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Ah yes, better race relations... That's a good one to bring up.

Especially all the warm fuzzies that France and Germany have towards the Jewish and African immigrants. Really the only difference (race relation-wise) between the 1930s and now is that the scope of the hatred has widened, there's no central figure like Hitler to get it really organized, and France is joining in on the fun. BTW, the better educated just seem to be throwing rhetoric rather than rocks. Can't let all that learning go to waste.

And let me head you off at the pass. No, you don't have Klansmen burning churches in the middle of the night like we have had. You have skinheads burning immigrant ghettos in the middle of night.

Family trees share roots in 1415BC

Everyone alive today is descended from one person who lived about 3500 years ago, probably in Asia, a study has found.
American researchers created elaborate mathematical models
...
The results are published in the journal Nature.

- obviously doesn't like me
- has murdered thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands
- has had desires for WMD his entire life
- flaunts UN inspections
- is Islamic
- waves a gun in the air berating western countries
- pretends he has what he doesn't for show purposes
- you name it, he did it

As an aussie, I took it to be a reverence to the current leader of the main opposition party referring to our current leader as an "Arse licker" in the way he deals with G.W.B. SMH article .

I understand he also said G.W.B. was the most dangerous and incompetent US president in living memory, but I can't be certain those were his exact words. ABC news item

I'm not much of a fan of Mark Latham myself. In fact, these two comments are about the only thing that makes me like him. Oh yeah, he was the best chance of getting rit of the lying rodent we have now. To bad he couldn't win the election.

Pull your head out of your ass and check before you state a wild guess as a fact:

"The average Russian salary is about $245 a month, but most state sector workers earn only a little more than a half of that."

So an average Russian earns $1470 in 6 months. Well, you were only out by a factor of 15 - source.

You don't have anything to do with elections in Florida by any chance?

cLive ;-)

Your reply: "Et al" in this case must mean "and numerous other intelligence servies around the world, and the United Nations."

Actually, no. I meant the Bush administration shills who trumpeted that "we know where the weapons are." Again, not true. The case was overstated, and no WMD have been found.

"Before the war, the U.S. intelligence community told the president, as well as the Congress and the public, that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and if left unchecked, probably would have a nuclear weapon this decade," Roberts said during the press conference. "Well, today we know these assessments were wrong."

Sure Saddam wanted WMD, but there was no way he could produce them within a decade after sanctions were lifted. I would appreciate more facts from you before taking your argument seriously.

I wrote: Bush et al said (or strongly implied repeatedly) that Iraq had significant connections to Al Qaeda

Your reply: They did have significant connections (friends in common). They just weren't working directly together. Perhaps you should look at the findings of the 9/11 Commission a little more closely yourself.

As for the "connections to Al-Qaeda" claim, the 9/11 Commission (bi-partisan), said:

The Sept. 11 commission's final report cites al-Qaida contacts with Iran and Iraq but does not conclude either of the "axis of evil" countries developed a close working relationship with the terror network. [Bin Laden explored a possible alliance with Iraq in early 1990s] However, the report says, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein never had an Islamist agenda, and bin Laden had been sponsoring anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan. A collaborative relationship never developed, the report found.

Please, explain how Iraq & Al-Qaeda worked together, and be sure to use facts from reliable sources. Rush Limbaugh and Drudge do not count.

Your sig said: Iraq war justified

I took a look, and wow, you really found text in there that does not exist. I did find nice quotes like these:

The former Regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions

Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq's WMD capability- which was essentially destroyed in 1991- after sancions were removed and Iraq's economy stabilized.

Saddam aspired to develop a nuclear capability.

Please let me know how this "proves" the war was justified. It admits Saddam did not have the WMD that Bush claimed, and that sanctions had to be lifted and Iraq's economy normalized before WMD could be developed. FYI, that doesn't happen overnight.

No matter how much wild conjecture gets repeated, facts are stronger.

Maybe so, but we have a closed source government.

