Stopping the ACTA Juggernaut | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Eddan Katz - Nov. 19 09
"Such accountability is available in the U.S. system, but it cannot come from the Office of the USTR alone. If ACTA is going to regulate the global Internet, we believe that should warrant the opportunity for public comment."
Accessibility at Google
"Google’s accessibility mission
Information access is at the core of Google’s mission – to make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. That’s why in addition to crawling, indexing and ranking billions of websites, images, videos and other content, we also work to make that content available in all languages and in accessible formats.
We want to make information available to everyone, and that includes people with disabilities, such as blindness, visual impairment, color deficiency, deafness, hearing loss and limited dexterity. We’ve found that providing alternative access modes like keyboard shortcuts, captions, high-contrast views and text-to-speech technology helps everyone, not just people with disabilities. For example, keyboard shortcuts help power users get things done more quickly without using a mouse, speech-to-text technology enables people to skim and search audio content, and custom product themes give people more opportunities to personalize. "
Official Google Blog: Automatic captions in YouTube - Ken Harrenstien, Nov. 19, 09
"However, like everything YouTube does, captions face a tremendous challenge of scale. Every minute, 20 hours of video are uploaded. How can we expect every video owner to spend the time and effort necessary to add captions to their videos? Even with all of the captioning support already available on YouTube, the majority of user-generated video content online is still inaccessible to people like me.
To help address this challenge, we've combined Google's automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology with the YouTube caption system to offer automatic captions, or auto-caps for short. Auto-caps use the same voice recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for video. The captions will not always be perfect (check out the video below for an amusing example), but even when they're off, they can still be helpful—and the technology will continue to improve with time.
In addition to automatic captions, we’re also launching automatic caption timing, or auto-timing, to make it significantly easier to create captions manually. With auto-timing, you no longer need to have special expertise to create your own captions in YouTube. All you need to do is create a simple text file with all the words in the video and we’ll use Google’s ASR technology to figure out when the words are spoken and create captions for your video. This should significantly lower the barriers for video owners who want to add captions, but who don’t have the time or resources to create professional caption tracks."
Sara Bannerman: ACTA: walk away or get on board? Nov. 17 09
"On November 5th Michael Geist spoke at the American University in Washington about the ACTA. His presentation was part of a panel called "Strengthening IP Enforcement Through TRIPS and Other Multilateral Initiatives", with Daniel Gervais and Peter Yu and moderated by Padideh Ala'i (Webcast here).
Geist predicted that by 2010 ACTA will be fully drafted, that by 2011 it will be publicly disclosed, and that by 2012 efforts will have begun to expand the circle of countries to which ACTA applies. Countries excluded from ACTA will be presented with a fait accompli. They will have had no influence on the ACTA text. Nevertheless, they will eventually be asked to sign the document. Geist argues that, therefore, excluded countries should be banging down the door of ACTA, saying they want input now."
Michael Geist - The ACTA Threat: My Talk on Everything You Need To Know About ACTA, But Didn't Know To Ask - Nov 12 09
"ast week I participated in a conference at American University, Washington College of Law called Beyond TRIPS: The Current Push for Greater International Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. Webcasts of the two panels are available online (my panel on TRIPs and ACTA; a second panel on U.S. efforts to increase international IP enforcement).
My 20 minute talk was essentially an ACTA 101: when it started, what it involves, and what may lie ahead. I've taken a recording of the talk mixed with the slides and posted a video version of the talk on Blip.tv. It is embedded below:"
Beneblog: Technology Meets Society: Accessibility and ACTA - Jim Fruchterman Nov 15 09
"The disability community should be concerned about ACTA for two reasons:
1. At its core it’s an anti-piracy agreement. The digital measures designed to defeat piracy usually end up equating accessibility with piracy.
2. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is being negotiated in secret. We don’t know if it’s benign or hostile to accessibility. "
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) & the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) comments on treaty for access | Knowledge Ecology International
"The American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) submitted their comments in response to a Notice of Inquiry put forth by the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). ACB is a leading U.S. consumer organization of blind or visually impaired individuals. Access to information is a critical area of interest for ACB, and expanding the availability of accessible format materials is viewed as highly beneficial to the blindness community in the United States and throughout the world. AFB is a leading national nonprofit working to expand possibilities for the more than 25 million Americans living with vision loss. Founded in 1921 and recognized as Helen Keller's cause in the United States, AFB strives to promote effective public policy, solutions to the challenge of technology accessibility, and services to consumers and professionals alike that meet the unique needs of all individuals who are blind or visually impaired."
LCA, EFF, and COSLA filed comments regarding the treaty to facilitate access and sharing for people with reading disabilities. | KEI Nov 14 09
"The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) consists of the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries.
Collectively, the ALA, ACRL and ARL represent over 139,000 libraries in the United States employing approximately 350,000 librarians and other personnel.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit organization with 13,000 members worldwide, dedicated to the protection of online freedom of expression, civil liberties, digital consumer rights, privacy, and innovation, through advocacy for balanced intellectual property law and information policy.
The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) is an independent organization of the chief officers of state and territorial agencies designated as the state library administrative agency and responsible for statewide library development."
Benetech & Bookshare file with LOC and USPTO on WIPO treaty for reading disabilities | Knowledge Ecology International
"Today Benetech, a leading Silicon Valley technology nonprofit and operator of the Bookshare online library for people with print disabilities submitted comments to the US Copyright Office and the USPTO on the topic of access to copyrighted works for people with print disabilities. Here are the major points, the submission is attached at the end of this blog. "
KEI, ICDRI, AHEAD, NYBIDA and Lighthouse file comments on WIPO treaty for reading disabilities | Knowledge Ecology International Nov 13 09
"Today five groups filed the attached comments to the U.S. Copyright Office and the USPTO regarding the WIPO draft proposal to facilitate access to copyrighted works for persons, who are blind, have visual impairments and other reading disabilities in response to the Federal Register Notice of October 13, 2009.
The comments were signed by
* Dr. Manon Ress, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
* Cynthia Waddell, Executive Director, International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI)
* Scott Lissner, Chair of Government Relations and Public Policy, the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD)
* Jo Anne Simon, President, New York Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (NYBIDA) and
* Dr. Cynthia Stuen, Senior Vice President, Policy, Evaluation & Education, Lighthouse International.
In addition, a separate comment was filed by James Love of KEI."
About | Copyright Watch
"Copyright Watch was begun by an international group of copyright experts, drawn from the Access to Knowledge community. We’d like to thank Corporacion Innovarte, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net), the International Federation of Library Associations, Professor Michael Geist, the Third World Network, and the Bangalore Centre for Internet and Society for their support.
Content Research was done by: Teresa Hackett and Isabel Bernal (eIFL.net), Matt Earp (Electronic Frontier Foundation consultant), and Professor Kenneth Crews at the Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University. Technical Design and ongoing support is provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Funding to create Copyright Watch was generously provided by the Open Society Institute."
An alternative primer on national and international copyright law in the global South: eighteen questions and answers |
"ABSTRACT: What are the basic nuts and bolts (and traps and dead ends) of copyright law? Who owns copyright (hint: it is usually not the author)? What rights do users have? Do international copyright conventions work in the interest of the peoples of the world, and, if not, why not? These are a few of the questions that are taken up and answered in “An alternative primer on national and international copyright law in the global South: eighteen questions and answers” published by the CopySouth Research Group. The intended audience: librarians, musicians, downloaders and book readers, information activists, students, and others who want to know how the copyright system actually works in practice in your country of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In 68 pages of straightforward and non-legalistic writing, this primer tries to unpack and explain a number of both simple and complicated concepts. You will NOT find it on the list of texts recommended by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)…. but your comments via this website are welcome (see comment form below).
*Alan Story teaches intellectual property law at Kent Law School in the United Kingdom."
