Author Archive for John Mark

Access to Knowledge Conference

Published by John Mark on September 22, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

Some things I just find out about too late. Consider the Access to Knowledge conference hosted by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. “A2K” was held in Switzerland from September 8 - 10. It looked like a really interesting conference about what we at GeekPAC like to call information rights. Check out this part:

The conference, the largest of its kind, will consider how, in a global knowledge economy, the ability to access and produce information and control its dissemination increasingly determines wealth, innovation, human development, and individual freedom.

This kind of terminology is very much in line with what we have in our position paper. Sometimes it feels like nobody else really pays attention to these issues, so it’s nice to see that we’re not alone. Hopefully, I won’t miss the conference the next time around.


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2-day Extension for Fund Drive!

Published by John Mark on September 1, 2008 in Action. 0 Comments

We got a 2-day extension for a fund drive. Can we make it count? Forward this link to all your friends, and let’s make this year’s election count:

Donation page on fundable.com


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Things I Didn’t Hear from the Democratic Convention

Published by John Mark on August 29, 2008 in Action. 0 Comments

Breaking news - donate to GeekPAC! 3 days remain on our fund drive.

The Democratic National Convention is now over, and it’s time to take an account of what was (or wasn’t) said. Despite being regaled by some outstanding speeches by very powerful politicians, there were quite a few things left out of the mix. And let’s be serious - I wasn’t expecting to hear them, but it helps to recount what was left unsaid just for the record.

Here’s a small list:

  1. Big media and big entertainment’s stranglehold on IP laws and the resultant killing of innovation
  2. Exceedingly high bar to entry for poorer schools to provide access to information services: digital media, web, and software
  3. Destruction of the marketplace of ideas via abuse of the patent system
  4. Big telecom’s spiking of our privacy rights
  5. Economic impairment as a direct result of the nation’s IP laws and regulations
  6. Continuing growth of the digital divide, or as I like to say, the “Information Divide”

Each of the above wasn’t addressed for a specific reason, because each of the above has a very specific special interest group behind the status quo. For #1 and #4, the perpetrators are obvious. For #2, look no further than many of the software providors for our schools. And no, I’m not addressing any particular company, for there are many. For #3 and #5, think of all the high tech vendors who have a vested interest in the status quo, and they have learned their way around Washington, DC. For #6, well, we all have a hand in that one. In order to get past the Information Divide, we pretty much have to come to terms with its primary cause: the mauling of the marketplace of ideas at the hands of government.

And lastly, what I’m most disappointed not to hear is one iota of support behind the idea that information rights are now human rights. I explain the details of this more thoroughly in the GeekPAC position paper, but the gist is that data and information are vastly more important than our current laws would indicate. As such, our continued development as an technological powerhouse depends on their overhaul and drastic reform. With our dependence on digital data, digital resources, and digital transactions, it behooves us to recognize their importance and introduce a bit of sanity into our legal structures, such as:

  1. protect citizens from an overreaching government
  2. create a sustainable system of copyright law that recognizes the importance of the commons
  3. overhaul (or remove entirely) our current patent laws, as they apply to software technology
  4. a real plan to address the differences in technology access currently defined by socioeconomic status
  5. recognition of a wider array of fair use rights - such as the right to access whatever information we legally hold in our possession

And I’m not holding my breath that we’ll hear anything at the Republican Convention either. Now you should understand why I always say that we are people without a party. Those who support these issues must create politically viable groups and influence elections and legislation.

Oh, did I mention that GeekPAC is having a fundraiser RIGHT NOW?

Donate to GeekPAC and fight for your information rights!


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Fund Drive Update - Over 50% of the way there!

Published by John Mark on August 26, 2008 in Action. 0 Comments

We’re entering the stretch run of our fundraiser, and we’ve crossed the 50% barrier! If you haven’t donated yet, now’s your chance:

Donate at fundable.com!

Coming soon: a donor’s page thanking those who have pledged.


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Wired: Copyright Owners Must Consider ‘Fair Use’ Before Sending Takedown Notice

Published by John Mark on August 21, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

Just saw this mentioned in Wired - a federal court judge in San Jose issued a ruling in the Lenz vs. Universal case, where Universal issued a DMCA takedown notice for content posted on Youtube, and the recipient of that notice is now suing Universal for damages:

In the nation’s first such ruling, a federal judge on Wednesday said copyright owners must consider ‘fair use’ of their works before sending takedown notices to online video-sharing sites.

