Law Professors Address RCEP Negotiators on Copyright; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF, February 24, 2017

Jeremy Malcolm, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); 

Law Professors Address RCEP Negotiators on Copyright

"Next week the latest round of secret negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) kicks off in Kobe, Japan. Once the shy younger sibling of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the recent death of the TPP has thrust RCEP further into the spotlight, and raised the stakes both for its sixteen prospective parties, and for lobbyists with designs to stamp their own mark on the text's intellectual property and e-commerce chapters.

Our last analysis of RCEP pointed out some of the ways in which the then-current leaked text represented an improvement on the TPP, but how other parts of it—including those on copyright enforcement—repeated its mistakes and failed to seize opportunities for improvement. This week, over 60 copyright scholars released an open letter that sets out their views of what negotiators ought to do in order to address these problems...

The RCEP negotiators evidently haven't taken the failure of the TPP to heart, or they would be doing more to ensure that their negotiations are inclusive, transparent, and strike a fair balance between the interests of copyright owners and those of the public."

Today in History; Associated Press via Washington Post, February 24, 2017

Associated Press via Washington Post; Today in History

"One year ago:..President Barack Obama nominated Carla Hayden, longtime head of Baltimore’s library system, to be the 14th Librarian of Congress; Hayden became the first woman and the first African-American to hold the position."

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY; New Yorker, February 19, 2017

Sarah Larson, New Yorker; 

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY

"The new Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, is highly motivated to make this library, and all libraries, a favorite object of the people. Hayden is the first person of color, and the first woman, to lead the Library of Congress; she is also the first actual librarian to lead it since 1974. Her predecessor, Dr. James Billington, a distinguished Russia scholar appointed by Ronald Reagan, was beloved for his intellect but criticized for mismanagement; he neglected, for many years, to appoint a chief information officer, which was required by law, and he also didn’t use e-mail. Hayden, a former head of the American Library Association, revitalized and modernized Baltimore’s twenty-two-branch Enoch Pratt Free Library system. President Obama nominated her, in 2010, to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board, and, last year, to become Librarian of Congress...

Like many librarians, Hayden is a big believer in the rights of all people to educate themselves, and in the importance of open access to information online. (This inclusive spirit has become more urgent nationally in recent weeks: see “Libraries Are for Everyone,” a multilingual meme and poster campaign, created by a Nebraska librarian, Rebecca McCorkindale, to counter the forces of fake news and fearmongering.) In September, Hayden gave a swearing-in speech in which she described how black Americans “were once punished with lashes and worse for learning to read.” She said that, “as a descendent of people who were denied the right to read, to now have the opportunity to serve and lead the institution that is our national symbol of knowledge is a historic moment.”...

I thought of the drafts of Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address that a curator in the Inaugurations exhibit had shown me. Lincoln had originally ended his speech with a challenge to the South: “Shall it be peace or sword?” William Henry Seward had suggested an edit that pushed Lincoln toward a more conciliatory tone, and the phrase “guardian angel of the nation.” Lincoln turned that into the sublime “better angels of our nature,” an appeal to our common humanity. Our greatest President was also, possibly, our greatest reviser—a cutter and paster who questioned his imperfect ideas, accepted input, made them better, and kept all of his drafts, so that history could learn not just from his speeches but from the workings of his mind. The contents of the library, like Hayden herself, often directed my attention to the systems by which progress is made and recorded."

The Russification of America; New York Times, February 21, 2017

Roger Cohen, New York Times; 

The Russification of America

"I’m skeptical of Trump ever running a disciplined administration. His feelings about Europe are already clear and won’t change. The European Union needs to step into the moral void by standing unequivocally for the values that must define the West: truth, facts, reason, science, tolerance, freedom, democracy and the rule of law. For now it’s unclear if the Trump administration is friend or foe in that fight."

Uber Promises Investigation After Former Engineer Blogs About Rampant Sexual Harassment; Huffington Post, February 19, 2017

Lydia O'Connor, Huffington Post; 

Uber Promises Investigation After Former Engineer Blogs About Rampant Sexual Harassment

"Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said Sunday that the ride-sharing company will investigate new allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination in its workplace.

