The CC Summit begins tomorrow. For the second year in a row, we’re sold out, and it’s our largest event yet. The summit is organized every year by a spectacular group of international contributors from the CC community, with stellar support from the CC staff. This year’s event was co-chaired by Claudia Cristiani of CC El Salvador, and our own Cable Green, Director of Open Education. They led the process of developing the program, working with a volunteer program group from around the world.

The CC Summit is much more than its three great keynotes and 110+ sessions: it’s full of surprises, big and small. Last year, we revealed the 3-D printed Tetrapylon, the UnCommon Women colouring book, and added Ontario’s new Chief Digital Officer Hillary Hartley as a surprise keynote. This year we have more great things in store for you. We can’t wait.

Here are five things I hope you’ll explore at this year’s summit:

The growing network

The most significant community investment we’ve ever made has been to completely redesign the CC network to enable collaborative governance and decision-making, deeper engagement, and community leadership. The affiliate network, which made CC a truly international organization, is evolving into the CC Global Network, which focuses on enabling individual contributors to collaborate in international chapters. You can sign up today to become a member, and there’s an entire track of sessions to help you get involved.

Humans of the Commons

CC board member Johnathan Nightingale often says, “It’s all made of people.” The Humans of the Commons project is an interactive listening lounge where you can drop by, get interviewed, and share your story with the rest of the Summit, Creative Commons network and the world. You’ll find them on the 2nd floor.

Sebastiaan ter Burg

With so many incredible contributors in the CC movement, it’s nice to have great photos. If you give public talks, having a headshot makes you look more professional. CC community photographer Sebastiaan ter Burg will have a photo booth set up to take individual and group shots.

Inaugural Bassel Khartabil Memorial Fellowship

Last year, we learned of the death of CC friend and community leader Bassel Khartabil. At the request of his family, we established and led the development of a fellowship in his name. With our many open community partners, we’ll be announcing the first fellow, along with a series of funded community-based projects.

More CC surprises

There are always other surprises in store, so keep your eyes and ears open. The CC staff have been working hard to create some delightful commons experiences for you, including some stellar visual and audio experiences. See you soon!

The post 5 Things I’m looking forward to at the CC Global Summit appeared first on Creative Commons.

The Creative Commons Global Summit, the annual event for the promotion of open knowledge, sharing, and the Commons around the globe, kicks off on Friday in Toronto, Canada. This can’t miss event will bring together more than 450 advocates, activists, lawyers, educators, policy-makers and technologists for over 110 sessions about open education; galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM); legal and copyright reform; open access; the future of the Commons; and the Creative Commons Global Network.

CEO Ryan Merkley says, “At its heart, the CC Summit is a community event — people from all over the world built the program, selected the speakers, and will now travel to Toronto to plan the future of the collaborative commons. It’s inspiring.”

Keynotes and panels will feature Katherine Maher, Executive Director of Wikipedia / Wikimedia Foundation, Chris Bourg, Director of MIT Libraries, and Ruth L. Okediji, John Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard University and Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Each day of the Summit, Creative Commons will launch a new project or piece of work, including the 2017 State of the Commons annual report, the official launch of the CC Certification Program for Librarians and Educators, and the much-anticipated announcement of the recipients of the Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship and Memorial Fund. The fellowship announcement will be accompanied by exclusive footage from award-winning, BAFTA nominated documentarian Yasmin Fedda, whose film “The Disappeared” chronicles the lives of Khartabil and Jesuit Priest Paolo Dall’Oglio, both killed in Syria in the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Merkley will be joined via video conference by Khartabil’s widow, Syrian human rights lawyer Noura Ghazi Safadi, to present the award.

Featured sessions at the CC Summit include:

• The “Big Open,” a panel discussion and workshop with Wikimedia, Mozilla, and Creative Commons
• Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, Copyright, and Creative Commons: A Discussion of Practices and Principles
• Empathetic Design for Code of Conduct Reinforcement in Open Communities
• Open Data, Open Research: Fuel for a Healthier Internet
• From Unlocking Free Culture to Reviving American Democracy with Lawrence Lessig
• Blockchain for the Commons
• The Future of Digital Archives
• Conversations with Real Users Across the Spectrum
• Certifying Open Source Hardware: Norm Setting in Complex IP Environments

Thank you to Private Internet Access, lead sponsor of the CC Global Summit, as well as supporting sponsors: The Argosy Foundation, Top Hat, eCampus Ontario, Mozilla, Re:Create Coalition, Intellus Learning, Lumen Learning, Yoyow, and in-kind sponsors Canvas and Shareable.

