Title: A consultative, development-focussed Copyright Review (South Africa)
Date (published): May 2010
Date (accessed): 20/06/2010
Type of information: petition
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The National Consumer Forum (NCF) and The African Commons Project (TACP), two registered Section 21 companies operating within South Africa, on behalf of South African consumers hereby request the Minister to urgently consider a consultative, transparent review of the current Copyright Act.

The Act, initially drafted more than 32 years ago, should be reviewed in light of the digital innovations that have occurred within the last three decades which have dramatically altered the way we create, share, distribute and use information materials and cultural products.

Title: Copyright and education in Africa: Lessons on African copyright and access to knowledge
Authors: Tobias Schonwetter, Jeremy de Beer, Dick Kawooya and Achal Prabhala
Pages: 16 pp.
ISSN: 2077-7205
e-ISSN: 2077-7213
Source: The African Journal of Information and Communication, Issue No 10 (2009/2010)
Publisher: Learning Information Networking and Knowledge (LINK) Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand
Date (published): 25/02/2010
Date (accessed): 28/04/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project is a pan-African research network of academics and researchers from law, economics and the information sciences, spanning Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Research conducted by the project was designed to investigate the extent to which copyright is fulfilling its objective of facilitating access to knowledge, and learning materials in particular, in the study countries. The hypotheses tested during the course of research were that: (a) the copyright environments in study countries are not maximising access to learning materials, and (b) the copyright environments in study countries can be changed to increase access to learning materials. The hypotheses were tested through both doctrinal legal analysis and qualitative interview-based analysis of practices and perceptions among relevant stakeholders. This paper is a comparative review of some of the key findings across the eight countries.
An analysis of the legal research findings in the study countries indicates that national copyright laws in all eight ACA2K study countries provide strong protection, in many cases exceeding the terms of minimum protection demanded by international obligations. Copyright limitations and exceptions to facilitate access to learning materials are not utilised as effectively as they could be, particularly relating to the digital environment. Distance learning, the needs of disabled people, the needs of students, teachers, educational institutions, libraries and archives are inadequately addressed. To the extent that copyright laws address the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs), they do so primarily in a manner that further restricts access to learning materials. In summary, national copyright frameworks in the study countries are not geared for maximal access to learning materials, and are in need of urgent attention.
An analysis of qualitative research findings, gathered from the field in stakeholder interviews, suggests that a substantial gap exists between copyright law and copyright practice in each country studied. Many users who are aware of the concept of copyright are unable or unwilling to comply with it or to work within the user rights it offers because of their socioeconomic circumstances. In everyday practice, with respect to learning materials, vast numbers of people act outside legal copyright structures altogether, engaging (knowingly or unknowingly) in infringing practices in order to gain the access they need to learning materials.
In conclusion, evidence from the ACA2K project suggests that the copyright environments in the study countries can and must be improved by reforms that will render the copyright regimes more suitable to local developing country realities. Without such reform, equitable and non-infringing access to learning materials will remain an elusive goal in these countries.

Title: LexPublica: Open Sourcing the Legal Process
Author: Glyn Moody
Source: open...
Date (published): 02/12/2009
Date (accessed): 04/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"There is a crying need for access to legal help. No one can afford lawyers."...LexPublica aims to solve this problem by opening up the world of legal knowledge to everyone." It's plans are splendidly ambitious - nothing less than to create a global legal commons...

"LexPublica creates free contracts for small businesses, along with supporting information to help you use them. We're a community of lawyers and non-lawyers committed to making legal knowledge more accessible to businesses and the general public."

Title: Regulatory Issues Around Mobile Banking: New initiatives to bank the poor are straining the world’s financial regulatory systems.
Author: Paul Makin
Pages: 14 pp.
Source: Workshop on “Policy coherence in the application of information and communication technologies for development"
Publisher: OECD, World Bank
Date (published): 01/09/2009
Date (accessed): 05/10/2009
Type of information: conference paper, draft
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that in Africa there are 300 million reachable adults with no current access to formal financial services, and there are a variety of mobile services springing up to address their needs. Rather than true mobile
banking, most of these initiatives offer a subset of banking, though with the aim of evolving towards full banking services in the future, and are variously known as “branchless banking”, “2G (second generation) banking”, “mobile payments”, “mobile money transfer” or “mobile banking” – which term is used depends on the audience...
Many of the mobile initiatives are partially – in some cases wholly – led by non-bank organisations that are traditionally outside the scope of financial regulation, and with whom the financial regulator has traditionally had little or no contact. This has naturally led to concern amongst regulators, and, for good or bad, threatens to disrupt the regulation of the financial sector in many of these countries.

