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

Fri Jan 21 20:16:07 UTC 2011

Brilliant - thank Becky!

John: perhaps you could also copy myself and Primavera (cc'd) when you
email them? We'd really like to talk to them about use of their
research as part of the public domain calculators project!

All the best,

Jonathan

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 7:32 PM, John Mark Ockerbloom
<ockerblo at pobox.upenn.edu> wrote:
> Becky Hogge wrote:
>>
>> Yup, I got back to John 10 days ago off list with two contacts. But I
>> haven't heard back from him...?
>
> Haven't had the chance to follow up with them, but thanks for passing
> along the contact info!  I'll try to contact them sometime next week.
>
> John
>
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>>> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>>>
>>
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-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

http://twitter.com/jwyg
http://identi.ca/jwyg