IP Justice is grateful for this opportunity to
make
substantive recommendations as the
UN Internet Governance Forum undertakes the
important task of examining substantive policy issues to discuss at its
inaugural meeting in Athens
from 30 October – 2 November 2006.
IP Justice is an international civil liberties
organization
that promotes balanced intellectual property rules and protects civil
liberties
in a digital environment (www.ipjustice.org).
IP Justice actively participated in both phases of the World
Summit on
the Information Society, contributed to the UN Working Group on
Internet
Governance discussions, and participates at ICANN Board meetings as a
representative for the Non-Commercial Constituency (NCUC) on ICANN's
GNSO
Policy Council.
IP Justice Top Three
Recommendations
In response to the request to suggest the top 3
public
policy issues to be discussed at the inaugural Internet Governance
Forum, IP
Justice submits the following recommendations:
- Protection
for Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Human Rights;
- Attention
to the Growing Threat of Excessive Intellectual Property Rights to
Hamper Access to Knowledge;
- Promotion
of Open Standards and Non-Proprietary Development Models.
The Internet is one of most powerful tools ever
invented for
human development, education, and encouraging a participatory democracy. The special promise of the Internet must be
allowed to freely develop for the benefit of all of society without
excessive
regulatory mediation. Opportunities for
the free expression of diverse and minority viewpoints made possible
through
the Internet makes the protection of this medium particularly important.
In a number of national legislatures
(particularly the US
and the EU)
as well international legal regimes (such as the World Intellectual
Property
Organization (WIPO) and the WTO's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property (TRIPS)), laws designed to protect intellectual property
rights have
become unbalanced in recent years to the detriment of the public
interest. In recent years, we have
witnessed a dramatic
increase in both the scope and the length of the term of intellectual
property
rights, while at the same time greater restrictions on the exceptions
and
limitations to these rights. These
increasing monopoly rights are often created in response to the fears
of
digital technology, particularly the Internet.
Our concerns about this growing
imbalance are particularly
relevant in the digital domain, where rights holders often undertake
"self-help" mechanisms, such as wrapping copyrighted works in
technological "locks" that disable consumers' ability to exercise their
lawful rights, such
as private copying rights and achieve interoperability.
It is the combination of laws and
technologies working together that effectively eliminate private
copying rights
and the public domain, and chill freedom of expression.
The tools, including software and information
that enable the exercise of these lawful consumer rights must remain
lawful and
accessible if the public’s rights are to have any meaning in a digital
world.
IP
Justice
encourages the Internet Governance Forum to bear the following core
principles
in mind as it begins its work:
Promote
Access to Knowledge Through Flexible Rules
Laws regulating information
technologies should aim to
promote access to knowledge and culture.
In response to a perceived threat of the Internet and digital
technology, rightsholders have lobbied to pass new laws that actually
create
excessive barriers to education and widen the gap in the digital divide
between
rich and poor countries. While
incentivising creativity is important, providing too many exclusive
rights has
the harmful effect of stifling future creativity and eliminating
existing
consumer rights. Poorer nations must be
permitted to compete on a level playing field with wealthier countries
who were
able to become strong in large part due to a history of flexible legal
rules
that permitted a free flow of information and innovation.
Requiring developing countries to adopt restrictive
legal regimes for regulating information technologies denies them the
same path
of development that rich countries have historically enjoyed.
Protect Freedom of Expression on the
Internet
The freedom of expression rights guaranteed in the
United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, although adopted by the
UN
General Assembly in 1948, speaks directly to the Internet age: Article 19 guarantees that "Everyone has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart
information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
This universal guarantee to freedom of
expression is not limited to only analogue technology, but rather,
explicitly, "… in any media and regardless of frontiers".
Protect Privacy
Rights of Internet Users
IGF should work to help protect the
privacy rights of
Internet users and website owners against over-zealous intellectual
property
rights holders who demand personal information about consumers. IGF
should help
ensure that traditional privacy and due process protections are not
curtailed
in the online environment. Core Internet
tools, such as ICANN's "who-is" database must be reformed to meet legal
standards of due process, such as a requirement for a finding by a
judge of the
likelihood of infringement before an Internet user’s personal
information may
be divulged.
Promote Free and Open Source Development
Models
The success of Free and Open Source
development models in
recent years has inspired a revolution.
The free or low cost prices combined with the enhanced
flexibilities of
non-proprietary software development models makes these alternative
systems
attractive to developed and developing countries alike.
IGF should encourage the development of new
and innovative information distribution models, such as Free and Open
Source
Software, and the Creative Commons licenses, which are particularly
suited for
a digital environment.
Enhance the Public Domain
Digital technologies provide for
enormous opportunities to
build historical archives of many types of creative achievements –
books,
music, film, software, and more. Public
domain materials are given new life in a digital environment where the
cost of
dissemination is near zero. Innovative
projects such as Project Guttenberg and the Internet Archive provide an
important public service for by cataloging and maintaining a vast store
of
human knowledge. IGF should
encourage
the creation and support for such innovative projects that harness the
properties
of digital technology to bring culture and education to the public.
Recognize Social Value of P2P Technologies
The development of technologies such as
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
file-sharing provide an unprecedented opportunity to distribute
knowledge and information
to those who would never before had access to such information, and at
virtually zero cost. Laws and
technologies regulating the Internet should encourage the free exchange
of
scientific and cultural information without the need for third-party
mediation.
We are particularly concerned about recent efforts to criminalize the
use,
creation, and distribution of P2P technologies that enable substantial
non-infringing uses.
Encourage "Development Agenda" Goals
Developing countries have taken note of
the need to reform
unbalanced laws and proposed a "Development Agenda," which was adopted
by the
General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
at its
annual meeting in 2004. The "Development
Agenda" calls upon WIPO to explore alternative mechanisms for
encouraging
innovation and creativity that do not depend upon increasing monopoly
rights
and relying on proprietary models of development. Also
at the forefront of the "Development
Agenda" is fostering technology transfer from wealthy countries to
developing
countries and we encourage the IGF to ensure technological advances
benefit of
all the world’s citizens.
Open and Free
Standards
Internet information technologies must
remain format
neutral and free from encumbrances such as patents for the health and
growth of
the Internet to flourish. The Internet
has been able to thrive in the past precisely because of its open
architecture
and patent-free protocols. We encourage
the IGF to continue to embrace free and open standards for Internet
technologies.
More Info:
IP
Justice at 2005 World Summit of the Information Society
Official UN Internet Governance
Forum