The 10-page decision (.pdf) came a month after Universal Music told a San Jose, California federal judge that copyright owners need not consider the “fair use” doctrine before issuing takedown notices requiring online video-sharing sites to remove content.

Other than pointing out that the term “consider” presents a considerable amount of wiggle room, this seems to be a positive step in the right direction. In fact, part of Universal’s argument was that it was impossible to determine whether content met any fair use standard. It will be interesting to see if this precedent stands.

Read the full Wired article


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LWN.net Covers GeekPAC

Published by John Mark on August 14, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

This was an article published on LWN, written by Lisa Hoover. A very nice compendium of who we are and what we’re about:

Link to article.

Fundable.org page


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BytesFree.org at Lug Radio Live USA

Published by John Mark on April 7, 2008 in Action and News. 0 Comments

I’m happy to announce that BytesFree.org will be represented at its first event, Lug Radio Live, which will be held at the Metreon in San Francisco on April 12th and 13th. It’s quite a challenge to get things going organizationally, and this looks to be a pretty rewarding experience.

We will have a table at the expo. Also, Ilan and I will be speaking on Sunday at 3pm.

If you’d like to come by and say hello, or if you’re interested in volunteering, please do let us know.


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New Improved Position Paper

Published by John Mark on April 7, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

A long time ago, I wrote a paper encouraging people to support AB 1668 and posted it on the wiki. I have finally updated the paper to reflect the new focus of BytesFree.org.

Read the new improved paper.

Also, as we slowly make our way through the incorporation process, one of the things we have to do is create a mission statement. I never really cared for these types of exercises. Not because I don’t see their value - I do, but because I’m lazy. In any case, I think we’ve come up with a nice tentative one:

BytesFree.org is dedicated to the idea that all people should have full and unrestricted access to all information to which they are legally or morally entitled. BytesFree.org works to ensure that public data is available to all, unburdened by restrictive access methods, non-standard file formats, unreasonable fees, unnecessary bureaucratic delays, or unpalatable legal requirements.

You can find more new stuff on the About page.


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OOXML Ratified by ISO

Published by John Mark on April 1, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

Well, it appears to be final. As the results are verified and commentators weigh in, I’ll post a roundup later, as well as my own commentary on what this means for BytesFree.org’s objectives.

In the meantime, see the posts below from Groklaw and the Standards Blog.


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Lost in the OOXML Fog

Published by John Mark on March 12, 2008 in News. 0 Comments

There’s been a lot of reporting about the ISO fiasco with OOXML. You can read writeups from people much more tuned in to the process than me. You can start here, here and here (the last is a highly recommended roundup from Andy Updegrove).

But somewhere in this process, much of the coverage of this event grew into a horse race spectacle: will OOXML pass? Will developing countries vote no? How will the US vote? And for perfectly understandable reasons - it *was* a spectacle, and many were interested.

The purpose of this post is an attempt to bring the discussion back to why we care about standards in the first place. There are plenty of good, common-sense IT business reasons to do so. But, as this organization is dedicated to advocating for information rights, I’d like to point out that the standardization process will have an effect on real people in their daily lives, as standards efforts will impact their ability to participate in the information economy. Basically, do we want to hand over to the world the keys to massive IT innovation? Unparalleled ability to participate in a global culture and economy?

I haven’t read enough of the OOXML spec to know if it meets my definition of “open”, but I have read enough commentary to feel uneasy about its adoption. In fact, we still don’t know how much the MS Office implementation will differ from the OOXML spec. Nor do we know if it’s possible to create an open ecosystem around the standard. All of these things will impact the ability to view, edit and collaborate and thus will determine how much of a disadvantage the world’s poor will face. This is the central question.

The questions surrounding the ISO processes are no doubt important, and I’m very glad that some reporters are devoting significant time to them. However, as we go through the tug-of-war between OOXML supporters and detractors, let’s not forget the central reason for why we care about this stuff in the first place: its impact on people.


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