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Category: Policy
Secret negotiations, empty promises: Copyright policymaking needs sunlight for better outcomes
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightWe’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what’s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. Today’s…
5 Awesome Organisations Working to Protect and Expand the Public Domain
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightWe’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what’s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. Today’s…
Is Copyright Term Extension Finally Done?
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightWe’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what’s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. Today’s…
The battle for the net continues after FCC erases net neutrality rules
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightAn open internet is crucial for all creators, thinkers, and makers on the web As expected, yesterday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order that ensured net neutrality in the United States. Without net neutrality, broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon will have free reign to…
One week left to save the Internet
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightAct now to stop the FCC from rolling back fundamental protections for the open internet! Net neutrality is under attack…again. On the day before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai released a draft plan that would repeal net neutrality in the United States. Net neutrality is the principle that internet…
Trade negotiators: follow these rules to protect creativity, access to knowledge, users’ rights
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightToday over 70 international copyright experts released the Washington Principles on Copyright Balance in Trade Agreements. The document, endorsed by Creative Commons, urges trade negotiators “to support policies like fair use, safe harbor provisions, and other exceptions and limitations that permit and encourage access to knowledge, flourishing creativity, and innovation.” The principles were collaboratively drafted…
Create Refresh Campaign: Stop the EU Copyright Censorship Machine
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightThe Create Refresh campaign is a new project to highlight the concerns of creators regarding the EU’s proposed changes to copyright law. Supporting organisations include Creative Commons, Kennisland, La Quadrature du Net, and others. Create Refresh is “calling on creators to be part of a movement to defend their right to create. [The] ultimate aim…
TPP continues without the worst copyright provisions
by Timothy Vollmer CopyrightCivil society organisations including Creative Commons helped deliver a win against the restrictive IP terms of the TPP, which were developed secret and would have locked down content and restricted user rights. For the last five years the Creative Commons community has been organising against the restrictive copyright provisions put forth in the Trans-Pacific Partnership…
Open In Order To…Fulfill Our Vision for Universal Access to Research and Education
by Ryan Merkley Copyright, Open AccessIt’s Open Access Week, the yearly global event to raise broad awareness about the opportunities and benefits for open access to scientific and scholarly research. Open Access Week—now in its 10th year—also mobilises action for progressive policy changes so that researchers and the public get immediate online access to the results of scholarly research, and…
Open In Order To…Guarantee Access to the Laws That Govern Us
by Timothy Vollmer Copyright, Open AccessIt’s Open Access Week, the yearly global event to raise broad awareness about the opportunities and benefits for open access to scientific and scholarly research. Open Access Week—now in its 10th year—also mobilises action for progressive policy changes so that researchers and the public get immediate online access to the results of scholarly research, and…