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Documentaries and clearances

American documentary film producers have a difficult time clearing copyright on images, music, and other sound clips if they are reusing other media.  The Center for Social Media at American University is holding an invitation-only conference later this month to discuss the issues involved. "Fair Use and Free Speech: Beyond Untold Stories" takes place at Drexel Univeristy September 28.

However, they have also produced a report and short video with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation. "Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of the               Rights Clearance Culture for Documentary               Filmmakers" is accessible to all of us.  It shows the difficulties encountered in past productions as well as the conclusions about the effects on society.

September 15, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (4)

Open Society Institute fellowships

The International Policy Fellowship Program (IPF) of the Open Society Institute has issued its annual call for fellowship proposals. Open Information Policy is one of the program's focal areas this year. Here are details concerning this area, taken from the IPF website at www.soros.org/initiatives/ipf :

"Advanced by the internet, alternatives to long-standing intellectual property regimes have created an environment to re-assess the relationship between democracy, open society and new information technologies. The promise of open source technology with respect to civil society and the incalculable leaps in information production by means of open content and weblogs present a new platform for civic participation. Whether and in what form such promises can be realized lies at the basis of the research questions below.

* Weblogs & Civic Discourse. How does the rapid expansion of weblogs alter news production and civic discourse? Can it counter ever-increasing concentration of ownership in the traditional mass media? How do traditional notions of editorial standards and journalistic professionalism apply to this new medium? Is the 'blogosphere' an enhancement of the public sphere, or does it threaten its disintegration?

* Open Content & Sustainability. Open Access publishing is revolutionizing scientific publishing. New alternative licensing systems like Creative Commons support decentralized information production, by making it easier for creators to share and permit re-use and modification of their work, while retaining certain rights. What are the business models that are developing around these commons-based models of sharing freely online? These cases are by and large un-documented and seem to contrast starkly with well-established economic and legal norms that rest on notions of scarcity, exclusivity and controlled access.

* Open Content & Standards. Wikipedia, a freely available encyclopedia, is a visible and widely cited example of collaborative, distributed knowledge production enabled by the Internet. Such models seem to have great promise for more equitable access to knowledge; yet they also run the risk of dispensing with editorial standards. How can quality standards emerge in a distributed environment? Are they robust enough to be relied upon?

* Open Source: Ownership and Control of Communications Technology. Communications technology (both hardware and software, and the standards on which most communications networks are based) is a key part of today's infrastructure for civil society engagement. How do the different models of ownership and control of the knowledge underlying this infrastructure (expressed in technology standards and software, either open or proprietary) affect access and participation by civil society, in particular, civil society in developing countries?

* Intellectual Property & Access to Knowledge: The case of Free Trade Agreements. Intellectual property laws are a powerful instrument for controlling access to knowledge, and in some cases to restrict free speech. New standards shaped by rich-country interests are now being globalized and imposed on poorer countries. In recent years, bilateral Free Trade Agreements have become an important part of this process. How do those free trade agreements undermine the rule of law and basic principles of democratic lawmaking in countries around the world that are signing these agreements?"

*CALL FOR PROPOSALS*

*INTERNATIONAL POLICY FELLOWSHIPS, 2006-2007*

*All applications must be submitted online by September 20, 2005 from_ __www.soros.org/initiatives/ipf_ *

The International Policy Fellowships (IPF) program is calling for applications for 2006-2007 fellowships. Launched in 1998 and affiliated with the Open Society Institute and the Center for Policy Studies (CPS) of the Central European University in Budapest, these fellowships support analytical policy research in pursuance of open society goals such as the rule of law, democratic elections, diverse and vigorous civil societies, and respect for minorities. Each year the IPF program invites research proposals that address critical issues in the development of open societies. Successful applicants will demonstrate originality, sound project design and the strong likelihood that their project may lead to significant impact on policy.

The IPF program seeks to enhance the quality of policy research in the countries where the Soros Network operates, throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia, as well as Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. It places strong emphasis on independent research that is both rigorous and appreciative of practical implications. Analysis and evaluation of existing policy contexts should be based on explicit criteria and fellows should be able  to communicate their ideas and findings in a variety of professional and public settings.

*Applicants are encouraged to submit individual, practical and policy-oriented research proposals in the following subject areas. The product of each fellowship will be a detailed analysis of a major issue to be published in English and translated into other languages:*

*2006-7 Fellowship Issue Areas: General Framework: New Frontiers of Democratic Politics*

* *The Challenge of Wider Europe*
* *Open Society Promotion in Predominantly
Muslim Societies*
* *Combating Open Society Threats*
* *Combating the Resource Curse *
* *Roma Exclusion *
* *Open Information Policy *

*Main Terms of the International Policy Fellowship Award*

* Fellows receive supervision and support from
a senior policy analyst
* Fellows are invited to Budapest in April 2006
for initial orientation
to the program
* Optional specialized policy research and advocacy training
courses in Budapest
* Monthly stipends commensurate with local salaries
* Budget for reasonable research, communications, travel,
publication  and advocacy costs
* Discretionary funding for conference participation

*How to Apply*

Applicants should carefully complete the online application form found at www.soros.org/initiatives/ipf, which includes a project summary, research proposal (maximum 4 pages), and a resume/CV including a list of publications. Applicants may also include a letter of reference from an affiliated organization and a writing sample on the chosen topic.

