Monday, December 29, 2008

Georgetown University Free Culture Chapter Asks All to Join in Plea to President Elect Obama to Make Fair and Balanced Selection for "Copyright Czar"

Received this important notice from Georgetown University's Free Culture Chapter. It is very important unless you want one of these record industry lobbyists to be our "copyright czar":

Join Georgetown Free Culture in Encouraging President-Elect Obama to Formulate a Comprehensive, Balanced Intellectual Property Policy

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama's technology policy white paper stated that "Intellectual property is to the digital age what physical goods were to the industrial age. Barack Obama believes we need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated."

Now, as President-Elect, Barack Obama can make concrete decisions to ensure American intellectual property policy encourages innovation. The first major decision that the Obama team will make in the area of patent and copyright policy will be the selection of the "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator," popularly known as IP Czar. This position could be used to fight piracy and apply outdated copyright rules to the digital economy. Or, this position has the potential to update American IP policy and spur innovation, expand consumer choice and lead to the development of new services and jobs.

Georgetown University Students for Free Culture is encouraging President-Elect Obama to pursue the latter policy. You can join this effort by joining the Facebook Cause here to let the Obama team know that the public wants an IP czar who will support innovation and consumer choice."

Join here: http://tinyurl.com/9ujgqs



Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net





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4 comments:

Jadeic said...

As a non-US citizen I doubt that President-elect Obama will be much interested in my lobbying efforts...

However, I followed the link 'RIAA graduated response plan: Q&A with Cary Sherman' and note in the interview that, after first confirming that 'the technology for identifying infringement is essentially the same', Cary Sherman states that '(the RIAA is) comforted by the fact that the technology that we used was actually examined by a group of engineers at the University of Washington, and they concluded that our technology was the best out there in terms of this approach.' Does this mean that the infamous MS black box technology has actually been opened up for 'independent' inspection. If so, in the face of firm efforts by the RIAA to avoid the deposition of anyone from MS, would it be possible to depose the 'engineers at the University of Washington' in their stead?

Dave

Scott said...

Who does Obama owe favors to? opensecrets.org lists about $38 million in campaign donations from "Lawyers/Law Firms" (category rank #2) and about $7.7 million from "TV/Movies/Music" (#9). So do you really think he will be inclined to adopt policy positions that don't favor the interests of big corporate lawyers and the RIAA?

raybeckerman said...

Well I'm hoping and expecting that he's a man of integrity, and cannot be bought and sold. His biggest indebtedness is to the little people. They are the ones who elected him.

Scott said...

If You Say So. But he sure threw his gay and lesbian supporters under the bus by playing kissy face with Rick Warren. He probably thinks he owes Ordinary Working People even less -- but that would make him just like every other politician. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.