Women's Views on News |
- Can you help the Spare Rib project?
- Liberty calls for support for privacy
- TUC launches disability manifesto
| Can you help the Spare Rib project? Posted: 08 Jan 2016 09:55 AM PST
May 2015 saw the successful completion of one of the most unusual and unique digitisation projects the British Library's staff have ever tackled: digitising the British Library's complete archive of the landmark feminist magazine Spare Rib, which ran from 1972-1993 and for many women was the debating chamber of feminism in the UK. The major part of the challenge for the British Library’s project was that Spare Rib was not run like an ordinary magazine, with editors, shareholders and managers. It was run as a collective, eschewing hierarchical working practises which it saw as patriarchal and staff shared the work equally, including everything from copy typing and making the tea, to working on design and layout or interviewing high-profile contributors. Because of this, contributors rarely signed any contracts to assign copyright in their contributions and so in order to digitise the magazine, the British Library had to assume that all the contributors retained the copyright in their contribution, be it an article covering many pages, a photograph, a cartoon or a short news piece. Under the copyright laws in 2013 when this project was started, all 4558 contributors to Spare Rib would have to be contacted and then all would need to grant the Library permission to digitise and publish their works online. Then in October new legislation – the Certain Permitted Uses of Orphan Works Regulations – became law. It allows certain institutions, including libraries, to digitise and make available online in-copyright works upon completion of a diligent search. Thanks to this new law, the Library was able to digitise and make available the contributions by rights-holders who staff had been unable to identify or conclusively locate, despite having done a diligent search. The work of those contributors the Library staff have been unable to conclusively locate, or whose work remains unconfirmed, will be published under the Orphan Works regulations and may only be used in accordance with copyright law, unless a rights-holder does come forward to grant permission. Any content which falls in this category cannot be used freely. It may only be used in accordance with copyright law, under what is known as exceptions and limitation to copyright, the most relevant exceptions perhaps being private study or research for a non-commercial purpose. So although the Spare Rib digital site was actually launched in May, staff at the British Library are still hard at work seeking former contributions to the ground-breaking feminist magazine – now freely available for researchers, campaigners and all those interested in the magazine via Jisc Collections – to let them know their work is online and check that they are happy with its inclusion. The Library has employed a former member of the Spare Rib collective since early summer, along with a specialist rights clearance officer to help with the undertaking of the diligent searches for former contributors. Their work has been overseen by a project board chaired by the Chief Librarian and is supported by the project’s curator and project lead. Other colleagues in the Library have also been highly involved, bringing to bear collections, rights and digitisation expertise, as well as building enhanced IT systems to record this activity. Taking into account the work of all the teams, the time spent is equivalent to two years' full-time work. The Library has shared information on authors, photographers and artists with trade and representative bodies, including the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the Society of Authors, Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), the Association of Author's Agents, the National Union of Journalists' (NUJ), the Photographers' Council and the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, and consulted numerous sources, including WATCH (Writers, Artists and their Copyright Holders), electoral registers and search engines such as Google. Others sources that have been used to attempt to identify rights-holders, along with the groups and organisations the Library has reached out to, are listed on this earlier blog post. And since May, the Library has reviewed the information held on over 4,500 rights-holders, and will shortly write for a third time to all those not listed in the databases held by the groups listed above and from whom the Library has not had a response; this amounts to over 800 rights-holders, and over 1,600 letters and emails. Unfortunately the Library remains unable to locate all authors, photographers and artists, so as well as asking those who believe they may have been contributors to check the online magazine to find their items, it has been actively posting lists of names of contributors on the British Library website. A list of those photographers, visual artists and authors for whom staff have a name but no contact details is available here. Importantly, Library staff have been meeting regularly with the trade bodies and societies listed above, and are pleased to report that the Library is arranging a workshop early next year on issues around mass digitisation with help from the Association of Author's Agents, ALCS, BAPLA, DACS, the National Union of Journalists' Photographers' Council, the Copyright Licensing Agency and the Publisher Licensing Society. More information about this event will be shared shortly. So – in short – if you contributed to the magazine, and have not heard from the British Library staff please either contact sparerib@bl.uk or visit the Library's permissions site at www.bl.uk/spare-rib/rights And please do contact the Library if you have any questions about the project, or can help identify other contributors.  |
| Liberty calls for support for privacy Posted: 08 Jan 2016 09:51 AM PST
Surveillance powers can play an important role in preventing and detecting serious crime. But the current framework fails to provide sufficient safeguards to ensure it is conducted in a necessary, proportionate and accountable way – online and offline. The government's Draft Investigatory Powers Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape our laws for the better – however current proposals will make us less safe and less free. That is why Liberty is asking you to add your voice to Liberty's Safe and Sound campaign for a secure and private Britain. The authorities do a vital job, but abuses can and have happened. The Metropolitan police accessed journalists' phone records, spied on a grieving Baroness Lawrence and her family and infiltrated social and environmental justice groups to the extent that women were tricked into serious relationships – one even having a child with an undercover officer. GCHQ spied on a torture victim and his lawyers challenging MI6 complicity in his kidnap to Gaddafi's Libya and unlawfully intercepted the communications of human rights organisations including Amnesty International. We expect the State to obtain a warrant before entering our homes, never mind searching them and taking away our belongings. Why should it be any different when it comes to our communications? As ever greater amounts of our lives are stored, shared and sent online, a detailed and intimate picture of you can be pieced together – revealing much more than any search through your bedside drawer. Don’t we all deserve some basic protections? These crime-fighting tools can be used in a way that both keeps us safe and respects our