Rob Pegoraro - Copyright overreach goes on world tour - WP Nov "15" 09
"We may be watching a sequel to the DMCA story today. An international copyright agreement, negotiated under unusual secrecy, could impose a further round of restrictions on our use of digital technology.
This Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, represents an attempt by the United States and other countries to set common rules for violations of intellectual-property laws. The United States hopes to use ACTA to export its laws, but in the process it might have to import others. "
FCForum - Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge
"We, a broad coalition from over 20 countries, of hundreds of thousands of citizens, users, consumers, organizations, artists, hackers, members of the free culture movement, economists, lawyers, teachers, students, researchers, scientists, activists, workers, unemployed, entrepreneurs, creators…
We invite all citizens to make this Charter theirs, share it and put it into practice.
We invite all governments, multinationals and institutions urgently to listen to it, understand it and enforce it."
Missing Safeguards in ACTA present risks to consumers in the United States, KEI/PK letter to Congress | Knowledge Ecology International Nov 09, 09
"The ACTA negotiations, while operating in extraordinary secrecy, are leading to a result that is anti-consumer and anti-innovation. The public should be allowed to raise its concerns in an open and democratic environment where everyone will be able to observe and influence these alterations to our intellectual property policy. We urge you to end this exercise in unbalanced, opaque policymaking. The ACTA negotiations should be made open, or they should be stopped."
Posts tagged ACTA on Michael Geist's blog
Geist has devoted several posts to the analysis of the ACTA procedure.
almansi - CTE (Cinéma tous écrans, Geneva, where I presented the CC licenses in the discussion on the internet and copyright)
"Table of Contents
Cinéma tous écrans
Droits d'auteur et internet
Licences CC
Diaporama synchronisé
Liens directs
Discussion
Liens"
Internet Archive: Free Download: Old-Media Soundtrack - Colonna Sonora per Documentari Aleatori Net.Futuristi
"Old-Media Soundtrack ha due differenti funzioni:
1.Colonna sonora per un documentario aleatorio sugli old-media (televisione in particolare):
le immagini che si possono osservare facendo zapping appariranno sinistre subdole ossessive come quelle di un documentario sugli orrori di guerra
2.Terapia di disintossicazione per presentisti teledipendenti
GLI OLD-MEDIA S"
SWR2 :Gemein-Freiheit -Vorboten einer freien digitalen Kultur. Sebastian M. Krämer, Nov. 2 09
Gemein-Freiheit - Vorboten einer freien digitalen Kultur\nVon Sebastian M. Krämer. \nSWR2 Wissen vom 02.11.2009. (27:42 min).\nWith useful links, and links for downloading the audio and the manuscript of the broadcast\n\n"Die Wissenschaft bietet mit "Open Access" einen offenen Zugang zu ihrer Forschung. Und der Lizenzbaukasten "Creative Commons" soll bisherige rechtliche nationale Schranken überbrücken und den Ideenaustausch im Netz rechtlich absichern und fördern. Denn die Vision einer freien digitalen Kultur rüttelt am Wertesystem, das sich auf den Buchdruck gründet und aus geistigen Werken besteht, die oft nur Einzelne besitzen. Sie verweist auf eine überlieferte Metapher: Die jeweils lebende Generation steht auf den "Schultern von Riesen". Das heißt, alle Menschen schöpfen unentwegt aus dem kulturellen Erbe und arbeiten mit ihren Ideen und Werken daran weiter."
Europe only goes half-way in protecting Internet rights. | La Quadrature du Net NOv. 5 09
"Brussels, November 5th, 2009 - An agreement has been reached on the Telecoms Package. The new text1 aimed at protecting Internet access includes positive elements such as a reference to the right to a "prior fair and impartial procedure" as well as the presumption of innocence. It also contains ambiguous language and potential loopholes. This rather unambitious provision will now be up for interpretation, and it remains to be seen whether it will invalidate Net access restrictions such as "three strikes" policies."
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