[A2k] EDRI-Gram on TACD Creative Communities and Consumers

[Manon Ress]

EDRI-gram

biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe

   Number 4.13, 5 July 2006
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1. Creative Communities and Consumers in TACD Conference
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TACD (Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogues) organized a conference under
the
title "New Relationships Between Creative Communities and Consumers" in
Paris on 19-20 June 2006.  Participants represented a wide range of
interests, including both artists' and consumers' organizations, but
also
WIPO and the European Commission.

Several panels explored problems and possibilities in creators' and
users'
rights in fields as various as gene research, drug development, software
production, entertainment industry, documentary films and scholarly
publishing.  The breadth of discussion and ideas presented was
impressive.

One recurring theme was that creators and users of intellectual works
are
not necessarily enemies; their interests are more common than
conflicting.
Indeed often they are the same people: professional creators need to
be able
to use earlier creations, and in the networked world consumers are
increasingly also creators.

As concerns the software development there was a strong opposition to
software patents and support for open standards, especially for
interfaces
and file formats needed for interoperability. The dangers of
monopolies and
the importance of free software were stressed, especially for basic
functionality.

Regarding the entertainment industry (music and film), there was a
surprisingly strong consensus that some kind of flat rate and global
licensing system for file sharing and downloading would be a good
thing and
that time has come for it. Nonetheless, it was noted there are still
lots of
technical and legal problems to be solved.

Scholarly publishing was also debated, observing that the present system
serves mainly the interests of publishers, not those of creators or
users
who are indeed mainly the same people - scientists.

A draft document called "Paris accord" containing a collection of
suggestions on how the various issues should be addressed was
circulated and
discussed.  The treaty could give directions for the creation of a
DRM-free
new music industry that would be beneficial for both artists and
consumers.

However, the document remained a draft as there was no real attempt to
finalize it during the conference.  There was an agreement, however,
that
something like it would be necessary and that work would continue
although
no deadline was decided on its completion

Paris TACD conference - Neil Leyton report (29.06.2006)
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/9217

TACD Workshop - the Paris Accord - 19-20 June 2006
http://www.cptech.org/a2k/pa/

"New Relationships Between Creative Communities and Consumers" - TACD
Conference
http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=296

(Contribution by Tapani Tarvainen - EDRi-member Electronic Frontier
Finland)


************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Ext 16 Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Consumer Project on Technology
1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727

Consumer Project on Technology
24 Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX, UK
Tel: +44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252 Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607