Cory Doctorow, Digital Rights Management: A failure in the developed world, a danger to the developing world, Electronic Frontier Foundation, undated (but announced by EFF on March 11, 2005). A policy paper submitted to the International Telecommunications Union, ITU-R Working Party 6M Report on Content Protection Technologies on behalf of the EFF and a handful of other public-interest advocacy organizations. Excerpt: 'A given nation's limitations and exceptions to copyright are a powerful means of boosting local industry and fostering domestic entrepreneurs. DRM can be used to overrule these priorities, so that foreign companies can trump local domestic policy with technological means....DRM systems cannot protect themselves, they require "anti-circumvention" laws to silence researchers who discover their flaws. Anti-circumvention laws have been used to silence and even jail researchers who embarrassed entertainment companies and DRM vendors with revelations about the failings in their systems....The success of the information society depends on digital content being accessible. Digital content must not be locked up behind technical barriers. Libraries must not be prevented by DRM from availing themselves of their lawful rights under national copyright law and must be able to extend their services to the digital environment. Long term preservation and archiving, essential to preserving cultural identities, maintaining diversity of peoples, languages and cultures and in shaping the future, must not be jeopardized by DRM....Many works are out of copyright or were not copyrightable to begin with. These works are a potential free library for developing world educators,
researchers and development workers. DRM can be used by companies to assert ownership of these public goods.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/12/2005 08:41:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
