Notes from the World Intellectual Property Organization's
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights meeting, day
2, 8 June 2004.

Impressionistic transcript by Cory Doctorow (cory@eff.org), Wendy
Seltzer (wendy@eff.org) and David Tannenbaum
(davidt@public-domain.org)

Public-domain dedication:

On June 8, 2004, Cory Doctorow, Wendy Seltzer and David Tannebaum
...

Eric Grimm has a grim tale indeed over @ Dave Farber's IP list, describing in frightening, first-hand detail the over-reach that the USA PATRIOT Act currently enables. As Grimm points out, the law can serve as the ultimate blank check for the government -- due to "don't ask,...

Via Jim Tyre, Brenda Sandburg @ The Recorder, on what may be the stupidest copyright lawsuit ever (subs. req.):

How do you stop a charging porn thief? Take away his credit card. That's what a Beverly Hills pornographer is aiming to do in filing a copyright and...

Why offer technology that empowers people to do cool things when you can hobble it to force them to buy cool things?
So asks a report by Mako Analysis on SymbianOS phones, which are evidently too smart for their own good:

New mobile devices based on a...

On a panel a few weeks ago, I asked the head lawyer for Apple's iTunes Music Store whether Apple would, if it could, drop the FairPlay DRM from tracks purchased at the Music Store. He said "no." I was puzzled, because I assumed that the DRM obligation...

The most remarkable testimony at last week's DMCRA hearings was that of former Congressman Allan Swift.
Swift was testifying as a private citizen, as a "home recordist." Basically, he's been making "mix tapes" for 54 years:
In that time, I have given friends many tapes, cassettes...

At today's hearing, the following Congressmen demonstrated a real understanding of why H.R. 107 matters to consumers, to libraries, to researchers, and to competition:
Chairman Joe Barton (TX's 6th District)Chairman Cliff Stearns (FL's 6th District)Rep. Janice Schakowsky (IL's 9th District)Rep. Jim Davis (FL's 11th...