Cato Daily Dispatch for October 14, 2002
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Report Recommends More Flexible WTO Intellectual Property TreatyHackers Developing Programs to Thwart Internet Censorship
Bush Administration Debate over Smallpox Delayed Decisions
Report Recommends More Flexible WTO Intellectual Property Treaty
A recent report by the international Commission on Intellectual Property Rights recommends that the World Trade Organization's treaty on intellectual property rights be made much more flexible so that developing nations, from Brazil to Bangladesh, can adopt rules more at their own pace, according to The New York Times.
The global debate over intellectual property rights - patents, copyrights and trademarks - is focused mainly on forward-looking industries like computer software, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
As part of a sweeping trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organization must adhere to a global agreement known as Trips, for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Trips stemmed partly from the prevailing belief during the 1990's that the "American model" - free trade, wide-open capital markets and strong intellectual property protection - was the sure way to global prosperity.
Earlier this year, the Cato Institute released Copy Fights: The Future of Intellectual Property in the Information Age, edited by Director of Telecommunications Studies Adam Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., director of technology policy. Cato also maintains a Web page on intellectual property.
Hackers Developing Programs to Thwart Internet Censorship
Western hackers are developing programs to defeat the Internet censorship barriers of repressive countries overseas -- and you can take part in the effort, reports The Washington Post.
Software such as Peekabooty, Six/Four, and Triangle Boy marries the peer-to-peer architecture of Napster-style file-sharing services with encryption and other stealth technology. The goal of the "hacktivists" writing these programs is to grant unrestricted Internet access to users in China, Iran, and other countries whose governments use filtering or censoring software to control their Internet connection.
All three programs need users with open Internet access to install their free software, which can channel data -- encrypted to prevent eavesdropping -- to the end users abroad. Think of it as the 21st century equivalent of writing protest letters in an Amnesty International campaign.
But the technologies to make this happen have a long way to go before they are ready. And the hacktivists face difficult tasks in creating technology that won't be detected by censors, while the users they seek to liberate run the risk of criminal prosecution or worse from their governments.
In July, Cato released "Caught in the Seamless Web: Does the Internet's Global Reach Justify Less Freedom of Speech?" by Adjunct Scholar Robert Corn-Revere. The briefing paper discusses whether the Internet should be governed by myriad local censorship laws and whether such foreign laws can be used to restrict speech on U.S.-based Web sites.
Bush Administration Debate over Smallpox Delayed Decisions
The New York Times reports intense debates in the Bush administration over smallpox vaccinations have delayed critical decisions in the nation's program against germ terrorism for months, participants say.
They say officials, including at times Vice President Dick Cheney, have argued that the nation should move quickly to vaccinate widely even in the absence of a bioterrorist attack. But others, including President Bush, have been more cautious, worrying about the vaccine's risk of causing serious illness or death.
The result has been confusion and delay, even as preparations for some immunizations move ahead.
In "Give Americans the Choice to Take the Smallpox Vaccine," Senior Defense Policy Analyst Charles V. Peña writes that current policy "leaves Americans with no choice in the matter--no freedom to choose what may be most effective for their own security and peace of mind. In the case of a bioterrorist attack using smallpox, Americans cannot immunize themselves beforehand with the vaccine. The government won't give its own citizens access to the vaccine, even though it's in stock."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org