International Digital Rights/Orientations and Emails

One week to go email on Nov 26th

On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 6:51 AM, Carolina Rossini <carolina@eff.org> wrote:

Hi all, good afternoon from San Francisco,

In a week, we will see each other in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm very excited to meet for the first time many of you and also to see some old dear friends! I consider this meeting a great step towards further cooperation in the Pacific-Asian region and a great opportunity for me to learn from you. The group we are convening is a mixture of human rights lawyers, digital rights lawyers and activists, long standing NGOs, and new NGOS. All of you have a huge commitment to defend the right to access to knowledge and digital freedoms. 
This is the list with all of us! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArKH1AHos_ifdHFRMjVSOHlyTXBKN1U1OWNzTW5TbFE#gid=0
With this email, I would like to give you a green light to start our collaboration. Thus, I encourage all of you to introduce yourselves. Let's start breaking the ice and start our dialogue. Please, say your name and what do you do, but also your hobbies and your "pet project" if any, and finally what would you like to get from this meeting. Don't be shy, go ahead and introduce yourself! :-) 

* Be current:  
** You can follow all news on our meeting in the Digital Rights Camp Wiki at https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights. Check it out! :-) 

* Foundational Material: 
** We have prepared materials you all might be interested in taking a look at before the workshop. They are focused on the main Intellectual Property issues that have appeared over the years on trade agreements. It would be really valuable if, during your presentations and working groups discussions, you could address what is the situation in your region in regard to these concerns and how it affect your audience: librarians, students, teachers, users, innovators etc 
 https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights#Foundational_Materials 

* Logistics: 
** The hotel for all of you is Auckland City Hotel at 157 Hobson Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand, (09) 925 0777. http://www.achhobson.co.nz/
** From the airport to the hotel:
***Airbus Express - A bus service for travelers to Auckland's CBD and Downtown Ferry 
Terminal from and to Auckland Airport every fifteen minutes. This service also stops outside the Mt Eden train station in both directions. Reservations are not required and tickets are sold by the driver. City to airport and airport to city, transfers take approximately 40-50 minutes. Please go to www.airbus.co.nz for more information about the route & Times and ticket prices.
*** Shuttle Buses - A number of shuttle buses are available from the bus shuttle rank which is accessible through door 11 in the arrivals area, Jean Batten International Terminal. They also operate outside the Air New Zealand and Qantas domestic terminals. Passengers are advised to book shuttle trips to the airport in advance. For more information and bookings phone +64 9 522 5100 or visit the web site at www.supershuttle.co.nz.
 *** Taxis - Taxis are available for all arriving and departing flights from both the international and domestic terminals. Taxis ranks are situated at the western side of the Jean Batten International Terminal and in front of the Air New Zealand and Qantas domestic terminals. The airport to central city taxi fare is approximately NZ$95.00 - NZ$105.00.
 
* Rooming list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlD4c0Fur4gddGlhS3FVMEFfTjlhYXZjVkhMV2psVHc#gid=0 (yes, almost all of us are sharing rooms!) :-) 

* Our meeting will take place at the University of Auckland, Law School. See map for buildings: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1D4c0Fur4gdV2JqN3NLamc3Z1E . We will meet around 8:30 am on the 1st in the hotel lobby to go to the Camp. The room for the meeting is confirmed and soon I will post it in our wiki.

* About our meeting:
** When: December 1th and 2nd. 
** Where: the University of Auckland, Law School 
L** ist of Confirmed Participants: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArKH1AHos_ifdHFRMjVSOHlyTXBKN1U1OWNzTW5TbFE#gid=0 

* Your Bios:
** Please, send you introduction to this list and also paste it in our wiki, with your contacts!  https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights/Participants_Bios

* Presentations
** We hope all get a chance to share their knowledge and concerns on how the expansion of intellectual property rights through trade agreements and national laws threatens digital rights, culture education, and innovation. Please check if you are listed as a presenter. We hope every country is represented. If you are not listed, and wish to present, please let us know a.s.a.p. These questions give some guidance on the focus we hope to discuss:
*** What are the major intellectual property policies and proposals that you oppose or are fighting in your country? Please describe the nature of the policies already enacted or are being proposed.
*** How did you formulate your strategy to address the effects of these policies on digital freedom/access to knowledge/innovation?
*** How did you garner media attention about your campaign and influence the public messaging around your issue? What “memes” did you use to counteract the government’s framing of the issue?
*** How have your efforts affected the outcome of the proposal or surveillance practice?
*** What are some lessons, tips, and/or advice that you have gained from this experience and would like to share

* Feel free to make slides or to present without slides as you prefer. Each presentation will vary from 15 to 25 minutes total, depending if we have more than 1 person presenting by country. 
** Check out the agenda: https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights#Agenda 
 
* Paperwork for Reimbursements: 
** Please, if you have your flight being paid by EFF, bring a printed copy of the form you find at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1D4c0Fur4gddmRMdHNXZndzV3M/edit and add your receipts.  

Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.

Looking forward to seeing all of you,

Carolina
Carolina Rossini
International Intellectual Property Director
carolina@eff.org
415.436.9333 ext 110
Electronic Frontier Foundation
www.eff.org
Defending your rights in the digital world!
twitter.com/eff
facebook.com/eff
Twitter: @carolinarossini

Reimbursement email on Nov 13th

On 11/13/12 10:22 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
Dear colleague,
We are very happy that you'll be joining us for the Digital Rights Camp on December 1st and 2nd, in Auckland, New Zealand.
We are putting together a wiki where we are consolidating resources, agenda, etc. More to come. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights. Please, I do ask you add you bio under: https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/International_Digital_Rights#Participants
Some of you (and you know who you are) are having costs covered by UPD (main contact for questions on that: Krista Cox <krista.cox@KEIONLINE.ORG>), while others will have flight and hotel paid by EFF. Krista also needs the information below, but she has sent individual emails about that.
I write as a follow up with orientations in regard to flight reimbursements if you are getting funding through EFF.
As you know, we are booking rooms at the Auckland City Hotel directly, so you do not need to worry with that**. You just need to book and pay your plane ticket, and submit the documents below for reimbursement.
 For flight reimbursements, we will need:
* Flight receipt and boarding passes
* Name on the bank account
* Address of the account holder
* Name of the bank
* Address of the bank
* Account number
* SWIFT code/ABA number
The reimbursements will be provided after the workshop, through international wire transfers. We cannot, unfortunately, cover visa or taxi from and to airport.
 ''Note that we are booking double rooms, from Nov 30 to December 5th. If you have any concerns or do not need to stay the whole period, please let me know (If you haven’t yet). The hotel has wireless Internet connection, and we are also covering that. Please, do remember we are unable to provide per diem or other cost assistance, but be also aware that we will provide coffee break and lunch during the workshop. We also hope to be able to provide dinner on the 2nd, but that is not yet confirmed.''
Please do not hesitate to write if you have any questions.
 Kind regards,
Carolina
Carolina Rossini
International Intellectual Property Director
carolina@eff.org
415.436.9333 ext 110
Electronic Frontier Foundation
www.eff.org
Defending your rights in the digital world!
twitter.com/eff
facebook.com/eff
Twitter: @carolinarossini

Methodology email on Nov. 3rd

Dear Defender of Digital Freedom:

Thank you so much for your response. We are very thrilled to have you join us for the first Digital Rights Camp in Auckland, New Zealand this 1st and 2nd of December.

GOAL:
As we mentioned previously, the goal of this workshop is to build a strong coalition of digital freedom advocates, with a specific focus on international intellectual property initiatives that impact national policies and laws, restrict users’ rights, and impede access to knowledge. To lay the groundwork for transnational knowledge exchanges moving forward - and to give everyone a chance to learn and share about the current environment around international and domestic intellectual property policies - we ask that one or two representatives of each country present to the group. This workshop is organized by EFF and co-sponsored by Knowledge Ecology International, locally hosted by University of Auckland, Faculty of Law and InternetNZ, and Google.

AGENDA:
We are currently working on the agenda and workshop methodology, but the idea is that each country will have approximately 30 minutes for presentations on the core concerns that IP international and national norms are imposing on digital rights and access to knowledge in that region/country. We will also have a couple of hours each day for break-out sessions, where we plan to divide folks into country-focused groups and "core concern" groups. You do not need to be part of your country group; we actually hope to foster cross-country collaboration and dialogue. One of the goals of the Camp is to produce some set of principles that the group can push forward in different venues in a concerted coalition effort.  We will also have some hours focused on tactics for activism around these principles and core IP concerns.

These are the types of questions we would like you to address in your presentation:
    * What are the major intellectual property policies and proposals that you oppose or are fighting in your country? Please describe the nature of the policies already enacted or are being proposed.
    * How did you formulate your strategy to address the effects of these policies on digital freedom/access to knowledge/innovation?
    * How did you garner media attention about your campaign and influence the public messaging around your issue? What “memes” did you use to counteract the government’s framing of the issue?
    * How have your efforts affected the outcome of the proposal or surveillance practice?
    * What are some lessons, tips, and/or advice that you have gained from this experience and would like to share?

