[Missouri-l] Fw: [blind-people2] FYI, read this

[Terrie Arnold]

here is something interesting that 
can affect us as a whole.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara" 
<ladybug53 at suddenlink.net>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 1:25 
AM
Subject: [blind-people2] FYI, read 
this


>
>
> Obama Joins Group to Block 
> Treaty for Blind and Other 
> Reading Disabilities
>>
> 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 number of accessible works 
>> is very small everywhere, 
>> relative to what
> "sighted" persons can read. 
> However, in developing 
> countries, the
>> collections are super small, 
>> and even in the USA, access to 
>> works in
>> languages other than English is 
>> practically non-existent.
>>
>> Under the current international 
>> legal regime, there is almost 
>> no sharing
>> of
> these works across borders. The 
> treaty would change that, vastly 
> expanding
>> the availability of works to 
>> all persons who are blind or 
>> have other
>> reading
> disabilities.
>
>> Every regional group in the 
>> developing world expressed 
>> support for
>> advancing
>> work on this proposal, as part 
>> of a broader agenda on access 
>> to knowledge
> and the protection of consumer 
> interests.
>>
>> 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.
>>
> Last week Obama worked with 
> PhRMA to kill a Medical R&D 
> Treaty at the World
> Health Organization. This week 
> he is trying to kill a treaty 
> for blind and
> reading disabled persons. This 
> is not encouraging.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
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