[pd-discuss] Anyone in touch with the EFF or its Copyright Watch project?

Thu Jan 6 16:52:04 UTC 2011

Hi John

My contact for this project at EFF has moved on, but I'm in touch with
the group that funded it. I'll make some enquiries and get back to
you. Ping me in a fortnight if you've not heard anything.

Cheers

Becky

On 6 January 2011 15:08, John Mark Ockerbloom <ockerblo at pobox.upenn.edu> wrote:
> A couple of years back, the EFF launched what looked to be a very promising
> site
> keeping track of copyright laws and developments over time:
>
>   http://www.copyright-watch.org/
>
> In many cases, this had links to more up-to-date laws than the sources I was
> linking to from my own site
>
>   http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/okbooks.html#whatpd
>
> and I planned on discontinuing my links there and just point to their site.
>
> Unfortunately, it looks like their site is no longer being maintained.  The
> news
> items on the front page are dated 2009, and some of the documents mentioned
> there (like Iraq's new copyright law) never made it to the country page.
> I wrote to the contact address a few weeks back with a few updates and
> corrections, and I never heard back from them or saw any signs of change on
> the site.
>
> That's unfortunate, because we really could use a reliable source not only
> of current copyright law, but of developments in copyright law over time.
> These can be essential for building reliable public domain calculators
> of the sort the OKFN is sponsoring.  (For instance, knowing not just the
> current state of a country's law, but *when* copyright changes such as
> term extensions were made, and whether such changes were retroactive
> or not-- they are in some cases, and not in others-- is important for
> making reliable PD determinations.)
>
> Also, a lot of extensions in copyright in various countries are flying
> under the radar at the moment-- there are usually multiple countries
> extending copyright every year, often due to trade pressure from the US
> or the EU-- and it would very useful to bring this sort of thing to light
> and hopefully slow or reverse them.
>
> It's tempting to immediately say, "Well, let's create a Copyright Watch
> replacement!"  But lots of us are pretty busy as it is, and I don't want
> to just have us start yet another information source that then suffers
> the same fate as http://www.copyright-watch.org/ .  So I'd like first
> to see whether someone here is in touch with EFF and could see whether
> their site could be revived, perhaps with some input and help from folks
> here.
> If not, then we can consider whether to start a new effort, and how
> it should work.
>
> Joh
>
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