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Rh the lawful use of unprotected information by the users. Technological protection measures act as a substitute for the traditional exceptions and limitations provided by copyright law. Therefore, Guibault concluded that “the widespread use of technological protection measures in conjunction with contractual restrictions on the exercise of the privileges recognised by copyright law does affect the free flow of information”. The control over the dissemination of ideas and facts or other unprotected and non-protectable information will unduly hinder democratic discourse and freedom of expression by restricting productive uses of unprotected information.

Any encroachment upon the public domain is an encroachment upon our capacity for free and diverse expression. Freedom of expression and the public domain are overlapping concepts that share the same goal. Public domain and free speech both have a democratic function in that they propel personal and political discourse. The public domain is pivotal to our ability to express ourselves freely regardless of the market power of the speakers. Any decrease in the public domain will produce the most relevant repercussions on people with less ability to finance creation and dissemination of their speech. Thus, any contraction of the public domain will push Europe away from the goal of bringing “the millions of dispossessed and disadvantaged Europeans in from the margins of society and cultural policy in from the margins of governance”, to quote a European report drafted as a specific complement to the World Commission on Culture and Development’s 1996 report on global cultural policy.

As an interrelated issue, copyright expansion and public domain enclosure affect our freedom of expression by impinging on cultural diversity. Historically, cultural diversity has been a fundamental value in the EU. Very recently, in looking at the implementation of a digital agenda for Europe, the European Commissioner, Nellie Kroes, powerfully reclaimed the value of cultural diversity by saying that “we want ’une Europe des cultures”. In addition, since ratification in 2007, all of the