As others have noted, the best care in the world is available in the US. But you have to pay for it. It also means the care isn't rationed by the government and you're free to shop around, with your own money, to get the care you want. I can call up my doctor and be seen the same day. I can get many common treatments (flu, mild infections, etc) at a mini-clinic with no appointment, no wait, and only $15 cost.

I, personally, wouldn't call it the "best in the world". And I think a lot of that is a matter of opinion. Other nations certainly do a much better job of providing a range of services to everyone. Canada has universal health care, and is often used as an example of what the US should do. In a recent poll, however, 2/3 of Canadians thought their system was "in crisis". In fact, the same attitude can be found among the French, Swiss, Swedes, and in the United States. No system is perfect.

Try this FREE article from the Syney Morning Herald. or pay Salon to read it (or Salon will allow you to sit through a commercial and then you get a free one day pass).

The Sydney Morning Herald asked a lawyer, who said that the service is perfectly legal for Australian users, and even if allofmp3.com are not paying royalties as they claim, the worst thing that could happen is for users to be ordered to delete their MP3s.

I don't know about the USA, but I would assume you have similar laws to Australia.

See the original article here.

Woops...

I misremembred this article in the Sydney morning Herald.

Some schill for the ifpi implies that allofmp3 have no right to distribute the music at all. Nothing about domestic/export at all.

This is a clear example of getting taxpayers to fund the RIAA's private war, Schultz said. (Wired)

Operation Digital Gridlock has resulted in the seizure of more than 40 terabytes of intellectual property being exchanged illegally over peer-to-peer networks since the effort began in August. (Information Week)

Intellectual property industries account for 6 per cent of the US gross domestic product, employ more than five million people, and contribute US$626 billion to the US economy, Mr Ashcroft said. (SMH)

Such theft costs American companies $250 billion per year, the report estimated. Sales of copyrighted materials alone accounted for 6 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product in 2002. Companies that produce films, music, books, software and other copyrighted material employed 4 percent of the nation's work force in 2002, the report said. (The Mercury Times)

Specifically, the report asks Congress to introduce legislation that would permit wiretaps to be used in investigating serious intellectual property offences and that would create a new crime of the importation of pirated products. (SMH)

The report also endorsed the rights of companies to compel Internet service providers to turn over the names of people who have traded copyright-protected items online. That power is included in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but has been challenged by companies that want to protect the identity of their subscribers. (Boston.com)

US Attorney Debra Yang said that intellectual property is lifeblood of south California region. This is an issue that has been of utter and utmost importance to our community here in Los Angeles, she said. (China View)

The task force proposed a dozen changes to rules governing criminal enforcement of intellectual property law and also called for the opening of five new anti-piracy offices across the United States. (news.com.au)

Dan Glickman, the new president of the Hollywood studios' influential lobbying body, the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded the aggressive initiatives aimed at protecting his industry. Piracy of intellectual property is a massive, global problem with far-reaching implications on the US economy, he said. In addition to hard goods piracy, which is rampant throughout the world, peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illegal file sharing are some of the most dangerous threats to copyright ownership today, he said. (news.com.au)

Ashcroft declined to comment on the Supreme Court's action, saying that his department might have to be involved in future, similar cases. But he defended the task force's recommendations. We believe people in the private sector have a responsibility to address these threats in the civil dimension as the law allows them and we have a responsibility to address these matters criminally, Ashcroft told The Associated Press in an interview. (The Mercury Times/AP)

The report also suggested expanding educational efforts in schools to prevent illegal file sharing. It also included principles to be adopted when evaluating pen

This is a clear example of getting taxpayers to fund the RIAA's private war, Schultz said. (Wired)

Operation Digital Gridlock has resulted in the seizure of more than 40 terabytes of intellectual property being exchanged illegally over peer-to-peer networks since the effort began in August. (Information Week)

Intellectual property industries account for 6 per cent of the US gross domestic product, employ more than five million people, and contribute US$626 billion to the US economy, Mr Ashcroft said. (SMH)

