14 June 2007

Access to Knowledge is Dangerous

Apparently:

Although the idea of discussions on a Treaty on Access to Knowledge appears to have strong support in the African Group, Asian Group and the Group of Friends of Development, Group B is mounting a full court press against even the mere mention of “access to knowledge” in the recommendations of this PCDA as evidenced by the bracketed text.

Paragraph 10 on complementary mechanisms of stimulating innovation reads:

10. [To exchange experiences on open collaborative projects for the development of public goods such as the Human Genome Project and Open Source Softwared (Manalo 38)]

It is quite unfortunate that the intransigence of rich Member States and their allies is hindering true progress at WIPO whether it be on the over-arching principle of a Treaty on Access to Knowledge or examining open collaborative projects.

Dangerous stuff this knowledge: got to keep it locked down. (Via James Love.)

Update: Some movement on the first matter, it seems.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Conservative governments are notable for their hostility to an open society, and between Zimbabwe and China (and the current US admin.), info is a bad thing, and if you can't control it, sell it off to the corporations for them to control via endless lawsuits against their consumers via AT&T.

A great time to be alive if you're a lawyer; a dangerous time for individuals.

Glyn Moody said...

Yes, the AT&T business is pretty amazing.