FTA (was: Re: [plug] xbox)

[Scott Middleton]

On Thu, 2004-03-04 at 20:21, Harry wrote:

I was listening to the news yesterday, the labour party is just starting
to sift through the 900 page document to see what they will or will not
support. The yanks have already legislated that beef will not be
imported over local producers.
In the end i think we will find the FTA worth a lot less than the paper
it was written on and merely a publicity campaign.

This was supposed to be little Johnny's reward for going to the gulf
war. 

> Actually, said modification, although of noble purpose will come under the
> illegal circumvention provisions of the DMCA as we proceed down the FTA route.
> 
> Jeremy pointed this out in the First Wednesday talk (co-sponsored by SLPWA)
> last night. I'm drafting a letter to CC around all political flavours to
> explain that our ability to reverse engineer systems in Australia allows
> locally produced technology to be compatible with existing systems. Blind
> FTA obedience will dismantle that.
> 
> I'm skeptical of the argument that USA companies will flock to buy our
> products and services. Instead the DMCA type legislation removes the part
> of the development cycle that we already acknowledge that we are good at;
> creative new science and technologies. IT and technology is the fall guy
> not sugar growers. 
> 
> Fortunately, acceptance of the FTA is a bit of an honour systems where
> each country modifies or introduces legislation to fiddle the legal
> landscape to match the spirit of the FTA.
> 
> There are some loopholes so it is still possible that criticism of the
> IP provisions will result in "public interest" exceptions to the banning
> of all circumvention devices.
> 
> The conversation at the meeting moved to whether any laws of this type
> are meaningless in the face of civil disobedience (or just ignoring the
> whole stupid law) but a far more useful approach is to work towards
> not getting stupid laws in the first place. Consider writing your own
> letter. 
> 
> Last night was a vocal, lively, and informative talk and I wonder whether
> Craig Ab. might consider Jeremy to talk at PLUG about the FTA provisions
> and their implications (if he's willing).
> 
> cu
> Harry
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