[A2k] EFF launched Copyright Watch: Global Transparency in Copyright Law

[Manon Ress]

http://www.copyright-watch.org/

quote:

What is Copyright Watch?

The details of copyright law used to be important for only a few in
the creative industries. Now, with the growth of the Internet, we are
all authors, publishers, and sharers of copyrighted works.

Our dream was to build a user-friendly resource of national copyright
laws to help citizens of the world undertake comparative research. We
wanted to raise awareness of the importance of balanced copyright law
in the information society, and draw attention to points of
commonality and of difference in countries' laws and legal traditions.
We also wanted to create an information sharing resource, where
copyright watchers could post information about proposed amendments to
their own copyright laws, and understand the changes in others.

We hope that Copyright Watch will be a resource maintained and driven
by the Access to Knowledge community and that copyright monitors in
each country will help to keep this information up to date and relevant.

Finally, we hope that Copyright Watch will help document the
importance of copyright to all aspects of cultural life and human
freedom. Balanced and well-calibrated copyright laws are extremely
important in our global information society. The smallest shift in the
legal balance between the rights of copyright owners and users of
copyrighted knowledge can destroy or enable business models,
criminalize or liberate everyday behaviour, and transform or eradicate
new technology. A law that is passed in one nation can quickly be
taken up by others, through bilateral trade agreements, regional
policy initiatives or international treaties. We all need to keep watch.

***************************************************************************
Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673