[plug] [OT] Australia To Adopt U.S.-Style Copyright Laws

[Shayne O'Neill]

Well. The media might not listen to us, but if we can get a few IT firms
to kick a fuss they might just listen.

------------------------------------
"Must not Sleep! Must warn others!"
-Aesop.
Shayne O'Neill. Indymedia. Fun.
http://www.perthimc.asn.au

On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Harry wrote:

> On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 20:53:06 +0800 Leon Brooks <leon at brooks.fdns.net> wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 20:35, James Devenish wrote:
> > > One of the several pitfalls of the AUSFTA (which apparently mirror
> > > many of those imposed upon Canada as part of the North American "Free
> > > Trade" Agreement), is this "harmonisation" with the USA. Apparently,
> > > these problems were known publicly (and I followed some discussion of
> > > them in recent weeks), but the media were mostly (entirely?)
> > > uninterested in pointing them out. The AUSFTA still needs to be given
> > > assent by the US and Australian governments before it comes into
> > > effect.
> >
> > Sounds like the school system. Up The Garden Path, sorry, Pathways To
> > Learning was demonstrated to be broken in Canada, which produced a
> > generation of illiterates after 12 years of PTL. The Australian gummint
> > adopted it, and when they were criticised for so doing, said, "well
> > it's up to us to make it work then, isn't it". <thwack>
> >
> > The question is, what can we do about it now? I've already asked DFAT,
> > does anyone have other ideas?
>
> It has to be passed by US Congress and our own Parliament. Latham has been
> saying that the agreement is bad for agriculture (meaning sugar, beef and
> dairy voters) so protestations to Kate Lundy would be appropriate to
> highlight your concerns.
>
> http://www.katelundy.com.au/
>
> I don't have access to the 500 page document with the specifics and their
> consequences. If past attention to IP and technology is anything to go by
> there is a risk that IT has been conceded as a package we buy from the US.
>
> Don't expect any attention from the media. They are simply reflectors for
> the loud apologies from government directed at the sugar industry. The
> more noise about suger, the less air time for careful analysis of the rest
> of the agreement that deserves scrutiny.
>
> An example of "harmonising" is that we will lose a very useful freedom to
> reverse engineer an interface or protocol for the pruposes of compatibility
> with existing systems. The Samba team are always at pains to point out that
> they "observe" a protocol using stimulus and response but I think their
> processes and approach will be at risk. Not because it is wrong but that
> there are interests who would seek to argue it's legality.
>
> And that's just one example that came to mind listening to the brief
> summary on the ABC PM program.
>
> Harry
>
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