Keynotes will be streamed at 11AM Friday, 10:15AM Saturday, and 10:30AM Sunday, EST, on YouTube @creativecommons. Follow the Summit on Twitter at #ccsummit.

The post Upcoming highlights from the CC Global Summit appeared first on Creative Commons.

The Wikimedia and Creative Commons communities are inextricably linked, sharing networks, content, and a vision of the world’s knowledge collaboratively governed in a Global Commons built on gratitude and sharing.

Katherine Maher has been the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation since 2016, and is one of the leading advocates for Open around the world. As a leader, her centering of community voice and the Wikimedia global network, as well as a strategic vision built around Wikimedia 2030 has led to some of the organization’s most creative growth and evolution.

Katherine will be speaking on Friday, April 13 at 11AM at the CC Global Summit and will follow up her talk with a panel on “The Big Open,” exploring how networks for Open can work together collaboratively and effectively.

The Wikimedia 2030 strategic document proposes that Wikimedia become the essential infrastructure for free knowledge. What does this strategic statement mean to the Wikimedia organization and what does it mean to the movement?
Wikimedia is one of the largest and most widely used free knowledge resources in the world. More than a billion devices visit our sites every month and we have been supported by millions of people over the years. In some ways, to the extent that an open source project is successful and has a daily tangible and visible impact on people’s’ lives, Wikimedia is the definition of that success.

What we’ve also seen… is that Wikipedia is the essential infrastructure for free knowledge in many places in the world. We have stepped into that role in different language communities where free knowledge may not have as robust an ecosystem.

Both Creative Commons and Wikimedia provide valuable infrastructure for the open web. As institutions working towards complementary goals, how do you see this these organizations as part of a larger global community of open knowledge?
Like in open source, CC and Wikimedia are part of the core infrastructure – but we play different roles on the stack. More than 50% of the content across the internet relies on open source and Wikimedia is the largest website or open media property on the planet. That means that we have been successful in achieving our open goal. The Creative Commons licenses power billions of freely licensed content that is accessible to the whole world. We’ve reached a point in which our model has demonstrated its success. Now the question is, “Where do we go from there?”

As communities and projects that started based on the premise that individual contributors and individual people all over the world create and build open culture and the Commons, we now see that other institutions and players are getting involved.

As successful projects, how do we go forward from here? What’s the course that we chart?

Practically, how do you see the networks working together and sharing resources?
As Ryan [Merkley, Creative Commons CEO] likes to say, “Many Creative Commoners are Wikimedians, Mozillians, Open Street Mappers…” If you are part of an open community, the distinction between those communities is artificial.

There’s already collaboration and mutual support across these communities. What are the fights that we want to fight together and how are we more effective when we [collaborate]? How can we bring in more institutions that historically haven’t been part of our ecosystem, and how can we scale up at this size?

Those are great conversations for us to have as partners, and to learn from our successes and our failures as well, as we try to take these missions forward.

What does a vibrant, usable Commons powered by collaboration and gratitude mean to you? What do you think sharing will look like online in the future?
A vibrant Commons is something that everybody has access to and people can give back to in a meaningful way. The work of creating a Commons doesn’t just happen –there’s labor involved… When we think about the importance of supporting and ensuring that the Commons is a part of the world in which we live, that speaks to the issue of generosity.

Those people who contribute to the Commons are actually a very tiny fraction of the overall whole. Some folks contribute directly, because they contribute their work, their creations, their ideas, and others contribute financially.

But again, it’s a small group – although it is a very generous group. If we were to imagine a future in which [the Commons] is a vibrant and robust ecosystem that continues to grow and thrive, then generosity needs to be something that’s reflected by a much larger group of individuals than it is today.

And we need to be generous in return.

We need to be generous in the spirit in which we approach these conversations, in the way that we welcome people into our communities, in the way that we think about the folks who use the content that we create. Generosity flows both ways.

How do you complement the work that Wikimedia provides as a tool or a product on the open web with the community building work you’ve done as an organization?
They’re deeply interrelated. I often talk about how what makes us different is the fact that we are a community project, but what makes us powerful is the fact that we are a website that’s used by hundreds of millions of people all over the planet. I don’t think you get to have one without the other. Wikimedia would not exist without the incredible community that has built it, that supports it, that has defined its values, and that ensures we stay true to those values.

We support the websites because they are how we achieve our mission, but that support has to be in service of the people that we are trying to serve, like our community members and the people who read, use, and learn from the knowledge we support.

How is Wikimedia working toward a better web as an organization and a community? How are you working toward a better world?
To a better web – we are one of the larger open source projects that exists today and every single thing that Wikimedia produces is open source. We believe that a web that is open, interoperable, and rewriteable is the right sort of web.

