Donna Wentworth of Copyfight expressed
Donna Wentworth of Copyfight expressed the following as a part of her wrap-up of the ILAW 2004 conference:
Speaking of working to balance the debate, I want to thank ILAW attendee/NPR Deputy General Counsel Denise Leary for echoing/amplifying my call on Friday for real-world stories that reveal what the average guy on the street is losing because of the digital copyright crackdown. Jim Flowers told a personal story I'd like to hear in greater detail, about arguing successfully against an incredibly restrictive form of Internet filtering in schools by putting it in the plainest of terms -- something like, "Your children can't do research in school -- they're restricted to only 200 websites, and that's why this policy should be rejected." If you've got just such a simple-as-Valenti story about how today's copyright is frustrating your teaching/learning/creativity/ability to speak about an important issue online, do drop a comment below or send me an email to let me know.
To which I would add: Libraries have these stories. Library workers have these stories. These stories need to be shared, not only within the profession, but outside of it. Not everyone will be/needs to be on the same page, and there's no magic bullet to take care of everyone's issues. But we need to share our stories.