Looking at the financial situation of think tanks, different funding patterns can be found. While financial contributions from foundations play an important role especially for conservative think tanks, also contributions from governments are made to certain institutions. Yet one of the most important funding sources are corporate donors and individual contributors. Although the extent to which - in most cases conservative - think tanks rely on corporate funding varies, from the US$ 158 million spent by the top 20 conservative think tanks, more than half of it was contributed by corporations or businessmen.
TEXTBLOCK 1/2 // URL: http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611704/100438658207
Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society
In November 1996 the European Commission adopted a communication concerning the follow-up to the Green Paper on
- the legal protection of computer programs
- rental right, lending right and certain rights related to copyright in the field of
- copyright and related rights applicable to broadcasting of programs by satellite and cable retransmission
- the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights
- the legal protection of databases
The proposal was first presented by the Commission in January 1998, amended in May 1999 and currently is at second reading before the Parliament. Final adoption of the Directive could take place at the end of 2000 or the beginning of 2001 respectively.
A full-text version for download (pdf file) of the amended proposal for a Directive on copyright and related rights in the Information Society is available on the website of the European Commission (DG Internal Market):
General critique concerning the proposed EU Directive includes:
- Open networks
The new law could require (technological) surveillance of communications to ensure enforcement. Also because Service Providers might be legally liable for transmitting unauthorized copies, the might in turn have to deny access to anybody who could not provide them with financial guaranties or insurance.
- Interoperable systems
The draft could negate the already established right in EU law for software firms to make their systems interoperable with the dominant copyright protected systems. This would be a threat to the democratic and economic rights of users.
- Publicly available information
It is yet unclear whether new legal protections against the bypassing of
Comments from the library, archives and documentation community on the amended Directive embrace:
The Library Association
EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations)
Society of Archivists (U.K.) and Public Record Office (U.K.)
EFPICC (European Fair Practices In Copyright Campaign)
TEXTBLOCK 2/2 // URL: http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611725/100438659610
KMI is the leading source for information on fiber-optics markets. It offers market research, strategic analysis and product planning services to the opto-electronics and communications industries. KMI tracks the worldwide fiber-optic cable system and sells the findings to the industry. KMI says that every fiber-optics corporation with a need for strategic market planning is a subscriber to their services.
In mathematics, the term binary number system refers to a positional numeral system employing 2 as the base and requiring only two different symbols, 0 and 1. The importance of the binary system to information theory and computer technology derives mainly from the compact and reliable manner in which data can be represented in electromechanical devices with two states--such as "on-off," "open-closed," or "go-no go."