Those who have no possibility to access the Internet should send an e-mail to [email protected] to discuss alternate application solutions. Applications sent by mail, fax or e-mail will not be considered unless given prior approval from IPF staff.

Applications must be submitted online by* September 20, 2005*. IPF does not consider late applications. _

August 26, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tracking Technology Controversy

Tracking technology controversy in Berkeley

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology was invented about 60 years ago. Only recently has it begun to grow in popularity. Next year three times the number of tags will be sold over the previous 60 years. The value of the market is expected to increase to $24.5 billion in ten years. It is mainly used for supply chain control. At present it's used on pallets and cases, but as prices for the tags drop, it will be used even more on individual items.  The mainstream press generally carries stories about its use in other areas: people, clothing, animals, and library materials. A few discuss technical and health issues related to the use of wireless frequencies for the transmission of data. As awareness grows with the general public, many worry about privacy and surveillance. Industry promoters believe that education will reduce this resistance. Many non-profit and activist groups have tried to address some of these problems, usually contradicting the claims of the industry.

In 2003 the Berkeley, California Board of  Library Trustees BOLT  held meetings that were open to the public that discussed RFID technology which was touted as an improvement over bar codes and a partial solution to the problem of repetitive stress and the added costs for disability settlements as well as staffing shortages at the expanded central library. The argument was similar the one many automation proponents make: it will free an employee from tedious labor to do something more useful/challenging. In addition it seemed to be a better way of checking in and checking out books. The ability to read RFID tags from a short distance away, about 18 inches, even allows one library, Santa Clara City, to retrieve DVDs that library users squirrel away in distant areas of the library for later consumption.

By the time the library approved Checkpoint Systems Inc. in New Jersey as the vendor in April  2004 and a loan from the city in June 2004,  a sizable group of community activists formed SuperBOLT to oppose this decision. The library published a number of information briefs, and anyone interested could read dozens of  papers, web logs, and news articles on the technology in libraries as well as thousands of web sites from industry, consultants, privacy advocates, and individual activists about broader use of RFIDs.

Earlier this summer the trustees announced a community informational forum on RFID. It was held in a city senior center on August 1, from 630 to 9 p.m. At the opening there were about 70 people and this seemed to double as the night wore on. Few people left before the end. It was moderated by a local tv personality who did a good job is keeping his cool and timing all but one of the speakers  as well as the long line of public commenters.

A local citizen videotaped the whole event. L A Wood has been taping city events including concerts, festivals, hearings, council meetings since 1992. berkeleycitizen.org includes many of his writings and lists of his programs which make up his 1300 two hour tape archive. I talked with him about archive.org and ourmedia.org as well as the push for citizen journalism which has had a lot of success in Korea and is being promoted by Dan Gillmor, formerly of the San Jose Mercury News (www.bayosphere.com).

As the audience filed in a few carried small placards reading "Books Yes, Spy Chips No." There were a few young people, but most were older white women. Those who wished to speak filled out a slip of paper, and a library staffer selected ten names from a box, and each had two minutes to speak. Some yielded their time to colleagues who had prepared statements. Almost all of the speakers were alarmed about the technology and angry at the library decision. The main comments focused on the perceived lack of transparency in the decision process, health issues associated with RF, the system being used for surveillance by the government, the costs and poor return on investment. Most of these issues were discussed in the ensuing panels, and more questions followed each panel.

The first panel included Paul Simon from Checkpoint. He used Powerpoint to give a basic lecture on the technology, and though he took more time than the others, it was a good basis for those who knew little about the technology. However, the audience distrusted the company rep and one thought Checkpoint was going to kill mom-and-pop firms, and there was a suggestion that the university develop an open system in case this firm went out of business. I thought about the engineer at UCLA who is developing an RFID tag for DVD players to enhanced Digital Rights Management!

UC Berkeley grad student David Molnar talked about some of the weaknesses in the RFID system, especially one installed in Oakland library where the tags could be overwritten with another identifier. He talked about the modest cost of readers ($250) which leads one to believe that security will be an important part of any library system.  He was worried more about the ubiquity of the tags and readers, not about the range which was claimed to be 18 inches. 

