Hi, Ziski et al.:
Two thoughts on this:
1. LAWRENCE LESSIG:[a] Might anyone know anyone who might be able to
get Lawrence Lessig at Harvard to lend his support to this? His book on
"Free Culture"[b] is a seminal contribution to documenting problems with
copyright law.[c] He is now quite busy with other issues and not likely
to collaborate with a stranger on this, but he might help someone he
knows.
2. ECONOMICS OF COPYRIGHT LAW: I've asked Dean Baker, a co-founder of
the Center for Economic and Policy Research,[d] about his level of
interest in collaborating with me on something like this. He and I both
have publications dealing with the economics of copyright law,[e] though
not to my knowledge directly commenting on "fair use" nor "freedom of
panorama". If someone else would like to help with this, we might get a
better response with less effort.
Comments?
Thanks,
Spencer Graves
[a]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig
[b]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Culture_(book)
[c] His Free Culture book was a valuable contribution to the
"Free-culture movement".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-culture_movement
[d]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Baker
[e] My Wikiversity article on "Do copyrights and paywalls on academic
journals violate the US Constitution?" was recently accepted without
revision and is scheduled to "appear mid-March in the next issue of
Real-World Economics Review." Their editor, Edward Fullbrook, wrote, "I
think your paper is much-needed and extremely well done, and hopefully
it will attract attention."
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Do_copyrights_and_paywalls_on_academic_journals_violate_the_US_Constitution%3F
I know of three other works by Dean Baker that mention problems with
copyright law:
Dean Baker (2020) Fixing capitalism: stopping inequality at its source,
Real-World Economics Review, issue 92
(http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue92/Baker92.pdf)
Dean Baker (2016) Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern
Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer (Center for Economic and
Policy Research; https://deanbaker.net/books/rigged.htm)
Dean Baker (2005-07-05) The Reform of Intellectual Property,
Post-Autistic Economics Review, issue 32
(http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue32/Baker32.htm)
On 2/20/23 10:50 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Dear all,
I'm writing to ask for your help to support Wikimedia South Africa in the
coming weeks and advocate for copyright reform.
*WHAT*
Douglas Scott, from Wikimedia South Africa, will be speaking at four provincial
hearings starting tomorrow, Feb. 21, to advocate for the Copyright Amendment
Bill in South Africa [1]. Efforts to reform copyright laws in South Africa can
have a positive ripple-effect across the continent and the free knowledge
movement at large. We can support him as part of that same movement.
*HOW*
1) Amplify tweets from Wikimedia South Africa [2] and ReCreate South Africa
[3], an allied organization. This will be particularly helpful if you do so on
the days of the hearings (dates below).
2) Write to the media in South Africa. You can submit an opinion article to
South African newspapers and new agencies like Business Day, Daily Maverick,
IOL, and GroundUp, where you explain why it is important to have freedom of
panorama in the law [4]. If you come from a country that has fair use [5] like
the US, Singapore, or Israel, you can focus on how helpful that legal doctrine
has been in helping your country promote innovation and free knowledge.
Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), a nonprofit that works with
libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing countries, provides an
example of how to help through media support [5]. EIFL explains how they
delivered comments on South Africa's CAB and the significance of the process.
*WHEN*
- 21 February 2023: (17:00-19:00) Stellenbosch Town Hall, Stellenbosch
- 1 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Darling Town Hall, Darling
- 6 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Overstrand Municipal Hall, Hermarnus
- 7 March 2023: (17:00-19:00) Provincial Legislature building, Cape Town
In solidarity,
Ziski & the WMF Global Advocacy Team
________
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_South_Africa/Copyright_Amendment_Bill
[2] https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_ZA
[3] https://twitter.com/SaRecreate
[4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Panorama_ZA
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
[6] https://www.eifl.net/news/eifl-delivers-comments-sas-copyright-bill
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