Archive:2005-02-20

Agenda and minutes for the Sunday, 20 Feb 2005 conference call

The agenda and minutes for other meetings are available on the Meetings page.

Agenda
Agenda by Gavin

Geneva Declaration
please read
 * Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO
 * On October 4, 2004, the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization agreed to adopt a proposal offered by Argentina and Brazil, the "Proposal for the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO". This proposal was strongly supported by developing countries, as well as by a large contingent of civil society. Prior to the General Assembly meeting, hundreds of nonprofits, scientists, academics and other individuals had signed the "Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO," which calls on WIPO to focus more on the needs of developing countries, and to view IP as one of many tools for development - not as an end in itself.
 * accepts signatures from organizations, schools, individuals
 * unclear if it is still accepting signatures
 * less positive reactions: concerns about phrasing, use of term "intellectual property", focus on moral problem of expansive copyright, etc.
 * This is a multi-language document, so nitpicking language is probably not appropriate here. -- Gavin 02:26, 14 Feb 2005 (EST)
 * The proposal came from Argentina and Brazil, and is meant to target the developing world, so that explains the focus on the moral side of things. It's the developing world saying the developed world is doing them wrong with too-restrictive copyright. -- Gavin 02:26, 14 Feb 2005 (EST)
 * How do we feel about this? What do we want to do about it?
 * If we don't sign on, we should at least blog about it and the reasons why we didn't. -- Gavin 02:26, 14 Feb 2005 (EST)

Blogshine Sunday
The Society of Professional Journalists is organizing "Sunshine Sunday" on March 13. News organizations will run stories, editorials and cartoons urging greater access to government information. As a former reporter, this is something I (Gavin) care about, but it doesn't seem to relate very directly to what we traditionally work on. The question was, how do we tie in it to us? The answer: Blogshine Sunday. What do you think?
 * "Blogshine Sunday," at blogshine.org, will focus on the issues facing tomorrow's journalists.
 * In an increasingly wired society, documents need to be online and not just buried in archives. Not just online, but in open file formats, with no registration and no tracking personal information, no companies building proprietary databases and locking down access.
 * "Professional" journalists are not the only ones who deserve access to our government. Ordinary people, e.g. bloggers, deserve protections traditionally reserved for the "press."

Orphan works

 * Orphan works RFC
 * site
 * The Copyright Office did this at the request of Orrin Hatch and Howard Berman, usually arch-enemies of free culture. What gives?
 * status update
 * PK now has some info online
 * EFF has contacted us, wants to work with us on this

Contact info

 * Campus groups
 * Chapters
 * status update

Video for FC Tour

 * Video project
 * status update
 * Is this dead in the water - can we write this off for the FC tour?

Signing on to ATA

 * status update from Andy

Singing on to Budapest Iniative

 * status update from Luke

Revising the Manifesto

 * Review Gavin's edits to the Free Culture Manifesto
 * Decide whether the edited version can go live

To blog

 * Updates to EU software patents? link
 * Endorsement of ATA, once we're signed on
 * Endorsement of Budapest Iniative, once we're signed on
 * Reaction to library-related principles
 * RMS' concerns
 * Reaction to Geneva Declaration
 * Orphan works site, once site is up
 * Endorsement of comment period
 * Encourage people to comment
 * Encourage people to contact legislators about this issue
 * Colin: guest blogging about FC Tour?
 * Recent updates with "Eyes on the Screen"
 * Tell Us Where There are Tapes
 * Support the Bay Area Vets of the Civil Rights Movement Statement
 * screening report-backs
 * If you hosted a screening, please blog about and tell Downhill Battle about it.

Eventually

 * Berne Convention
 * Should be maximum term for copyright -- maybe less, but no more
 * Do we really agree with this?
 * CC license happenings
 * Magnatune switching to 2.0 licenses
 * Our discussions with CC about our concerns
 * Our joining as affiliate?
 * Web site happenings
 * Talk a little bit about the recent changes to the FC.o site
 * Chapter blog aggregator
 * What good does an aggregator do for us & for readers
 * Use this to encourage chapters, whatever stage they're at, to get a blog, even if it's LiveJournal
 * Updates to Chapters page
 * Updated flyers, Get Involved page
 * Generally tell people we're still looking for new groups to get involved, we're working on building an activist packet & a better Web site to help new groups, some ways people can get involved, throw out some of our project ideas to seek public reaction
 * Maybe this should be split into two blog posts, one about the Web site, one about us generally

Blogged

 * EU software patents

Minutes
Minutes by Gavin

Attendance: Gavin, Luke,  Nick,  Rebekah (left early), Jeremy,  Ben Li,  Andy,  Mike,  Nelson

''Mwahaha! I control the agenda and the minutes! You have no chance to survive!'' - Gavin 16:09, 20 Feb 2005 (EST)

Geneva Declaration

 * Nick: re-read, grew on him, supports, thinks we should sign on
 * Ben Li: something to incorporate into policy paper
 * Jeremy: thinks it's very politically-correct
 * Mike: not neccesarily bad
 * Rebekah: thinks it's fine, thinks Budapest was better-worded
 * we agreed to sign on
 * Luke will sign on to Geneva and Budapest
 * to sign on individually or encourage your school to sign on: local decision
 * should encourage this in blog post

Blogshine

 * We should do this
 * Nick will work on Web site, will contact Eric to help
 * We need logo
 * Post prominent blogs of all persuasions who might be interested in participating here: Blogshine Sunday
 * Copyright / tech / politics blogs are good, but it can be anything that involves access to government records: sports (think police files), local/school blogs, education, science, the environment, international affairs... We should try to get a diverse blend.
 * Do not have to be U.S. blogs, but it's probably more relevant

Orphan works

 * PK site licensed under CC by-sa, we can use their text

Video for FC Tour

 * People have done more work on the footage for this
 * Should there be a voice-over script for the whole film?

ATA

 * ATA asked for full-time employee, Andy referred them to Nelson, we haven't heard anything
 * We should try to contact

Revising the Manifesto

 * Ben and Nick have read it, think it's OK
 * You have a few days to read this, if no objections, it goes live
 * Nick will make it live by the end of the day Tuesday assuming no objections are raised

FC Tour

 * First performance at Bryn Mawr this weekend
 * Should show be longer?
 * Did good job staying on message

Blogging

 * Luke will write first of five posts about open access
 * 1: background to our open access campaign
 * 2-5: ARL/ALA library-related principles; Geneva, Budapest, ATA (once we've signed on)
 * Kids at Swat will write about updates to Eyes on the Screen
 * Beg mailing list for someone to write about EU sw pats

Agenda automation

 * Nick will return to this in the future

Next meeting

 * 2005-02-27