Knowledge Ecology International

The European Union has a long tradition of protecting personal information. Since the 70’s, some European countries have adopted domestic law that regulates the processing of personal data. Starting in the 90’s, the European Union has approved several directives that provide a communitarian legal framework for processing personal data. Simultaneously, several countries in Europe have modified their constitutions in order to include provisions that guarantee the right to privacy and the right to protection of personal data. Continue Reading →

On June 29, while the OECD civil society group CSISAC (80+ NGOs) debated the text of a high level statement on the Principles of Internet Policy Making, I sent this missive to the group discussing the text, expressing KEI’s opposition to the draft statement. Continue Reading →

Last week I attended the seventh round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) that took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I was able to meet negotiators from all nine negotiating parties and was able to discuss our concerns regarding the proposed U.S. IP chapter for the TPPA, including, in particular, access to medicines and the right to health. I was also able to distribute the joint civil society comments previously submitted to the U.S. Continue Reading →

In response to the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on R&D Financing’s (CEWG) calls for submissions, 21 proposals were submitted to the CEWG in June 2011 for consideration by the CEWG at their second meeting (7-8 July 2011).

The general link to the WHO CEWG submissions page can be found here: http://www.who.int/phi/news/cewg_submissions/en/index.html

Reproduced below from the WHO CEWG page are links to all the proposals in the order they appear on the WHO page.

Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG)

Continue Reading →

June 24: The current negotiating document on disabilities at the WIPO SCCR is SCCR/22/16. A new version Prov. 1 was passed out this morning. Continue Reading →

La Oficina del Representante Comercial de los Estados Unidos (USTR) ha declarado su intención de tener completadas sus propuestas sobre protección de la propiedad intelectual a comienzos de la próxima ronda de negociaciones del TPP en Vietnam, del 20 al 24 de junio de 2011. En su rápida agenda, los negociadores del TPP han anunciado que ellos esperan concluir el acuerdo para el encuentro de los miembros del Foro de Cooperación Económica Asia-Pacífico, a realizarse en Hawaii del 8 al 13 de noviembre de 2011. Continue Reading →

I have another blog that deals with U.S. employment data from the information sector. This one provides May 2010 employment and wage data from fourteen 4- and 5-digit NAICS industry groups in the “Information Sector.”

Notes on the data

Continue Reading →

KEI Statement on the Broadcast Treaty at WIPO SCCR 22
June 21, 2011

KEI opposes work at WIPO on a new treaty for broadcasting organizations.

To the extent that creative works are distributed through broadcasting networks, they are nearly always protected by copyright.

In the small cases where the broadcast involves material in the public domain, it would be a mistake to give the broadcaster an intellectual property right, merely for transmitting information.

Continue Reading →

I was asked recently to look at some data on employment in the copyright industry. This addresses one set of data points, the BLS estimates of US employment in the Sound Recording Industries.

Occupational Employment Statistics

NAICS 2-Digit Industry Specific Estimates, May 2010

51 Information 2,708,760

NAICS 3-Digit Industry Specific Estimates, May 2010

511 Publishing Industries, except Internet, 758,090, 28.0%
512 Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries, 371,450, 13.7%
515 Broadcasting (except internet), 292,010, 10.8%
517 Telecommunications, 909,780, 33.6%
Continue Reading →