Such theft costs American companies $250 billion per year, the report estimated. Sales of copyrighted materials alone accounted for 6 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product in 2002. Companies that produce films, music, books, software and other copyrighted material employed 4 percent of the nation's work force in 2002, the report said. (The Mercury Times)

Specifically, the report asks Congress to introduce legislation that would permit wiretaps to be used in investigating serious intellectual property offences and that would create a new crime of the importation of pirated products. (SMH)

The report also endorsed the rights of companies to compel Internet service providers to turn over the names of people who have traded copyright-protected items online. That power is included in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but has been challenged by companies that want to protect the identity of their subscribers. (Boston.com)

US Attorney Debra Yang said that intellectual property is lifeblood of south California region. This is an issue that has been of utter and utmost importance to our community here in Los Angeles, she said. (China View)

The task force proposed a dozen changes to rules governing criminal enforcement of intellectual property law and also called for the opening of five new anti-piracy offices across the United States. (news.com.au)

Dan Glickman, the new president of the Hollywood studios' influential lobbying body, the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded the aggressive initiatives aimed at protecting his industry. Piracy of intellectual property is a massive, global problem with far-reaching implications on the US economy, he said. In addition to hard goods piracy, which is rampant throughout the world, peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illegal file sharing are some of the most dangerous threats to copyright ownership today, he said. (news.com.au)

Ashcroft declined to comment on the Supreme Court's action, saying that his department might have to be involved in future, similar cases. But he defended the task force's recommendations. We believe people in the private sector have a responsibility to address these threats in the civil dimension as the law allows them and we have a responsibility to address these matters criminally, Ashcroft told The Associated Press in an interview. (The Mercury Times/AP)

The report also suggested expanding educational efforts in schools to prevent illegal file sharing. It also included principles to be adopted when evaluating pen

Hmm, maybe thats why this story got rejected: Microsoft scores well on security analysis..

Though I should probably attribute the rejection to my poor writing skills...

http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/FrequentlyAs kedQuestionEn#donate

Whoa! This is a huge thread, and thank goodness! Hopefully the following info is not redundant.

Links

http://www.indymedia.it/ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/08/10970895 54894.html

This is such an outrage, and a betrayal of civil liberties, that there are sure to be more stories. nyc.indymedia.org was instrumental to our recent anti-war action. It appears that the Bushies cannot tolerate freedom of the press, and blow back goes two ways. Please do whatever you can to help Indymedia, especially at this crucial time. Thank you!

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/

Don't worry, Bush and friends have got that one in hand. To quote an article from the mainstream Australian press.

America as a globally dominant nation-state is in decline, and no one nation state will ever replace it.

I encourage you to read the entire article. It's not a rant by some loon but a considered piece by a respected journalist.

The sad thing is, those inside the US are so blinkered they cannot see the decline, and so are powerless to do anything about it.

This is what the people (as opposed to the government) inside one of the US's closest allies and friends are saying. Imagine what the US's enemies must be saying.

Wake up US citizens and cast off your arrogance. Your current government is killing your country and all we (outside the US) can do is look on. You have to help yourselves (and putting the rest of the world off-side isn't the way to do it).

Don't worry, Bush and friends have got that one in hand. To quote an article from the mainstream Australian press.

America as a globally dominant nation-state is in decline, and no one nation state will ever replace it.

I encourage you to read the entire article. It's not a rant by some loon but a considered piece by a respected journalist.

The sad thing is, those inside the US are so blinkered they cannot see the decline, and so are powerless to do anything about it.

This is what the people (as opposed to the government) inside one of the US's closest allies and friends are saying. Imagine what the US's enemies must be saying.

Wake up US citizens and cast off your arrogance. Your current government is killing your country and all we (outside the US) can do is look on. You have to help yourselves (and putting the rest of the world off-side isn't the way to do it).

Everyone alive today is descended from one person who lived about 3500 years ago, probably in Asia, a study has found. ...

The results are published in the journal Nature.

