[gui-talk] International Copyright Concerns for Blind Readers

Sat May 30 16:14:36 UTC 2009

It is possible to create a copyrighted format that is accessible.  You can
make PDFS so that the have all the security features and still be accessible
to the blind.

James Pepper

On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:47 PM, albert griffith <
albertgriffith at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> I've yet to hear the view point of the other side on this one.  Has anyone
> heard just why this treaty is being opposed?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Frye, Dan (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 3:31 PM
> To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [gui-talk] International Copyright Concerns for Blind Readers
>
>
> Colleagues:
>
> I am circulating a lengthy post regarding efforts to limit an
> international treaty that would allow for rules that parallel
> existing domestic exceptions to the copyright law for blind people to
> govern in an international context. Please help bring pressure on
> authorities by letting President Obama know that these provisions
> would be useful, and ask him to direct his representatives to abandon
> their hostile posture toward aspects of the treaty that would be
> helpful. You may Email your concerns to:
>
> <mailto:President at whitehouse.gov>President at whitehouse.gov
>
> The post follows:
>
>
> Right now, in Geneva, at the UN's World Intellectual Property
> Organization, history is being made. For the first time in WIPO
> history, the body that creates the world's copyright treaties is
> attempting to write a copyright treaty dedicated to protecting the
> interests of copyright users, not just copyright owners.
>
> At issue is a treaty to protect the rights of blind people and people
> with other disabilities that affect reading (people with dyslexia,
> people who are paralyzed or lack arms or hands for turning pages).
> This should be a slam dunk: who wouldn't want a harmonized system of
> copyright exceptions that ensure that it's possible for disabled
> people to get access to the written word?
>
> The USA, that's who. The Obama administration'
>
> US negotiators have joined with a rogue's gallery of rich country
> trade representatives to oppose protection for blind people. Other
> nations and regions opposing the rights of blind people include
> Canada and the EU.
>
> Update: Also opposing rights for disabled people: Australia, New
> Zealand, the Vatican and Norway.
>
> Activists at WIPO are desperate to get the word out. They're tweeting
> madly from the negotiation (technically called the 18th session of
> the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights) publishing
> editorials on the Huffington Post, etc.
>
> Here's where you come in: this has to get wide exposure, to get cast
> as broadly as possible, so that it will find its way into the ears of
> the obscure power-brokers who control national trade-negotiators.
>
> I don't often ask readers to do things like this, but please, forward
> this post to people you know in the US, Canada and the EU, and ask
> them to reblog, tweet, and spread the word, especially to government
> officials and activists who work on disabled rights. We know that
> WIPO negotiations can be overwhelmed by citizen activists -- that's
> how we killed the Broadcast Treaty negotiation a few years back --
> and with your help, we can make history, and create a world where
> copyright law protects the public interest.
>
> I am attending a meeting in Geneva of the World Intellectual Property
> Organization (WIPO). This evening the United States government, in
> combination with other high income countries in "Group B" is seeking
> to block an agreement to discuss a treaty for persons who are blind
> or have other reading disabilities.
>
> The proposal for a treaty is supported by a large number of civil
> society NGOs, the World Blind Union, the National Federation of the
> Blind in the US, the International DAISY Consortium, Recording for
> the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), Bookshare.Org, and groups representing
> persons with reading disabilities all around the world.
>
> The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and
> export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in
> formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually
> impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special
> devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated
> text to speech, or large type. These works, which are expensive to
> make, are typically created under national exceptions to copyright
> law that are specifically written to benefit persons with disabilities.
>
> ..
>
> The opposition from the United States and other high income countries
> is due to intense lobbying from a large group of publishers that
> oppose a "paradigm shift,"
>
> where treaties would protect consumer interests, rather than expand
> rights for copyright owners.
>
> The Obama Administration was lobbied heavily on this issue, including
> meetings with high level White House officials. Assurances coming
> into the negotiations this week that things were going in the right
> direction have turned out to be false, as the United States
> delegation has basically read from a script written by lobbyists for
> publishers, extolling the virtues of market based solutions, ignoring
> mountains of evidence of a "book famine" and the insane legal
> barriers to share works.
>
> Obama Joins Group to Block Treaty for Blind and Other Reading
> Disabilities COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS Twitter feed for #sccr18
>
>
>
> With Kind Regards,
>
>
> ***********************
> Daniel B. Frye, J.D.
> Associate Editor
> The Braille Monitor
> National Federation of the Blind
> Office of the President
> 1800 Johnson Street
> Baltimore, Maryland 21230
> Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext. 2208
> Mobile: (410) 241-7006
> Fax: (410) 685-5653
> Email: <mailto:DFrye at nfb.org>DFrye at nfb.org
> Web Address: <http://www.nfb.org/>www.nfb.org
> "Voice of the Nation's Blind"
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