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Fascinating Meeting at the Copyright Office

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

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.

Copyright 104
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Benetech's Statement to the Treaty Delegates in Marrakech

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Our library is made possible both by a domestic copyright exception that makes it possible for us to add any book requested by a blind person to our library, as well as strong cooperation with publishers who provide many of their books directly to our library for free, including the rights to serve people in certain other countries.

Library 203
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We Have a Treaty…and It’s Great!

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

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. After all, Benetech’s Bookshare initiative is the largest online library serving people with print disabilities in the world.

Morocco 127
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Bookshare without Borders: #1/3

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

This is a most exciting development: it means that anyone with a cheap MP3 player or a phone that plays MP3s can have access to our books. We’re grateful to our socially responsible publishing partners who give us world rights to their titles, even though they are not required to do so under international copyright law.

India 225
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Increasing Accessible Publishing Globally

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

This change creates an incredible opportunity that will affect the entire world, making access an affordable reality as more and more people have a device in their pocket that is capable of being an accessible e-reader: from inexpensive mobile phones and MP3 players to braille notetakers that can store thousands of ebooks in digital braille.

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Donor Spotlight: Lavelle Fund for the Blind

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

The idea is that a member could go to a school, library, or other nonprofit agency with an internet connection, and walk out with the books they wanted to read on any MP3 player or MP3-enabled mobile phone (this is true of most of the inexpensive phones being sold). In 2013, with the most recent (and fourth!)

Fund 100
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TED thought for Benetech: health care education material and Bookaccess

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

But, all the students had cell phones. This is unlike Bookshare, which is for the 1-2% of the population who qualifies for the copyright exemption. She described a nursing school in Luanda (I think, could have been Lusaka) that lacked textbooks or journals, and had weak PC infrastructure.

Education 100