This article supports what the Bible says about all descending from Noah in Asia (the ark settled in Armenia) after a global flood about 4200 years ago. This is similar to the conclusion I pointed to in these three scientific papers

I agree with some things you say:
On your side, there are people who say that dinosaurs and people have to have lived together, so any evidence is irrefutable.

Correct. I disagree strongly with such views. Each piece of evidence _must_ stand or fall on its _own_ merits. ...allow that some ancient Greek guy could dig up a fossil head and then make up a story that he killed the beast himself, just to further his own glory.
It is possible. But it is really probable for so many different cultures to _all_ do careful archeological excavations of delicate and (possibly fragmented incomplete) fossils, correlate differnt parts, and then record so _many_ fradulent accounts and render so much accurate artwork? Some of these depict features difficult to assess without modern technology and methods.

Some depict animals that even we came to know about only recently:
"No hoaxer could have known of the Iguanodon's existence, much less made a model, for it wasn't until 1978 or 1979 that skeletons of adult Iguanodons were found with nests and babies."

Other indications point to their observations in the flesh:
"Cartilage forming the shape of a frill or ears may be stylized or accurate (since there is no way to know from the skeletons we have today)."

"Moreover, the dinosaurs are modeled in very agile, active poses, fitting well with the latest scientific evidence and lending credence to the artists having actually observed these creatures."

I've conceded several points but I won't concede them all, and your religion simply does not allow you to yield any part of the point, because a big part of your religion is the prohibition against compromise.

We are not negotiating a "compromise truth".
Yes, we _must_ remain humble about what we do not know (which is quite a lot). But for what we do know, we must be willing to change according to the truth, because this is better for all involved. This applies equally to me, and includes all my religious beliefs too. Is this not fair?

With regards,
Sonam

Here is a theory why. The CCR5-Delta32 mutation has the highest concentration in Ashkenazi Jews and Nordic people, and developed a high concentration in Caucasians because it provided resistance to the black plague.

If you're genuinely interested in knowing what's really happening in the world ... look to the world for your news, not just media in the US. Media outlets in other countries are not afraid to be critical of the US in their everyday reporting. With the internet, it's easy to look up news from other countries.

Language barrier? Just read the Aussie news (reg. required, sorry).

stFuck the children.
So have the cops come around to seize your computer yet?

Hey, where's my fridge magnet? I thought Alston had quit, why do we have to have more internet blocking blah blah.

I mean seriously, if the set this thing up, how are we going to catch those those that are actually nonces (I've been watching the Bill)? And why should Christians decide what is and isn't appropriate for a country where less than half the population is christian. And in any case 39.2% are Catholic and 30.4% are Anglican (see nice graphs here). The churches are in Abbott's back pocket anyway.

Fundies like this dont really have much of a say in politics down here
Sure, they probably won't win a lot of seats, so it doesn't really matter. Unless there's a hung parliment (which let's face facts, it's so close it could be) then Family First could become a bit of a problem. Oh... they're only going for the senate... hmmm... they will get killed by the Democrats and Greens... I'm no longer worried... Aww... they've got a geek (sorta) running in Victoria. I might have to vote below the line...

Can't wait till the Jedi population increases (2001 0.37%). Then we can get goverment funded lightsaber grants.

In which city? I've never heard anything of sprinkler systems being permanently banned, can't see that going down well.

The ban comes in next year; it was mentioned vaguely in the SMH on Saturday and Sunday.

But Maryland election officials agreed with Bear that no hacking can happen unless the hacker is physically at the computer.

That's all right then; it should be fairly easy to spot a suspicious-looking chimp near a polling station.

Its pretty sad that these sorts of abuses of power are tolerated when not long ago they would have resulted in pubic outrage and calls for lynching. When American Democracy seems as broken
as the electoral process in a corrupt, 3rd-world dictatorship full of racists, thugs and general scum ( and the people that suffer under their tyranny ), you have to wonder where the world is headed...