We stand apart from any other platforms in that we are largely trusted, we are community governed, we present a model for what we can and should be, and we hearken back to the ideals of the early web [of sharing].

In terms of working for a better world? What animates all Wikimedians is the belief that when more people have access to knowledge the world is, in fact, a better place. People are more informed and have access to critical information that shapes the way they make decisions in their lives. They have the opportunity to educate themselves in their communities.

While we don’t necessarily say in our vision statement that “we’re out here to change the world,” that is exactly what most Wikimedians believe we’re doing every day.

The post Katherine Maher on a generosity of spirit and contributing to the Commons appeared first on Creative Commons.

“This is all about sharing”

Aris Maro on the power of networking, librarians, and sharing African knowledge with the world

Aristarik Hubert Maro is the CC Tanzania Public Lead, an executive secretary at the Tanzania Library Association, and a PhD candidate at University Dar es Salaam. In advance of the Creative Commons Global Summit, we’re gathering the stories of humans working around the world to shape the Commons’ future. We want to share your story, too – drop by the “Humans of the Commons” listening lounge at the Summit to get interviewed and add your voice. Here’s an edited transcript of Aris’ story:

I was part of the team that founded Creative Commons in Tanzania. Since that time, we’ve created a large network and come to know so many people. To me, that’s the greatest strength of my involvement with CC; I’ve gotten to connect not only with people from Tanzania, but also people from around the world.

I now have friends in places like South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria – and colleagues in South Korea and Canada, where I attended previous summits. If it weren’t for Creative Commons, I wouldn’t have met these people. The success is the power of networking.

Creative Commons has become a big part of my life, especially when I’m talking about issues of shared data and licenses. That’s why I’ve decided to focus my PhD research on Creative Commons licenses. And why it’s a big honor for me to be able to represent Tanzania at the Creative Commons Summit in Toronto.

Librarians as “masters of learning”

When I first started organizing trainings and events about Creative Commons, people wondered: “Why is this librarian talking about sharing and licenses and the like?” Most people used to think that librarianship was just about books, books, books. But today, Creative Commons has helped people perceive librarianship as part and parcel of technology.

Creative Commons has helped me change people’s perceptions about librarianship in the country.

You can’t separate librarianship today – or library teaching or information science – from technology. People are coming to realize that libraries are where this knowledge is stored, and that if you want to access knowledge on just about anything, whether through old technologies or new, the library can provide that.

This is all about sharing. Librarians are becoming more like “masters of learning.” And if you empower librarians with high-tech skills, it’s a completely different story. This is the direction we are going. My work with CC has helped bring us to that level.

Sharing local knowledge and skills globally

One of the biggest challenges we face in Tanzania is knowledge around how best to utilize technology – especially when technology is moving and changing so fast. Each night when you go to sleep, you wake up to find that everything you knew has changed completely. This has been the biggest challenge in my work: getting people access to the knowledge and know-how they need when the pace of change is so fast.

You cannot talk about a better world today without talking about technology, and about the sharing of technology.

One of the greatest challenges to the Commons that I see is understanding of the licenses by the majority of the African continent. If we are able to reach out to all of the creators – the artists, the musicians, the writers – in the grassroots, in different places, in the rural areas, that will be a great opportunity for Creative Commons.

I want to ensure we aren’t leaving out the potential creators and creative people in the grassroots. There are so many new platforms where we can share their viewpoints and demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Creative Commons has a big part to play to make sure that all of the achievement of these people, their creativity and skills, can be shared globally. We need to reach out to ensure African knowledge and skills are shared globally.

The post “This is all about Sharing“ appeared first on Creative Commons.

Publicado originalmente en inglés el 6 de abril de 2018. Traducción: Equipo de CC Uruguay.

Un borrador recientemente filtrado del tratado de libre comercio Mercosur-Unión Europea muestra pequeñas mejoras en el capítulo sobre propiedad intelectual. Parece que la extensión innecesaria e injustificada de 20 años de duración del derecho de autor ahora se elimina del acuerdo, y las partes han introducido cierta flexibilidad para que los usuarios eviten las medidas tecnológicas de protección con el fin de ejercer sus derechos. Pero en su mayor parte, las negociaciones continúan favoreciendo un mayor endurecimiento de los derechos de autor a expensas de las protecciones para los derechos de los usuarios y los bienes comunes. Como explicamos a continuación, las medidas para proteger el dominio público continúan diluidas, la disposición que requiere una compensación obligatoria -independientemente de que los creadores la quieran o no- se mantiene y la sección de excepciones y limitaciones al derecho de autor se reduce a un mínimo.

