[LINK] Proposed broadcast treaty gives broadcast media the Midas touch

Janet Hawtin lucychili at gmail.com
Fri Jun 22 10:03:54 AEST 2007


" Material that's in the public domain may be re-monopolised simply
because it has been broadcast by a TV or radio station. Another issue
arises with sites like YouTube, which often host short clips of
movies. Under the proposed treaty, a TV station which has broadcast
the movie in question could then demand that the clip be taken down,
even if the movie is in the public domain, or the movie's copyright
holder has no objection to seeing the clip on the net."
http://www.merit.unu.edu/a2k/?p=50

Given that news broadcasters can record you or broadcast your
materials without your permission because they are 'news collecting
agencies'. It is hard to see how anyone other than a registered
broadcaster would have any right to broadcast anything if broadcasting
by those organisations gives them a right to control future
broadcasts. For me it feels like a Midas touch. The broadcaster
touched the item so now it is gold for them and
infertile/taboo/expensive for any other purpose.

How do voters vote their way out of these international anomalies?



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