Copyright Czar asks for Input

[thename]

Via Boing Boing, I thought this gem might be of interest to all of us constantly inveighing against and/or wholeheartedly supporting copyright as it stands:

Coordination and Strategic Planning of the Federal Effort Against
Intellectual Property Infringement: Request of the Intellectual
Property Enforcement Coordinator for Public Comments Regarding the
Joint Strategic Plan
LINK

[GA Russell]

Thanks thename. Email sent!

[Shaggy]

Don't forget to include your donations as well. I wonder if they take paypal, or only corporate purchase orders?

[thename]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks thename. Email sent!

Great! The more people we can get suggesting reasonable changes the better!

[thename]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Don't forget to include your donations as well. I wonder if they take paypal, or only corporate purchase orders?

While yes, that's free speech at it's finest () I'm not yet cynical enough to think a torrent (yup, pun intended) of citizens crying for an expanded definition of fair use (a la Public Knowledge's previously discussed CRA) can't trump a huge number of lobbying dollars. I'm hoping with enough public outcry the IPEC can consider cleaning its own house (copyright "infringement" in the US) before pointing out the dirt in its neighbors (focusing on international IP law "harmonization").

I'm still clinging to optimism as far as our Copyright "Czar" is concerned. To start off they actually requested public comments (see here: "the IPEC specifically reached out to Techdirt to let us know about this request for comment, to see if we would be interested in alerting our readers of their opportunity to take part") rather than relying on trade lobbyists to notice an obscure paragraph in the Federal Register. Let's try not to shoot ourselves in the foot by giving up out of pure cynicism, shall we?

[fugazied]

I think there would be 1000-2000 lobbyists at a minimum contacting these guys every week, lobbying for tighter copyright laws and aggressive actions against countries that don't comply with US copyright.

The lobbyists probably have budgets in the millions and they use that money to wine and dine officials and buy them plenty of nice things. I hate to be so pessimistic, but democratic principles seemed to have walked out the door in the US in the last 20 years. We have the illusion of democracy but it's becoming a corporatocracy (see how banks are escaping financial sector regulation despite bringing the US to it's knees and receiving all of those bailouts).

[thename]

Originally Posted by fugazied

The lobbyists probably have budgets in the millions and they use that money to wine and dine officials and buy them plenty of nice things. I hate to be so pessimistic, but democratic principles seemed to have walked out the door in the US in the last 20 years. We have the illusion of democracy but it's becoming a corporatocracy (see how banks are escaping financial sector regulation despite bringing the US to it's knees and receiving all of those bailouts).

I don't disagree in the slightest (but hey, why wine and dine when you can give money directly anymore?) with much of what you say here. That doesn't mean I think we should passively sit back and let it go. This is an appointed official explicitly asking citizens for their views on the issue and we need to take advantage of the opportunity if only to make sure they are registered in some official capacity.

Otherwise? Your view of citizens with no say in their governance is a self-fulfilling prophecy.