El año pasado, en colaboración con varios capítulos de nuestra red global, Creative Commons publicó un análisis que abarca diversos temas relacionados con el derecho de autor presentados en un borrador del capítulo de propiedad intelectual del tratado de libre comercio Mercosur-UE.

La Unión Europea (UE) y el Mercosur han estado negociando este tratado de libre comercio (TLC) desde el año 2000. El tratado es expansivo y se ocupa de aspectos tan dispares como el comercio de bienes industriales y agrícolas, cambios potenciales a las reglas que rigen a las pequeñas y medianas empresas, compras gubernamentales y disposiciones de propiedad intelectual, incluyendo los derechos de autor y las patentes. En nuestro análisis del año pasado, examinamos cuestiones que afectarían el dominio público, la creatividad y el intercambio de conocimiento, así como los derechos de los usuarios en la era digital.

Las negociaciones del TLC entre el Mercosur y la UE tienen lugar en un entorno en el que se está definiendo de manera creciente la regulación de derecho de autor a través de acuerdos comerciales multilaterales. En nuestro informe, los principales puntos que discutimos fueron los siguientes:

• los plazos de derecho de autor no deben extenderse,
• los derechos de los usuarios deben protegerse expandiendo las limitaciones y excepciones al derecho de autor,
• la remuneración obligatoria interfiere con el licenciamiento Creative Commons,
• las medidas tecnológicas de protección no deben limitar el ejercicio de los derechos de los usuarios.

También recordamos el principio de sentido común según el cual las negociaciones de tratados comerciales deben ser transparentes e involucrar a la ciudadanía, no secretas y decididas a puerta cerrada.

Desde nuestro análisis del año pasado, ha habido dos nuevos borradores filtrados del capítulo sobre propiedad intelectual. Uno fue publicado por Greenpeace en diciembre de 2017 en base a la 28ª ronda de negociaciones. Otro fue publicado la semana pasada por el sitio web bilaterals.org, basado en el texto consolidado tal como quedó al final de la 32ª ronda de negociaciones que finalizó el mes pasado.

Como Jorge Gemetto escribió en el blog de la Asociación Communia, el borrador del capítulo de propiedad intelectual filtrado por Greenpeace reveló un gran desacuerdo entre las partes.

Se advierte fácilmente que, mientras el interés de la Unión Europea es el de aumentar los plazos y áreas de protección de la propiedad intelectual, así como imponer nuevas sanciones penales para las infracciones, los países del Mercosur buscan evitar estándares más altos de propiedad intelectual, incorporar excepciones y limitaciones obligatorias al derecho de autor, y favorecer la identificación y protección del dominio público.

Como lo advierte Gemetto, existe un gran desbalance entre el poder de negociación de cada parte, y la UE claramente tiene la ventaja. Estando la UE ya alineada con el marco restrictivo de propiedad intelectual “TRIPS Plus“, busca exportar a otros lugares estas medidas de incremento de la protección y su aplicación.

Finalmente, llegamos al borrador del capítulo de propiedad intelectual filtrado recientemente que publicó bilaterals.org. Hay algunos cambios importantes desde la versión publicada por Greenpeace.

La mención del dominio público se diluirá y quedará sepultada

La filtración de Greenpeace de diciembre de 2017 encontró que las partes discutían si (y cómo) debía mencionarse el apoyo al dominio público en el Artículo 4 (Principios). La UE propuso el texto: “Las Partes reconocen la importancia de un dominio público robusto, rico y accesible”, mientras que los países del Mercosur abogaron por: “Las Partes tendrán debidamente en cuenta la necesidad de preservar un dominio público robusto, rico y accesible, y cooperarán entre sí para identificar los diferentes materiales que han ingresado en dominio público”.

La versión de la UE ganó. El texto consolidado compartido por bilaterals.org ahora dice: “Las Partes reconocen la importancia de un dominio público robusto, rico y accesible”. Además, una nota en el documento mueve el texto de la sección “Principios” a la sección “Cooperación”.

La remuneración obligatoria permanece

La borrador anterior, publicado por Greenpeace, mostraba que las partes discutían si habría una remuneración obligatoria (Artículo 9.6) para los intérpretes, ejecutantes y productores de música. La UE quería que el texto dijera: “Las Partes otorgarán un derecho para garantizar que el usuario pague una única remuneración equitativa a los artistas intérpretes o ejecutantes y productores de fonogramas, si un fonograma publicado con fines comerciales, o una reproducción de dicho fonograma, se utiliza para la transmisión por medios inalámbricos o para cualquier comunicación al público.” El Mercosur quería que este derecho fuera opcional, sugiriendo que el texto dijera: “Las Partes pueden otorgar…”.

