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

Fri Jan 21 18:12:47 UTC 2011

Yup, I got back to John 10 days ago off list with two contacts. But I
haven't heard back from him...?

On 19 January 2011 17:28, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org> wrote:
> Any news on this front Becky? Nearly but not quite a fortnight, so
> thought I'd ping you as you suggested. ;-)
>
> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Becky Hogge <becky.hogge at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> pd-discuss mailing list
>>> pd-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/pd-discuss
>>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Jonathan Gray
>
> Community Coordinator
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://blog.okfn.org
>
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