There's an article about the legality of allofmp3 in the Sydney Morning Herald, at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/26/10828314 75556.html (registration probably required). Note that it's in the context of Australian law.

Quote from it follows:

We sought some advice from a Melbourne barrister and contributor to these pages, Simon Minahan, who practises in the area of intellectual property.

His opinion: "There's probably nothing to stop the individual from downloading this material for private use. For end users, the issue is a basic question relevant to acquiring a reproduction of any copyright work: has the rights owner consented?"

Even if allofmp3.com's asserted licence is bogus, says Minahan, "the end user would seem to have a good basis to argue that he is an innocent infringer, which would mean he isn't liable to damages, although he would still be liable to an order requiring him to destroy or deliver up any copies and an order requiring him to refrain from doing it again."

...Al Sadr who institutes Sharia law and goes around executing people after holding secret trials...

Of course, back in the 90s, Allawi was setting off car bombs in Bhagdad. Those days. it was considered a *good thing* to set off car bombs in downtown Bhagdad. (Allawi was even caught on tape by the British media complaining that he had not been compensated properly by his overlords [MI5? CIA??] for his last bang.) Now the shoe is on the other foot re car bombs.

Allawi, Sadr,...they are all bird of the same feather. When Saddam bumped off Sadr (Sr.), that was a *really bad thing*. We of couse have the *best of intentions* in trying to blow up Sadr (Jr.)

Neo-Nazi's gaining popularity in Germany - 9%

Maybe you Euro lefties should pay more attention to what's going on at home, and less time crying about the big bad US.

Bicycle theft in the US and Europe isn't sucky individual people, it's organised crime.

can you back that up, or even give some basic reasoning behind that statement.

It's common knowledge, here's a quick google reference. In Amsterdam, 40% of bicycle thiefs are professionals: "This group makes a substantial profit from rebirthing and is known for scouring the city at night and lifting several bicycles at a time, putting them in vans or trailers."

As for the "basic reasoning": bicycle theft isn't terribly economical for an individual. It's not a terribly valuable object, and the risks of getting caught outweigh the benefits. But if you're part of an organisation that has a streamlined process of dismantling bikes, pulling out the best parts, reassembling them, and sending the finished objects to second hand markets in Europe and Africa, that makes it difference. No doubt the prevalence of this encourages petty thiefs too, who would not otherwise think of stealing bikes.

Now this about Bush's service in the ANG? Where is your coverage of Kerry's Vietnam service? I noticed you haven't posted Kerry's medals being investigated by the Pentagon.

Whether this has merit is not the point, it's the story selection that is more interesting here.

This story is really old - the appeal against the man's extradition was overturned on July 8. See this link.

Pity they're awful at all the 'leading the nation' type issues.

Oh, there's a backdoor all right. The government passed a law that made it illegal for companies to spam, but not political parties or charities.

So the Prime Minister is allowed to spam. However, in this case, he hired a company to spam for him -- so it might be illegal. That's why the Opposition is calling for an inquiry.

Here is the original report, by the way -- the one linked to by the Slashdot story just reports what this one said.

And you might be interested to know that this is the company that did the spamming.

Oh, there's a backdoor all right. The government passed a law that made it illegal for companies to spam, but not political parties or charities.

So the Prime Minister is allowed to spam. However, in this case, he hired a company to spam for him -- so it might be illegal. That's why the Opposition is calling for an inquiry.

Here is the original report, by the way -- the one linked to by the Slashdot story just reports what this one said.

And you might be interested to know that this is the company that did the spamming.

One of the candidates in John Howard's electorate (the Australian version of a Congressional district) is former chairman of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Bulk Email, Troy Rollo, who is not happy, John

But those civilians who died in the initial campaign... might it have been reasonable to think that that action, which resulted in Saddam's removal, could/should have resulted in fewer Iraqi's being killed or tortured for holding different religious beliefs or views on the government?