METHODOLOGY:
Given the amount of topics we seek to cover during the two-day workshop, we have limited the duration of each of these presentations to 30 minutes each. Therefore, we do not expect for you to cover any of these issues at depth. We are hoping that the issues that you raise will open the door for further discussions moving forward, and for the groups to be able to identify common threats and potential areas of collaboration and resource sharing.

If more than one person from a country is interested in presenting, we should divide the time in 10 minutes slot, and be sure each of the presenters is focused in a different topic or audience concern. For instance, we will have folks from education and consumer rights from Australia. One presenter should focus on the barriers IP and trade agreements impose to education rights and the other on consumer rights, and so forth.

MATERIALS:
You are also welcome to bring materials your organization have produced to share with others. We will have USB sticks with materials that EFF and other groups have produced for this workshop and other activities. So, you are also welcome to send me the materials that you would like to see saved in this USB, because each of us will receive one as a token to remember our days together. :-)

LOGISTICS:
We will work on a reimbursement basis. So, you should start looking and reserving your flights. Please keep all receipts and boarding cards. Some of you will have your travel expenses covered by UPD/KEI and some of you will have your expenses covered by EFF. We are booking directly the Auckland City Hotel - http://www.achhobson.co.nz/ - for most of you up to December 5th (Please, let me know if you are willing to share room, which would be of amazing help). We will also provide breakfast and lunch during the Camp days (Dec. 1st and 2nd). The idea of having most of you there up to the 5th is that you could have a chance to follow part of the TPP negotiations round and participate in some activities, so put some skills in practice. :-)

You need to register to be able to enter the TPP round, so please go ahead and do that asap: http://www.ustr.gov/tpp and https://secure.tcc.co.nz/ei/getdemo.ei?id=903&s=_9J00NK44D.

If you want to stay past the 5th, you are welcome, but at your own cost (we unfortunately do not have the resources to cover that). If you wish to stay in the same hotel past the 5th, please let me know asap, so we can send a list of names to the hotel manager to secure the group rate (U$ 105/night for double rooms with wireless).

Those of you who are going with your own funding (you know who you are :-)), you are also welcomed to the hotel, but do need to take care of your accommodations directly. Please, send me your names, if you want me to send it to the hotel, so we secure the group rate.

Per diem: UPD/KEI is able to provide per diem for those participants they are funding that come from non-OECD countries. Krista Cox @krista.cox@KEIONLINE.ORG is your contact point for that. She will be in direct contact with those receiving UPD funding soon. I will soon follow up with those that will be covered by EFF, in regard to further details.

PARTICIPANTS
We hope to have around 35 participants. So, we are still waiting for some confirmations. As soon as we have more confirmations, I will send a list of participants, organizations and contacts.

HAVE QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact (maira@eff.org c/c Carolina@eff.org).

Regards,
Carolina

Invitation email in October

Dear xxx,

I am Carolina Rossini, the Director for International Intellectual Property at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a 22 year-old nonprofit that has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

I write to invite you to attend a workshop we are organizing on digital rights and online activism, titled Digital Rights Camp, in Auckland, New Zealand, on December 1st and 2nd, 2012.

The goal of this workshop is to build a strong coalition of digital freedom advocates, with a specific focus on international intellectual property initiatives that impact national policies and laws and restrict users’ rights and impede access to knowledge. Our objective is to identify and cooperate with key local activists, to empower one another with strategies, resources, and tools, and to set an action plan for moving forward based on knowledge exchange, cooperation, and community building. The workshop will also be an opportunity for us to consider tactics specific to the concurrent New Zealand Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiation round, and strategic planning for ongoing work on the core issues regarding copyright, freedom of expression, and activism within the TPP and similar initiatives.

There will be funding available to cover travel and accommodation costs, up to a certain value and through a reimbursement procedure. This workshop is organized by EFF and co-sponsored by Knowledge Ecology International, locally hosted by University of Auckland, Faculty of Law and InternetNZ, and Google.

More details on agenda, roles, and tasks will be provided in due time. Our guest list will bring together participants from around the Pacific, mostly activists and experts from public-interest non-profits and academia.

If you choose to accept this invitation, please answer this email with the following information (your answers may be very brief):
* Name, institution, location, estimated travel costs;
* Area of expertise/substantive knowledge of the applicant;
* Proven track record on issues covered by the TPP or other IP domestic or international IP policies;
* Brief description on how you can impact IP policy moving forward.

'''Please respond by Monday, October 29th.'''

Kindest regards,

Carolina Rossini

** Please note that if you are applying for the Union for the Public Domain (UPD) TPP fund, please let us know. Also please let us know if you have other sources of funding available, so we are sure to accommodate other needs and have as many people participate as possible. **