Two NGOs have commented on the US proposal: FSF Europe and EDRI, the European Digital Rights
Initiative.
FSF Europe appreciated the US statement
as a good starting point for consensus, yet contradicted the US on the
view that WIPO had no need for analysing its own activities.
Inspired by last week's Internet
Governance Forum, we also suggested measures for greater openness
and stakeholder participation in WIPO's work. At the IGF, all that was
said in the assembly was simultaneously transcribed, projected on a
screen in the room, and put on the web in a matter of minutes. Also, all
sessions were streamed to the Internet by Free Software volunteers. This
would greatly help make WIPO's work more effective.
The statement was very well received by various government delegate.
For EDRI, Volker Grassmuck made an excellent statement [now online]
in which he emphasised the potential of commons-based peer production,
as well as casting into doubt the commercial viability of Digital
Restrictions Management (DRM). With a number of vivid examples, it
makes a very interesting read.
On another note: Civil Society's usually excellent transcripts of this meeting are online here.