We don't blame "Iraqis" for Muqtada's actions. We blame Muqtada and those who do his dirty work.

polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDE for short, is similar in nature to PCB's which actually can effect your health way beyond allergies. Here's a couple sites for you to visit. Not to mention all the toxic metals used in the board that constantly being heated up.

http://www.computertakeback.com/the_problem/bfr.cf m
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/10862036 10297.html

• Music by the meg
• You buy in blocks of 500 megs for $5 USD (yes, that right, it's a penny a meg!)
• Choice of encoding type, including MP3, OGG, PCM-WAV and FLAC
• Despite it's price, it's a 100% legal site run out of Russia

I just found out about this place yesterday. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but music by the pound in nearly any damned format I want sounds good to me!

Check out the Sydney Morning Hearld article for more info. I really can't believe we here at /. missed this in April!?

seti in dna article : bugmetnot is your friend

I posted this information in the earlier (less specific) story about the FTA's impact on Australian software development, but we really need to take action to let the media and politicians know that this is a big issue.

One of the best tactics is to send letters to newspapers. The FTA is a hot topic in the news right now, so there's a good chance that letters relating to it will be accepted. You can send letters to the editor at the following addresses:
The Australian
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age

You can also let your feeling be known to the shadow minister for the Arts, Sport and Information Technology (Senator Kate Lundy). Her contact details are here. Be sure to mention that this issue will affect your vote.

The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts have so far brushed off any suggestion that Australia's software industry will be harmed by the FTA, and really do not seem to understand the issues. However, you can contact them here, and the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts here. Once again, be sure to mention that this will affect your vote.

You can also find out which electorate you are in, if you don't already know, and send your local federal MP a message about how disappointed you are over the FTA's impact on the IT industry.

According to our (Oz's) glorious leader (Howard)the proposed Labour ammendment "would discourage innovation and the creation of new ideas, which are precisely the things that this country ought to be encouraging rather than discouraging".

Maybe someone should send him this article.

The ammendment is likely to be passed though, so it seems that the only reason goverment had this debate was to see who could speak more like an Aussie for the US Press (I think Latham won).

Interesting article from Crikey gets a bit more down and dirty with the issue.

US company accused of exploiting loophole in patent laws

Evergreening cost grows to millions

US company accused of exploiting loophole in patent laws

Evergreening cost grows to millions

Summary of the summary:

• The main concession on an IP front is Australia extending its copyright term from life+50 years to life+70 years. This was seen by the negotiating parties as Australia's main concession in the agreement, in return for US concessions in other (non-IP) areas. The US pushed very hard for this, and was prepared to concede quite a bit of ground in other areas. They wanted life+95 yrs but didn't get it. Australia gained quite a bit by holding out until making a rather late comprimise. This is apparently "more in line" with WIPO treaties that most other developed countries have already signed up for, but not the life+95 years that the US has.
• Most submissions were against the copyright extension. Reasons for this include that Australia is a net importer of IP, the US is a net exporter, and that this is a clear benefit to the US rather than Australia. A recent report (2000 or so) recommended not increasing the term of copyright, but an even more recent report comissioned since FTA negotiations started recommends it (the Committee notes that this report is dodgy).
• DFAT representatives commented that Australia does not have hard and fast obligations to adopt all the US-style copyright laws:

  If you look at that language, it talks about 'endeavouring to work together'. It is a best-endeavours clause; it does not commit Australia. There are no obligations there for Australia to harmonise anything but rather to work with the United States and where appropriate--if future governments decide it appropriate--to work together in those areas. It is a best-endeavours clause and there are no obligations there.

  And:

  It is fair to say that the response has been unsurprising in the sense that you can see continuing divergent views on some aspects of intellectual property. We have been at pains to explain to those music interests that are concerned that, whilst we have strengthened copyright in some areas, we have retained the ability to make exceptions and that, whilst we have agreed to adopt elements of United States law, we have not agreed to implement US law word for word. Therefore, continued consultations with industry about the most appropriate way to do that in the context of our regulatory and legal environment are important.