privacy – show your support by signing up to Liberty's Safe and Sound 8 Point Plan today. This is Liberty's ‘Safe and Sound 8 Point Plan’ for a secure and private Britain: 1. Judicial sign-off All surveillance requests must be authorised by a judge. All surveillance requests (including interception, acquisition of communications data, use of Covert Human Intelligence Sources etc) must be subject to prior judicial authorisation. There is growing consensus on the importance of prior judicial warrantry for intrusive practices which includes former heads of MI5, GCHQ, Association of Chief Police Officers, the former Met police director of intelligence, the Government's reviewer of terror legislation as well as parliamentarians across the political spectrum. A huge number of democratic countries make use of judges in signing off surveillance – including all the other countries involved in the Five Eyes Alliance; USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 2. Respect our data No new blanket powers forcing communications companies to store more – and more revealing types – of our data. David Anderson has warned that the case for the "Snoopers' Charter" has not been made. The USA and other European and Commonwealth countries do not compel service providers to retain their customers' weblogs for inspection by law enforcement and Australia recently passed legislation strictly prohibiting it. Going down this road would put us in the company of Russia which requires service providers to routinely store the weblogs of all their customers. The track record of internet companies to keep that data safe doesn't fill us with confidence – for example see the recent hacking of TalkTalk – four people so far have been arrested including some under the age of 16. 3. Targeted surveillance – for a reason Surveillance should only be conducted for a number of tightly defined reasons i.e preventing and detecting serious crime and preventing loss of life. Additional protection should be provided for privileged and confidential material. A targeted approach to surveillance – requests and warrants must target individuals on the basis of suspicion in criminal activity. Additional protection for privileged and confidential material. Legislative safeguards providing additional protection for legally privileged communications, journalistic sources and parliamentarians' correspondence should be enshrined in primary legislation. 4. Transparency and Redress Surveillance powers should be publicly disclosed and safeguards set out in legislation. Improved redress and increased transparency for those who have been under unlawful surveillance or are no longer under suspicion. Improved redress mechanisms for those subject to unlawful surveillance – the IPT should be overhauled and made more transparent with a right of appeal and an ability to make declarations of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. Once a criminal investigation involving surveillance has been completed, or once a person is no longer under any suspicion, he or she should be notified of the relevant surveillance unless there is an objectively justifiable reason for maintaining secrecy. 5. Use of intercept evidence in court Intercepted communications should be admissible in criminal trials. The bar on the admissibility of intercept evidence, if properly obtained via a judicial warrant, in criminal proceedings should be lifted. Why is this vital evidence not used to bring perpetrators to justice? 6. Fair and open international data sharing laws The arrangements for intelligence sharing of surveillance data between the UK and other countries must be set out in law and available to the public. 7. Protect our encryption standards 8. Recognition of the unique threat hacking poses to our security Hacking is a grave privacy intrusion – much more intrusive than "traditional" forms of state surveillance, including interception, and its capacity to undermine device, network and internet security can't be overstated. It carries unlimited and untested potential for Government to act against the security and economic interests of its own citizens, whether consciously or otherwise. There must be an informed public and parliamentary debate over the circumstances in which hacking can ever be lawful and exceptional safeguards to govern its use. You can help shape the law by signing up to Liberty's Safe and Sound 8 Point Plan. The more of you Liberty has behind this campaign, the bigger our collective voice is.  |
| TUC launches disability manifesto Posted: 08 Jan 2016 09:01 AM PST
Nearly half of disabled people are not in work. In response to this, on 7 January the TUC published a manifesto to promote equality for disabled people and challenge discrimination against them. The most recent Labour Force Survey revealed that just 48 per cent of disabled people are currently in employment compared to 79 per cent of non-disabled people. This employment gap has persistently been more than 30 per cent since 2008. And for some disabled people it is particularly hard to get a job – just one in five (20 per cent) of those with learning difficulties, less than one in four (22 per cent) with mental illness or phobias, and only one in three (33 per cent) of those who suffer from depression or anxiety are in work. The TUC's manifesto finds that progress in reducing the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people has ground to a halt. It also highlights reluctance from some employers to make 'reasonable adjustments', as well as the government's failure to extend effective schemes such as "Access to Work", as being part of the problem. For some disabled people the barriers to getting work begin as soon as they leave the house, as public transport is ill-equipped to help physically disabled people get into work, says the TUC. In London, to take one example, just 25 per cent (67 out of 270) of underground stations are step-free. The manifesto calls for a variety of actions to promote disability equality both in the workplace and in wider society, including: Proper interpretation of the reasonable adjustment duty; More employment rights and decent pay and conditions for carers; A British Sign Language Act; and Improving legal recognition of disability hate crime. The TUC's General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, said: "Far from being a friend of disabled workers, this government has shown its true colours by a series of measures that have hit them in the home, in the workplace and in education. "Unions are working hard to win decent pay, opportunities to training and promotion at work for disabled people. "Disabled people deserve a fair deal at work and the chance to participate and progress in all areas of life. "We need to change the approach to disability and remove the barriers that prevent disabled people participating, rather than focus on what an individual cannot do." Ellen Clifford from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) said: "DPAC welcomes the launch of the TUC disability equality manifesto. "With the UK having now become the first state in the world to be investigated for grave and systematic violations of disabled people's rights, it is definitely time to get disability equality firmly back on the political agenda." And Tara Flood, the director of the Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE), said: "An inclusive education is a prerequisite of a fair and equal society so it is good to see it at the heart of the TUC's manifesto for disability equality." To read the TUC's disability manifesto click here.  |
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