Eben Moglen’s neutron bomb therory of MySQL has some flaws
In a letter to the European Commission defending the Oracle acquisition of MySQL, Eben Moglen makes the following argument.
Transparency of FTAA negotiations, compared to ACTA
In a recent statement to Wired, USTR tried to justify the secrecy of the ACTA negotiations as follows:
The Administration also recognizes that confidentiality in international negotiations among sovereign entities is the standard practice to enable officials to engage in frank exchanges of views, positions, and specific negotiating proposals, and thereby facilitate the negotiation and compromise that are necessary to reach agreement on complex issues.
29 Reply comments in WIPO Treaty for Blind/Disabilities U.S. request for comment
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/comments/2009/reply-2/
Organization/Comment
1 Meredith Filak
2 Malini Aisola, Knowledge Ecology International, and Meredith Filak
3 Pablo Lecuona, Tiflolibro
4 Brad Huther, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
5 Dan Pescod, Royal National Institute of Blind People
6 Nirmita Narasimhan, Centre for Internet and Society
7 Margaret Chase, Radio Reading Service
8 Robert Martinengo, Center for Accessible Publishing
9 Steven M. Rothstein, Perkins School for the Blind
10 Harold Martin, WVTF Public Radio
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Seven Secret ACTA documents from 2008
A KEI FOIA request for these seven documents was denied on the grounds of national security. (Links to March 2009 news storied about this here). You decide if these seven documents present a risk to the national security of the United States, or if the White House has been misusing the national security exception to avoid a public debate on public policy issues relating to the enforcement of intellectual property rights:
Sign-on Letter for Amendment 2858 Ethical Pathway for Generic Pharmaceutical Products, 111th Congress
This sign-on letter has been closed
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has submitted the amendment 2858 to the health reform bill, to create an Ethical Pathway for the registration of generic medicines.
For background on the substance and rationale, I have a short blog describing the amendment here /node/707.
Google files strong comments in support of WIPO treaty for reading disabilities
December 4, 2009
Maria Pallante
Associate Register for Policy &
International Affairs
U.S. Copyright Office
Re: Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments
on the Topic of Facilitating Access to Copyrighted
Works for the Blind and Other Persons with Disabilities
Dear Maria:
Dec 4, 2009 reply comments on WIPO treaty for people who are blind or with reading disabilities
Attached are several reply comments to the Copyright Office and the USPTO regarding the WIPO draft proposal to facilitate access to copyrighted works for persons, who are blind or have other reading disabilities, in response to the Federal Register Notice of October 13, 2009.
The deadline for filing was Friday, December 4, 2009. Eventually the Copyright Office will publish all of the reply comments on the Internet, and we will provide a link.
We now have comments received from various parties, including:
2009 WBU/KEI pamphlet on WIPO treaty for disabilities
In 2009, the WBU and KEI have collaborated on a new pamphlet to provide background information on the proposed WIPO treaty for persons who are blind, visually impaired or have other disabilities. A PDF of the document is available here. A version in word is available here. We also have a pdf file that is more appropriate for professional printing.
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Senator Sanders Amendment 2858 would replace data exclusivity with cost sharing, if new trials violate medical ethics
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has offered an amendment to the health care reform bill that would eliminate data exclusivity in cases where duplicating clinical trials involving human subjects would violate Article 20 of the Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human subjects. The relevant article from the Declaration of Helsinki reads as follows:
Ambassador Kirk: People would be “walking away from the table” if the ACTA text is made public
After attending the three day WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva, I took the non-stop United Airlines Flight back to Washington, DC. On the airplane were a number of U.S. government officials including the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk. I had a chance to talk to Kirk about the secrecy of the ACTA agreement. He said the ACTA text would be made public, “when it is finished.” I told him it that was too late, and the public wanted the text out now, before it is too late to influence anything.