiple “knols” on a single topic (each will be written by a single author) with the community voting for the best one and suggesting changes in a separate area instead of the collaborative style of composing articles used on Wikipedia.

(via MetaFilter)

On a completely unrelated note, this will be the last Friday Fun Link I post on LibrarianActivist. After some recent discussions with the other two librarians I took on this project with about the future of the site, it was felt that we need to re-focus on the serious side of activism. We also discussed some other potential changes and improvements to the site. Hopefully more details about these items will be forthcoming in the weeks and months to come.

I am happy to remain involved with LA as a contributor but for anyone who’s enjoyed this recurring feature, I will continue to post the Friday Fun Links on my personal blog.

- JH

Hi Everybody,

As I’m sure most have you have heard, the Canadian Government is planning on pushing through some new copyright legislation to conform with the WIPO treaties that is going to be supposedly stricter than the DMCA. There are some really serious issues about this legislation that is likely to affect all of us as students, researchers, librarians and journalists, and as citizens in terms of fair use, circumvention, parody, downloading, digital rights management, and so on.

Three things bother me specifically about this. The first is the Government’s general refusal to answer questions clearly about what the legislation is going to entail, and its refusal to consult the public adequately.

The second involves the industry and trading partners push that is the supposed reason behind this sudden eagerness to table new copyright legislation. Intense lobbying by the Canadian Recording Industry Association which represents the “big four” record labels (sony, universal, emi, and warner) who make up 75% of the global music industry, US ambassador David Wilkins, are all supposedly the big players pushing for reform.

Third, the DMCA is strict enough, as are the WIPO provisions, yet the government is planning to implement a copyright act that goes well beyond the requirements set out by WIPO itself. Why is this? Canada has a pretty strict and fairly sensible copyright legislation already.

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is opposed to reform as it stands.

http://www.aucc.ca/_pdf/english/reports/2007/copyright_12_04_e.pdf

The Canadian Association of University Teachers is questioning whether or not this is the right way to go. Check out Excess Copyright as well:

http://excesscopyright.blogspot.com/2007/12/caut-copyright-position.html

Canadian musicians are opposed to this version of copyright:

http://www.musiccreators.ca/wp/

I believe quite strongly that when multinational corporations begin to make Canadian legislation there is something seriously wrong with how things are being done. I also believe that when the public is shut out of the process of law making by the government we are setting a dangerous precedent.

I urge you to take action and let the government know that this is not acceptable for copyright reform and not acceptable for good governance.
Links to sample and form letters, MP addresses, and other important government contacts can be found here:

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/letters

A really great breakdown at what is at stake by Wayne Macphail can be found here:

http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=65169

Michael Geist’s excellent blog that will keep you up to date on these issues like no other is here:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/blogsection/0/126/

Canadian Library Associations page on Copyright (though I can’t seem to find a position on the proposed legislation. Let me know if you have it:

http://tinyurl.com/yrr2ln

Finally, if I haven’t convinced you, maybe Brian the Frog will:

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14247

Feel free to forward this, create your own, and spread the word around as far and as wide as possible. Also forward any links you know of or articles and we will post them here.

_DJ_