Survey on WIPO Broadcasting Treaty

The Union for the Public Domain is organising a survey about the way governments act in the preparation of the proposed WIPO Broadcasting Treaty. The draft stands to give broadcasters the power to regulate copying, reproduction, distribution and right of transmission. It would extend the length of these powers from 20 to 50 years, and some versions expand the powers to web-casting. The treaty would also make it illegal to circumvent technological protection measures like broadcast flags. All of this even if the broadcast is of a public domain work.

One of the major difficulties of protecting the public domain against these threats is that the positions of national representatives in these international forums are unknown, even to citizens of the country they represent.

The Union for the Public Domain calls on all interested citizens to first contact the co-ordinator and then use the questionnaire to collect information about national positions. The results will be posted on the unions website.

Union for the Public Domain Survey
http://www.public-domain.org/?q=node/view/30

Analysis of Yale fellow Ernest Miller of the WIPO broadcasting treaty
http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/002925.html