La versión de la UE ganó. El texto consolidado ahora dice “otorgarán”. Este cambio muestra un esquema que se repite en las negociaciones: las disposiciones que tienen que ver con la aplicación de la propiedad intelectual y la protección de los titulares de derechos son obligatorias (“deberán”), mientras que las disposiciones que beneficiarían a los usuarios y al interés público son solo opcionales (“pueden”). Este tipo de disposición interferiría con el funcionamiento de algunas licencias Creative Commons, exigiendo un pago incluso cuando la intención del autor es compartir su trabajo creativo con el mundo de forma gratuita.

La extensión del plazo de derecho de autor fue puesta en suspenso

El borrador filtrado por Greenpeace reveló que las partes continuaban discutiendo sobre el plazo de derecho de autor (Artículo 9.7). La UE quería la vida de autor + 70 años, mientras que el Mercosur quería la vida + 50 años.

El texto consolidado ahora dice “transcurrirá durante la vida del autor y no menos de 50 años o por 70 años cuando así lo disponga la legislación nacional de las Partes…”.

La versión del Mercosur ganó porque el texto indica que se aplicarán los términos nacionales existentes. Esta es una mejora significativa en el sentido de que no obliga a aumentar el plazo a los países que tienen un plazo más corto. Ampliar aún más los plazos de derecho de autor no hace nada por promover la creación de nuevas obras, e incluso exacerba los desafíos relacionados con los plazos extensos, como el problema de las obras huérfanas.

Las excepciones y limitaciones fueron reducidas al mínimo

La filtración de Greenpeace mostró que las partes discutían sobre el alcance de la sección sobre limitaciones y excepciones (Artículo 9.9). El Mercosur quería incluir una lista no exhaustiva de usos aceptables para ser cubiertos bajo limitaciones y excepciones, incluyendo la crítica, la cobertura de noticias, la enseñanza y la investigación.

Sin embargo, el texto consolidado publicado por bilaterals.org no incluye la lista no exhaustiva. En su lugar, esencialmente vuelve a apoyarse en el texto de la regla de los tres pasos (“Cada Parte establecerá excepciones y limitaciones a los derechos exclusivos solo en ciertos casos especiales que no entren en conflicto con la explotación normal de la obra y no perjudiquen injustificadamente los intereses legítimos de los titulares de derechos”).

La protección del derecho de autor y las medidas de aplicación de dicha protección siempre deben equilibrarse con consideraciones de interés público; en otras palabras, los derechos de los autores siempre deben limitarse, reconociendo y defendiendo los derechos de los usuarios en el ecosistema del derecho de autor. El texto consolidado solo proporciona una mínima consideración para los derechos de los usuarios.

Una cierta flexibilidad para ejercer los derechos bajo los esquemas de medidas tecnológicas de protección

Por último, la versión publicada por Greenpeace reveló que la UE estaba proponiendo un nuevo texto en torno a las medidas tecnológicas de protección (TPM, por sus siglas en inglés) (Artículo X.15). En ese borrador anterior, no se incluía ningún texto que autorizara a eludir las medidas tecnológicas para que un usuario pueda ejercer sus derechos bajo una excepción o limitación.

Sin embargo, el texto consolidado ahora incluye el siguiente texto: “Las Partes (UE: cuando sea permisible de conformidad con su legislación nacional) deberán (UE: podrán) garantizar que los titulares de derechos pongan a disposición del beneficiario de una excepción o limitación los medios para beneficiarse de esa excepción o limitación, en la medida necesaria para beneficiarse de esa excepción o limitación”. Por lo tanto, parece que habrá al menos alguna consideración legal para proteger la capacidad de los usuarios de eludir las TPM para ejercer sus derechos bajo una excepción o limitación.

Conclusión

Si bien es positivo que al menos las partes están llegando a la conclusión de renunciar a la extensión innecesaria del plazo de derecho de autor, la mayoría de los cambios en el texto consolidado muestran un persistente endurecimiento de la protección del derecho de autor, que favorece a los titulares de derechos a expensas de los usuarios y de los bienes comunes.

Además, las negociaciones siguen siendo esencialmente secretas y cerradas, con escaso conocimiento público salvo estas útiles filtraciones, y con pocas oportunidades para que la ciudadanía exprese sus preocupaciones. Es preciso reformar las negociaciones para apoyar plenamente un proceso que sea transparente, inclusivo y responsable.

The post Derecho de autor en el tratado de libre comercio Mercosur-Unión Europea: pocas mejoras y muchos retrocesos appeared first on Creative Commons.