After former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a nearly 3,000-word blog post Sunday describing a nightmarish workplace culture in which male superiors solicited her for sex and human resources officers shrugged off her concerns about sexist company practices, Kalanick vowed there would be a probe into the allegations...

You can read the entirety of Fowler’s blog post here."

PLA forms new task force on equity, diversity and inclusion; February 8, 2017

PLA forms new task force on equity, diversity and inclusion

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For Immediate Release
Wed, 02/08/2017

Contact:

Kara O'Keefe

Manager, Marketing and Membership

Public Library Association (PLA)

kokeefe@ala.org

CHICAGO — On Saturday, Jan. 21, at the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, the Public Library Association (PLA) Board approved the creation of a PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Co-chaired by Richard Kong, director, Skokie (Illinois) Public Library and Amita Lonial, principal librarian, San Diego (California) County Library, the task force has been charged with developing a strategic and coordinated approach for PLA related to issues of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The task force will explore methods and consider resources to be developed that will allow PLA to take a multifaceted approach. Task force activities include but are not limited to: making recommendations for how EDI content is integrated into PLA programs; elevating successful libraries as models to generate and share best practices; identifying ways PLA might influence equity and inclusion within public libraries; and helping libraries serve diverse communities and staff.

“The current political and social climate is shining a harsh light on just how much we fall short of a truly equitable, diverse, and inclusive profession and society,” said Kong. “It is imperative that we take an honest look at this reality and take concrete steps to bring long-lasting, meaningful changes that will advance equity, diversity and inclusion in both our profession and the communities we serve.”

Lonial added, “Public libraries have a legacy of embracing and advancing social justice. Recent events have libraries asking what that looks like in this political moment and how we can more authentically engage our core values of equity, diversity and inclusion. Our hope is that the task force can help to facilitate that dialogue and provide concrete tools and resources for public libraries of all types and sizes to participate and go deeper.”

Public libraries have a unique and unparalleled ability to bring people and knowledge together. PLA is committed to its core values of openness and inclusiveness and supports the recent statement from the American Library Association (ALA), opposing the new administration’s policies that contradict core library values. The PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion will work to strengthen the organization’s commitment to its core values, while ensuring issues of EDI remain a top priority.

The task force will report to the PLA Board of Directors at least twice per year. After two years, the board will review the work of the task force and recommend continuation, sunsetting, or creation of a standing committee. The task force will meet at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago (Illinois) and work virtually beforehand. Appointments are currently being finalized.

For more information, contact the PLA office at (800) 545-2433, ext. 5PLA.

About the Public Library Association
PLA is the largest association dedicated to supporting the unique and evolving needs of public library professionals. Founded in 1944, PLA serves nearly 9,000 members in public libraries large and small in communities across the United States and Canada, with a growing presence around the world. PLA strives to help its members shape the essential institution of public libraries by serving as an indispensable ally for public library leaders. For more information about PLA, visit www.pla.org. 

Why the rise of authoritarianism is a global catastrophe; Washington Post, 2/13/17

Garry Kasparov and Thor Halvorssen, Washington Post; Why the rise of authoritarianism is a global catastrophe

[Kip Currier: A must-read ethical-call-to-action by two people who have directly suffered under authoritarianism and are expending their energies and voices toward raising awareness and taking civil liberties-based action on behalf of humanity, against abject moral bankruptcy and appalling abuses of power by authoritarian regimes.]

"If authoritarianism and dictatorship are to be properly challenged — and if so many resulting crises, including military conflict, poverty and extremism, are to be addressed at their root cause — such dissidents need funding, strategic advice, technical training, attention and solidarity. To turn the tide against repression, people across all industries need to join the movement. Artists, entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, diplomats, students — no matter who you are, you can reach out to a civil society organization at risk and ask how you can help by using your knowledge, resources or skills.

Today, authoritarians rule an increasingly large part of the globe, but the leaders of the free world lack the motivation and gumption to create a new U.N.-style League of Democracies. In the meantime, as individuals living in a free society, we believe it is our moral obligation to take action to expose human rights violations and to use our freedom to help others achieve theirs."