Public Knowledge has set up a web form for sending your representative in Congress a fax opposing the database bill. Quoting PK's analysis of the bill: "Information that falls outside the already-established categories of intellectual property is a shared resource, a public good, and one that is enriched rather than diminished by policies that increase rather than decrease everyone's access to it....The core [principle] of the Copyright Act is that mere information and ideas are not protectable. Further, under Feist v. Rural Telephone, only the creative expression and/or assembly of information is protectable. Indeed, neither the Framers of the Constitution, nor the Supreme Court in interpreting the Copyright Clause, has ever taken so broad a view of Congress' powers as to suggest that Congress can put a price tag, not just on copyrighted or patented works, but on every fact worth knowing....Our leaders and policymakers should strive to make it easier and less costly --not more difficult and more costly-- for citizens to have access to public information. This should be the goal even when that information has been assembled or reassembled by a small number of commercial enterprises."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/09/2004 12:30:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
