Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 14, 2009

Last Friday I spent almost two and a half hours in a wide-ranging conversation with Maria Pallante of the Copyright Office (and two other folks whose full names I didn't write down). copyright exemption for serving the print disabled is commonly called the Chafee Amendment: Section 121 of copyright law. copyright law.

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Copyright Proposal Audio eBook 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

While we’re extremely proud of our achievements in the field of accessibility and disability rights, we know that we’ve just scratched the surface of what we could possibly do to bolster parity of access to information by people with disabilities. Moreover, earlier this year we began offering books in MP3 format.

India 225

India Literacy United Kingdom United States 225

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 19, 2013

We have 197,000 books available in the United States today, and serve 250,000 people , mainly in the United States, but also in 40 other countries. And, just like libraries for sighted people, our books are available to our patrons even if they could purchase them. That’s one dollar per book in the developing world.

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Library United States Copyright Accessibility 203

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

If you can buy a book, you can’t borrow it. That’s the lobbying position of some companies in the intellectual property field when implementing the new Marrakesh Copyright Treaty. Marrakesh is intended to end the book famine for people who can’t read regular books because of their disability.

Copyright 100

Copyright United States Library eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 3, 2016

The creation of Bookshare was made possible because of an enlightened copyright law exception. And, that American copyright exception was the inspiration for the Marrakesh Treaty! law with the Treaty language. law with the Treaty language. Including illustrations as part of books to be made accessible.

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United States Language Copyright Library 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2010

A Policy Update from an engineer, Jim Fruchterman of Benetech June 8, 2010 The international copyright negotiations in Geneva around a proposed Treaty for the Visually Impaired (“TVI”) have been steadily heating up. Counterproposals have been made, governments have been engaging with rights holders, consumers and NGOs (or not!)

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Accessibility Global Copyright Law 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 5, 2013

I’ve been actively advocating for an international copyright exception model that would greatly benefit people with disabilities, as anyone who has read my blog over the years can attest! copyright exception. More to come as we work to ratify—and eventually implement—the treaty, and bring an end to the global accessible book famine!

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Morocco United States Copyright Library 127

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2010

with print disabilities, with more than 70,000 copyrighted works in our library, the majority of which have been created under the US copyright exception by volunteers, mainly people with disabilities themselves, helping each other. • We now have global permissions for around 8,000 copyrighted books out of our 70,000. •

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South Africa Copyright Ghana India 150

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 3, 2010

Source: Pratham Books. Note from Beth: During my trip to India in February, I was introduced to a nonprofit children's book publisher in India, Pratham Books. “It was set up to fill a gap in the market for good quality, reasonably priced children’s books in a variety of Indian languages.

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India Strategy Skype Remix 99

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 22, 2010

I heard we had a high powered finance executive volunteering on book scanning, and decided to meet her and learn more. Even as a volunteer, Viji began bugging me about the need to expand Bookshare’s collection of accessible books and magazines to readers around the world. In countries outside the U.S.,

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San Jose Profile India United Kingdom 109

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

We know, however, that we’ve only scratched the surface of meeting the global need for access to books and information. If giving disabled vets the gift of accessible reading resonates with you, I would definitely appreciate anything you can do to support our cause. The Treaty was signed on the spot by over 50 countries.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2010

An Insider Reveals How the Latest Hot Books Are Added to Bookshare’s Collection of Accessible Titles A Guest Beneblog by Liz Halperin After working for many years as a volunteer for Bookshare, I became a paid proofreader for the collection about two years ago. Since I was there to witness it, I want to tell you how it happens.

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Community Files Student Language 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 27, 2011

There has been a major breakthrough recently on international copyright negotiations in Geneva around improved access for people who have print disabilities. Answer : A copyright exception makes it much easier for people with print disabilities to get access to the materials they need for education, employment and social inclusion.

Accessibility 150

Accessibility Global United States Copyright 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 29, 2011

We're up to more than 125,000 users, with over 95,000 books available, and our users are now accessing content at a rate of more than million downloads per year! That's why it's painful to hear about disputes over denying students with very real print disabilities access to these resources.

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Student Accessibility New Jersey Learning 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

We’re against piracy, and have made commitments to authors and publishers to encourage compliance with copyright law. Bookshare is an online library for people who can’t read standard print books. We provide accessible ebooks that can be spoken aloud, turned into Braille or large print. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

eBook 277

eBook China Copyright Library 277

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 8, 2011

We’re against piracy, and have made commitments to authors and publishers to encourage compliance with copyright law. Bookshare is an online library for people who can’t read standard print books. We provide accessible ebooks that can be spoken aloud, turned into Braille or large print. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

eBook 107

eBook Copyright China Law 107

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 7, 2013

The goal of the treaty is to make it possible for people who are blind, or have other print disabilities, to get access to the books they need for education, employment and inclusion in society--no matter where they live. Today, as new books are produced, they are "born digital." Now, the progress made is all in jeopardy.

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United States Law Copyright India 166