Netizen Report: Scholars in Colombia, Kazakhstan face legal woes for sharing research.

"In October, a Colombian graduate student will go on trial for sharing an academic paper online.* The paper’s author pressed copyright violation charges against Diego Gomez for posting his research on the document-sharing website Scribd, despite the fact that Gomez was trying only to share the paper’s findings with his classmates and that he earned no profit in doing so. The 27-year-old could face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. The case has hit a nerve among digital rights advocates across the Americas, where the United States has a disproportionately broad influence over regional copyright policy. Colombia's free trade agreement with the United States, originally signed in 2006, required that the country adopt copyright policies that closely mirror the U.S. copyright regime. Laws passed over the past three years have expanded criminal penalties for copyright infringement to include possible prison sentences and monetary fines. To make matters worse, Colombia lacks important countermeasures to these restrictions, such as exceptions for fair use. Gomez, who has since moved to Costa Rica to complete his degree in wildlife preservation, demonstrates how Colombia’s newly tightened copyright regime may stifle academic freedom and innovation. Gomez is working actively with Bogotá digital rights group Fundación Karisma to call attention to the case ..."