• There were a number of submissions advocating lower copyright terms for the benefit of consumers of copyrighted material. (These are more or less standard fare on Slashdot, but better worded ;) )
• Submitters argued for Australia to adopt the US's more liberal fair-use (called "fair dealing" in Aus, but quite different in what's allowed) provisions (on a related note, most owners of iPods in Australia are breaking the law, but the govt wants to get rid of such stupidities). Australia also does not have the originality requirement that the US has for copyright to apply. The govt is apparently still considering doing this, but it's not in Howard's legislation.
• The committee is concerned about the potential abuse of the extended copyright term. It thinks that US antitrust law or European law is more likely to stop abuses than Australian consumer protection law. The committee doesn't think that DFAT (dept of foreign affairs) demonstrated sufficient technical competance when answering questions on copyright law.
• The FTA provides for copyright holders to enforce more restrictions than provided for by fair-dealing by making a contract with copyrigh

ripping to mp3 hasnt, AFAIK, ever been tested against this standard, let alone been defeated.

That is certainly not the case.

Here is an article from the SMH about this.

Here is a pdf from the Australian Copyright Council which is the deinitive statement on this issue. It explicitly states (on pages 2 and 3) that you are not allowed to make MP3s from a CD you own.

Did you know that it is not even permitted to tape shows from the TV to watch later?

Hopefully this information is enlightening. When I first found out that Australia didn't have "fair use" rights, I was shocked.

I think that all Aussies with an interest in being able to use their computers unencumbered should really make their frustration over this deal known now. While it may be too late to stop the FTA, we still might be able to make a difference. Hopefully if we make enough noise the media and politicians will stop ignoring the IP aspects of the FTA.

So, start sending letters to newspapers. The FTA is a hot topic in the news right now, so there's a good chance it will be accepted (see letter second from the bottom).

You can send letters to the editor at the following addresses:
The Australian
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age

If US Slashdotters are keen, they could even send a "letter to the editor" detailing the problems with the DMCA and software patents that Australia will now face.

You can also let your feeling be known to the shadow minister for the Arts, Sport and Information Technology (Senator Kate Lundy). Her contact details are here. Be sure to mention that this issue will affect your vote.

You can also find out what electorate you are in, if you don't already know, and send your local federal MP a message about how disappointed you are over the FTA's impact on the IT industry.

While the timing of the posting of this story on Slashdot wasn't ideal (most Aussie Slashdotters won't be awake for another 5 or 6 hours), hopefully a reasonable number will read this in the morning and take action.

The opposition has attached two non-negotiable conditions to their support of the "Free" Trade Agreement legislation. The government has said will not agree to one of these conditions. This might delay the passage of the legislation until after the next election, by which time the balance of power could have changed and the legislation can be considered on its merits instead of political manoeuvring. If the deadlock is never resolved the legislation might die a natural death.

Mmm... and as another poster has pointed out, this is the first of a two parter; the second came out today:
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/01/109129857684 0.html
'Trade Deal a Free Kick for Software Racketeers'

In this article the same anonymous author points out that the reason the U.S. are so fond of their wierd patent system is that they own most of the wierd patents, and can make a bunch 'o cash if they can fast talk others (Australia in this instance) into accepting the same system.

Trade deal a free kick for US software racketeers

Whilst many claim Firefox doesn't have the brand recognition that Internet Explorer does, it's getting a big push here in Australia.

Take a look at the front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald.
You can read the full article here.

Kudos to MozillaZine for running an article on it. :)
So yeah... people in Aust. are taking firefox seriously... most Aust. sites are getting hammered if they are not FF friendly. :)

Cheers,

M.

Whilst many claim Firefox doesn't have the brand recognition that Internet Explorer does, it's getting a big push here in Australia.

Take a look at the front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald.
You can read the full article here.

Kudos to MozillaZine for running an article on it. :)
So yeah... people in Aust. are taking firefox seriously... most Aust. sites are getting hammered if they are not FF friendly. :)

Cheers,

M.