More than WIPO Net treaties
p2p news / p2pnet: As I read reports tonight that France has advanced plans to legalize P2P, I was reminded that during the copyright reform process, groups such as CRIA are often heard to say that Canada needs to follow the lead of the rest of the world. In light of recent events, I suspect that many user groups might be inclined to agree. We could follow:
the Australian lead of moving toward fair use
the UK lead in holding hearings on the dangers associated with DRM
the French lead of considering legalized P2P with a levy system to cover audio and video downloads
the US lead on legislation that allows for increased of Internet materials in the classroom
the South Korean lead of not prosecuting downloaders for personal purposes
the majority of the world’s population which has not ratified the WIPO Internet treaties nor extended the term of copyright beyond life of the author plus 50 years
With a new Conservative cabinet set to be named on Monday, it will be important to remind officials that international standards means much more than just deciding what to do about the WIPO Internet treaties.
Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]
February 5th, 2006 at 11:15 am
“the South Korean lead of not prosecuting downloaders for personal purposes”
Also the SPANISH lead of not prosecuting downloaders for personal purposes, because downloading is legal.
Also the of not prosecuting downloaders for personal purposes, BECAUSE downloading is inevitable on the Internet BECAUSE without downloading the Internet is just plain useless.
And most importantly, because there is no practical way to sort out (filter) all of the many categories of works posted on the Internet by the owners of the copyrights or works posted that are in the public domain.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com