Digital Copyright Canada

I'm glad to see that EFF has picked up on this issue. The library 
associations in the US had previously sent in submissions on the 
overly-broad scope of the draft FTAA, making the point that IP should be 
removed from the scope of FTAs:

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt02282003.html
and
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt01312003.html

also see also the letters to Congress and the acton alert calling for 
the rejection of the US-Singapore and US-Chile FTAs thenpending in Congress:

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt06192003.html
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt06192003b.html
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/aa06182003.html

Sam Trosow
University of Western Ontario

Russell McOrmond wrote:
>   I have not verified the content, but find this very interesting.  I have 
> not been following the FTAA negotiations but find it frustrating that the 
> USA is using yet another back-door to get DMCA-style LpfTPM legislation 
> enforced in various countries.
> 
> 
> <Rant  type="standard,frustrated">
> 
>   It needs to be remembered that the 3 main classifications of
> constituencies need very different things: creators, intermediaries, 
> citizens.
> 
> 
>   - Citizens/users/audiences want access to more works and are generally
> willing to offer temporary monopolies to get them.  LpfTPM destroys the 
> ballance that Citizens have offered.
> 
>   - Creators want the ability to create and distribute their works in ways
> that will allow them to receive material and moral rewards.  While this
> community has not adequately recognized this yet, access to and control
> over ICT tools is a precondition for this in digital copyright. LpfTPM
> destroys the precondition of creators being in control of the tools used
> to create and distribute their works, and hands this control over to even
> more powerful intermediaries.
> 
>  - Intermediaries (especially non-creator copyright holders) want to 
> maximize the economic rewards of already created works.  Their interests 
> are strongly against the interests of both citizens and creators.
> 
> 
> 
>   Why is it no surprise that the FTAA seems to focus only on the interests
> of the intermediaries.  This is a strong contrast from the United Nations
> Declaration of Human Rights which seeks to protect citizen and creators
> rights and does not mention intermediaries at all.
> 
> </Rant>
> 
> ---
>  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
>  Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
>  electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
>  politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:29:56 -0700
> From: IP Justice <announce@ipjustice.org>
> To: announce@ipjustice.org
> Subject: FTAA Treaty '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade"
> 
> IP Justice Media Release
> October 20, 2003
> Media contact: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director
> +1 415-553-6261     robin@ipjustice.org
> 
> 
> FTAA Treaty Chapter on IP '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade"
> IP Justice White Paper Reveals Treaty Would Send P2P File-Sharers to Prison
> Sponsors Petition to Delete Intellectual Property Chapter
> 
> - International civil liberties group IP Justice published a report today 
> entitled "FTAA: A Threat to Freedom and Free Trade," that analyzes key 
> sections of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Treaty. The FTAA 
> Treaty will govern the lives of 800 million Americans in the Western 
> Hemisphere in 2005.
> 
> Similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the FTAA Treaty 
> seeks to bind the 34 democracies in the Western Hemisphere (including the 
> US) to a single trade agreement. It will require all countries to change 
> their domestic laws on a wide range of topics, including intellectual 
> property rights.
> 
> The draft intellectual property rights chapter in the FTAA Agreement vastly 
> expands criminal procedures and penalties against intellectual property 
> infringements throughout the Americas. One clause would require countries 
> to send non-commercial infringers such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharers 
> to prison. It is estimated that 60 million Americans use file-sharing 
> software in the US alone.
> 
> According to the IP Justice report, "unless the second proposed clause to 
> Article 4.1 is deleted from the FTAA Treaty, Internet music swapping will 
> be a felony throughout the Western Hemisphere in 2005."
> 
> The proposed agreement forbids consumers from bypassing technical 
> restrictions on their own CDs, DVDs and other property, similar to the 
> controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Even though bills 
> are pending in the US Congress to repeal the DMCA, FTAA proposes to outlaw 
> even more speech and legitimate conduct.
> 
> Mislabeled as a "free trade" agreement, the FTAA Agreement would actually 
> make it illegal to bypass trade barriers such as DVD region code 
> restrictions and it would enable price discrimination against consumers in 
> the Americas.
> 
> The draft treaty also imposes new definitions for "fair use" and "personal 
> use," curtailing traditional fair use and personal use rights to a single 
> copy and only under limited circumstances. This prevents consumers from 
> backing-up their media collections, using their media in new and innovative 
> ways, and accessing media for educational and non-commercial purposes.
> 
> Another clause would require all countries to amend their copyright laws to 
> extend copyright's term to at least 70 years after the life of the author, 
> essentially forcing the new US standard on all other 33 countries in the 
> hemisphere. Although forbidden by the US Constitution, FTAA's copyright 
> section would allow companies to copyright facts and scientific data.
> 
> Another provision requires all domain name trademark disputes to be decided 
> by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a 
> private and unaccountable organization that is ill equipped to determine 
> the limits of freedom of expression rights or the scope of intellectual 
> property rights. Americans would no longer have access to their local 
> public courts to adjudicate rights over their Internet domain names.
> 
> "The FTAA Treaty's IP chapter reads like a 'wish list' for RIAA, MPAA, and 
> Microsoft lobbyists," said IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross. 
> "Rather than promote competition and creativity, it is bloated with 
> provisions that create monopolies over information and media devices," 
> stated the intellectual property attorney.
> 
> In conjunction with the White Paper, IP Justice published an online 
> petition calling upon the FTAA Trade Ministers to delete the entire chapter 
> on intellectual property rights from the trade agreement. Earlier this year 
> Brazil called for scrapping the chapter on intellectual property rights also.
> 
> FTAA Treaty negotiators, including the Office of the US Trade 
> Representative who negotiates on behalf of US government, will meet in 
> Miami from November 16-21, 2003. Debate over the text of the FTAA Treaty 
> will conclude by January 2005 and the treaty is due to take effect by 
> December 2005.
> 
> IP Justice White Paper on FTAA IP Chapter:
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/whitepaper.shtml
> 
> IP Justice FTAA Educational Campaign:
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa
> 
> IP Justice's Top 10 Reasons to Delete FTAA's IP Chapter:
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/topten.shtml
> 
> IP Justice Petition to Delete FTAA's IP Chapter:
> http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/petition.shtml
> 
> Official FTAA Website:
> http://www.ftaa-alca.org
> 
> Draft chapter on intellectual property rights in FTAA Agreement:
> http://www.ftaa-alca.org/ftaadraft02/eng/draft_e.asp
> 
> IP Justice is an international civil liberties organization that promotes 
> balanced intellectual property law. IP Justice defends individual rights to 
> use digital media worldwide and is a registered California non-profit 
> organization. IP Justice was founded in 2002 by Robin D. Gross, who serves 
> as its Executive Director. To learn more about IP Justice, visit the 
> website at http://www.ipjustice.org.
> 
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Digital Copyright Canada

Re: [d@DCC] FTAA Treaty '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade" (fwd)

All Canadian Citizens are "Rights Holders"!