UofT Students and Faculty Demand Suspending the Access Copyright Agreement
The University of Toronto Students’ Union, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, and the University of Toronto Faculty Association have just sent a letter to the University Governing Council protesting the UofT – Access Copyright Agreement. They urge the Governors to “suspend any further step towards ratification of the Agreement until the Agreement has been thoroughly reviewed, and, if appropriate, re-negotiated or discarded.”
Update: Canadian Federation of Students sent a letter too.
d(^_^d)
The governing council meeting was interesting,to say the least.
I guess not many of those students plan on getting revenue from their intellectual property!
Alain, you may be right. Many younger individuals don’t believe in the current incentive model. Wikipedia is one of a number of examples being used to invest their creative output, and plenty would take umbrage with very the idea of “intellectual property” after seeing copyright used to censor their output, and patents used to strong-arm freedom into something less than free.
I really don’t think I can overstate the cultural divide between the Net generation and the boomers. They are turning on, tuning in and dropping out. They write as much or more online than they read and they are incredibly engaged when they care. (Even when they’re listening, they might not look at you…) But writing and creativity are not the product, they are the process.
They don’t see their voice as something to charge for, but something to use. They expect change and maybe a little credit and notoriety. They don’t expect to sell anything. They simply expect to be heard. That’s the payoff.
The chasm explains the voter turnout. They realize they have more power outside of wood-paneled traditions, and tend to stay away from them. They’re basically waiting for leaders to die off of old age. Of course, it’s a recipe for further alienation at the institutional level, and that’s what you (probably, if I can make an assumption) saw at the meeting.
It’s more complicated than that, and there are exceptions of course, but that’s my big picture impression.
Don’t forget that the authors of academic papers never get revenue from them. (They make a little moment from academic books, but typically the ratio of money earned to time expended comes out below minimum wage.) It is the publishers that make the money. See the infographic at http://svpow.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/infographic-contribution-and-revenue-for-a-typical-scholarly-paper/
As a student and producer of (open-source) content, I’d like to say thanks for writing about this and standing up for fairness. As Jay pointed out correctly, “intellectual property” means nothing to many of us — and I can confirm that I’m very eagerly waiting for the boomer generation to die off. There, I said it.