Report for Joint Workshop on “Policy coherence in the application of information and communication technologies for development,” organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Information for Development Program (infoDev), World Bank, 10-11 September 2009, Paris, France

Title: Piracy of Digital Content
Pages: 138 pp.
ISBN: 9789264065437
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Date (published): July 2009
Date (accessed): 25/08/2009
Type of information: research information
Language: English
On-line access: yes (watermarked PDF)
Abstract:
This book studies digital piracy - the infringement of copyrighted content (such as music, films, software, broadcasting, books, etc.) - where the end product does not involve the use of hard media, such as CDs and DVDs. It presents the unique economic properties of markets for pirated digital products, where the existence of a large number of suppliers willing to provide pirated content at virtually no cost poses new and difficult challenges to copyright owners and policy makers in combating that piracy. These economic features, together with rapid technological developments, create special and unique problems to policy makers and the large number of actors involved in different jurisdictions. This book also provides an illustrative, in-depth case study of the sports rights owners sector, highlighting how it is affected by digital piracy.

Table of contents
Executive Summary
Introduction
Chapter 1. Market Overview
*Key differences between tangible and digital products
*Copyrighted digital products
*Markets for pirated digital products
*Economic mechanisms that drive markets for pirated digital products
Chapter 2. Drivers of Digital Policy
*Supply drivers
*Demand drivers
Chapter 3. Industry Initiatives and Institutional Remedies
*Industry Initiatives
*Data collection and educational campaigns
*Co-operation between rights holders
*Government co-operation
*Remedies for copyright infringement
*Liability for circumvention of technological protection measures
Chapter 4. Case Study: The Sports Rights Owners Sector
*What is the sports rights owners sector?
*What is at stake?
*How is intellectual property created in this sector?
*How does piracy take place?
*What are the market characterisitics of the sports broadcasting sector?
*Industry responses
*Specific industry examples
Conclusions
Annex A. Legal Aspects of Copyrights and their Infreingement
Annex B. OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Development
Annex C. The Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy

See also

Title: Privacy in the digital world: Towards international legislation
Authors: Nour S. Al-Shakhouri, A. Mahmood
ISSN: 1396-0458
Source: First Monday; Volume 14, Number 4
Publisher: University of Illinois at Chicago University Library
Date published: 06/04/2009
Date accessed: 10/08/2009
Type of information: scholarly article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
In today’s digital world, personal privacy has become the number one issue for consumers. Consumers' confidence in personal privacy is directly affecting and limiting the growth of the Internet commercial development. Therefore, it has become a necessity to address the consumers privacy concerns for the interests of the parties involved. Examples of the different ways of penetrating the consumers' privacy are reviewed. The national and international efforts to formulate regulatory and self-regulatory programs to protect the consumers' privacy are demonstrated. The different privacy enhancing technologies are presented. The problems and shortages of the current national and international consumers' privacy protection regulatory effort including privacy enhancing technologies are addressed. The argument of the need for an international efforts and the proposed role of the United Nations (UN) towards enforced international privacy legislation is established. The complexity and the multi dimensional factors that affect the proposed international legislation are discussed.

Title: The Right to information in Latin America: a comparative legal survey
Author: Toby Mendel
Pages: 164 pp.
Publisher: UNESCO, Quito office
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 26/07/2009
Type of information: book
Language: English, Spanish
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
UNESCO’s Office in Quito releases a legal survey on the right to information in Latin America, comparing the currently existing laws in 11 Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. Conducted by Toby Mendel, this study confirms UNESCO’s commitment to promote the right to information, in line with its strategic objective of enhancing universal access to information and knowledge.
Those tasked with drafting or promoting legislation guaranteeing the right to information face a number of challenges. How should the regime of exceptions be crafted so as to strike an appropriate balance between the right to know and the need for secrecy to protect certain key public and private interests? How extensive should the obligation to publish and disseminate information be and how can the law ensure that this obligation grows in line with technological developments? What procedures for requesting information can balance the need for timely, inexpensive access against the pressures and resource constraints facing civil servants? What right of appeal should individuals have when their requests for information have been refused? Which positive measures need to be taken to change the culture of secrecy that pervades the public administration in so many countries and to inform the public about this right?