However, at a recent Defcon conference in Las Vegas, hacker and security experts from U.S. three letter agencies attended a demo where Fexilis, a security company, showed that some RFIDs could be read from a distance of 69 feet. (Information Week, August 1, 2005)

Gordon Wozniak, a Berkeley City Council member and nuclear chemist, explained the energy levels of different radio waves and that the frequencies used in library RFIDs would not be dangerous. He noted that the animal control shelter had implanted chips in thousands of dogs and cats and showed a picture of a 'cat scan' where the reader was getting owner information from the back of a small cat. He noted that 20 million dogs and cats have been tagged in the UK.

When the Q&A started there were 19 people lined up behind the mike. People were worried about the cost going up. One asked if there was excess data space in the library chips. No, but other systems to allow for more storage. One library staff member complained that the RFID reader had been down for six weeks, and Simon replied that service reps had visited four times.  It came out that the city of Berkeley endorses the "precautionary principle" in adopting new technology. One person thought Wozniak was "in bed with Homeland Security" and that the feds were targeting the city. Another claimed that the city had received a Homeland Security server that would route all traffic from the city and presumably capture sensitive information.  This was denied.

A union member (SIEU) asked about reduction of repetitive stress and better ergonomics. Another said the whole system was fascist, and there was a general worry about increasing police state powers, with the Patriot Act as evidence.  A San Francisco resident who advocated antenna-free areas spoke against the technology. One fellow thought there needed to be another meeting with a more balanced panel.

However, the second panel included Lee Tien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation which opposed the adoption of a similar system by San Francisco Public Library, and the board of supervisors voted not to fund it. Tien has been a vocal opponent of RFID and also helped thwart the adoption of RFID badges by a school near Sacramento. He noted that there is a strong momentum behind the technology, due to the support by government and the corporations. "It is poor civic hygiene to install a technology that might facilitate a police state. The library is creating an infrastructure that will add to this."

Mary Minow, attorney and expert on library law, gave a history of the FBI library awareness program that ran for about 20 years. She talked about the records laws in different states. California is stronger that some states and weaker than others.

Karen Coyle is a library automation expert who worked with U.C. system for many years. She has a strong interest in RFID and said it must be considered as part of the whole system. She advocates that libraries undertake privacy audits and ferret out all the kinds of data that is stored in different sorts of files, not just a single library automation system. She spoke about the need to use encryption, and as other noted, you need to protect the database itself, especially if the access points are vulnerable.

Another Q&A session followed with more rants and some personal attacks on Jackie Griffin, BPL Director. The health concerns dominated the comments, and some people cited various authors and studies.  Wozniak replied that other scientists had found it impossible to replicate the negative studies mentioned by some opponents.

While the comments and questions were heated, it seems important to note that the opponents were fairly well organized and given the sea of conflicting information and opinions on the Internet, they were able to find many items that buttressed their views. On the other hand the industry PR pieces and press releases paint a very rosy picture of the technology. I had the feeling that the audience did not change its mind, and while the library board and library director did listen, they were not going to reverse their decision.

It is noteworthy that nobody spoke in favor of the technology, and while the majority of the library users may benefit from the technology, few cared enough to attend and voice support for the decision.  So it's more of a political issue rather than a technical or financial one. Will the continued opposition by SuperBOLT  influence support for the library by the less interested general public? The other problem I see is that the RFID field is changing rapidly (more agencies implementing the technology and the development of chipless and printed RFID tags). With ongoing security pressures from the federal government, local/municipal entities may have to comply with directives that conflict with the mission of the local organization. The linking of Internet filtering with e-rate funds is one such example. Phone companies have had to change their technology to allow the feds ability to wiretap, and libraries may be pressured to allow their records to be used in ways that violate the confidentiality many librarians hold so dear. Even if a library is only linking an item code number with the code of the borrower, that small piece of information may form part of a data mosaic. compiled from a number of other RFID data banks,  that could build a profile of a user or users.

Links: 
Q&A on Berkeley's program
San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna Free Union
Checkpoint Systems Inc.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
SuperBOLT

Steve Cisler
http://place.typepad.com/digitalcommons

August 04, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legal guide for bloggers

If you are writing an online journal, web log, etc. the Electronic Frontier Foundation's new legal guide for bloggers is a useful tool.   From the table of contents:

The Overview of Legal Liability Issues FAQ briefly addresses some common legal issues that affect you as a publisher, especially situations where you may face legal claims or threats based on the information you published on your blog.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Intellectual Property addresses issues that arise when you publish material created by others on your blog.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Online Defamation Law provides an overview of defamation (libel) law, including a discussion of the constitutional and statutory privileges that may protect you.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Section 230 Protections discusses a powerful federal law that gives you, as a web host, protection against legal claims arising from hosting information written by third parties.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Privacy addresses the legal issues surrounding the privacy rights of people you blog about.

Bloggers As Journalists

The Bloggers' FAQ on the Reporter's Privilege is useful to bloggers who report news gathered from confidential sources.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Media Access can help bloggers who need to get access to public records and government meetings, as well as secure press passes to help with newsgathering.

Other Legal Issues for Bloggers

The Bloggers' FAQ on Election Law addresses the legal issues you may face blogging about political campaigns.

The Bloggers' FAQ on Labor Law addresses legal issues with workplace blogging, including union organizing, protections for political blogging away from the workplace, and whistle blowing.

   

June 26, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Interest

Neil Turkewitz is the Exec. VP of the Recording Industry Assn. of America. His article takes on Lessig and  the Electronic Frontier Foundation who argue against some aspects of copyright.

Let’s begin by unmasking the false premise underlying the basic anti-copyright position—that is, that the basic strain on the copyright system is to achieve a balance between the "public" on the one hand, and "private copyright owners" on the other. In this formulation, the "public’s" interest is exclusively defined as the ability to get copyrighted materials as cheaply as possible, with free obviously being the best (since it is the cheapest) option.

June 26, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Creative Commons Guide

Some believe that intellectual property laws as they exist have impeded the sharing of knowledge. The Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has published (paper and electronic) a guide book for those who want to understand the creative commons licensing scheme--as well as some background on the more traditional copyright mechanisms in place for several centuries.

I began reading Lawrence Liang's booklet that I picked up in Amsterdam and am finding it a good introduction--maybe even more than you want to know. I recommend it. You can download a pdf version or the individual chapters in html. Send a SASE to the Institute if you want a paper copy:

Open Content Guide,
Media Design Research,
Piet Zwart Institute,
PO Box 1272,
3000 BG Rotterdam,
The Netherlands.

June 24, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pirates of the Pacific Rim

In 2006 there will be a series of events centered on ISEA2006 in San Jose. I am planning an activity centered on piracy/sharing/intellectual property/fair use, and as a first step I have been skimming sites devoted to fighting piracy. There are many, mostly sponsored by industry. The Commission on Intellectual Property Rights has summaries of a conference and background papers on topics such as health, traditional knowledge, and development. The International Chamber of Commerce Commercial Crime Services has a directory about counterfeiting with a number of fascinating articles.

June 23, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Library and IP statement

May 2-3, 2005: eIFL.net  Electronic Information in Libraries presented at the WIPO seminar on intellectual property and development in Geneva, Switzerland. Teresa Hackett made the case for the role of libraries in developing countries for children and adults. Her main points were about the erosion of the public domain, restrictions because of technology and by contract, and new layers of rights on information.

May 03, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

More IP = More Innovation?

There's a terrific column in the Financial Times decrying the idea that the more intellectual property laws there are, the more innovation and creativity. Thanks to Byron Henderson for the tip.

April 25, 2005 in Legal | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Seely Brown & Michael Yates

Concluding Session--Where do we go from here?
Michael Yates: It's not about a digital divide or knowledge per se.  In this emerging world how do we make progress on pressing scientific issues. How are the socio-economic issues playing out? 

How can we put together new end-to-end systems and look at new ways of delivering information to new places. Accenture is proud to be backing the Open Knowledge Network in India where the fishing villages had access to Navy wave information. Software has to be optimized for people who can only be online a few minutes a day, for people whose culture is oral.  New IP rights that help local knowledge to be shared but not exploited. There needs to be a business model that is sustainable. OKN is running in several African and Asian countries.

John Seely Brown:
Information comes when we listen with humility. Common ground is not achieved easily. Knowledge ecologies will work but only if they leak. He stressed the importance of bricolage: A bricoleur is one who improvises and and uses any means or materials which happen to be lying around in order to tackle a task: '"The bricoleur is adept at executing a great number of diverse tasks; but unlike the engineer, he does not subordinate each of them to the availability of raw materials and tools. The open source is strongly tied to open knowledge.

Last week the people accessing wikipedia exceeded those accessing the New York Times.

"Innovation depends on forgetting as much as remembering."

Yates thought the DOT Force was a good collaboration, though it was rocky at first because of the varying agendas of the participants. However, the cost of the meetings and the resulting paper given in Geneva was a mismatch of input and outcome.

Bowker: Claude Levi-Strauss used the term bricolage to denote the way the 'savage mind' thought and made use of knowledge. Is all knowledge bricolage?  What role can we play at the Center to create a knowledge commons?

Brown: a lot of meaning resides in stories and look at the way they travel and embed themselves. Students want to go into social entrepreneurs and have a foot in business and the other in a social venture. the Center could help negotiate this territory.


April 21, 2005 in Infrastructural, Institutional, Legal, Organizational, Political, Social | Permalink | Comments (0)

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