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Pay Attention To .Au/.Us IP Trade Law

Posted by Hemos on from the pay-attention-NOW dept.

Rusty Russell writes "The recent US-Australia "Free" Trade Agreement Chapter 17 (IP) locks Australia into our existing DMCA-style laws and extends them further: banning "access control" circumvention, extending copyright, guaranteeing penalties greater than actual damages for deliberate copyright infringement, committing us to recognising patents "whether a product or process, in all fields of technology", etc. Linux Australia has produced a draft position paper (rough HTML here), has a how to help page, and started a petition. Please help! " Rusty's a great guy - he's got some good links on his own page, but please take the time to do what you can - if you are a Australian, take the time to *physically* write your MP. Floods of post are what will create action.

7 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Take our laws... we don't want 'em. by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait a second, the ??AA organziations are letting Austrailia copy our copyright laws? Make them write their own... :)

  2. No can do! by rdsmith4 · · Score: 4, Funny
    take the time to *physically* write your MP

    Too assertive for the slashdot crowd! We'd much rather comment about it in the comfort of our big cushy computer chairs.

  3. USA by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 4, Funny

    G'Day mate, how ya goin'!
    I'm from the USA. The United States of Australia, that is!

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
  4. And she said, by Himring · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you code from a land down under? Where the DMCA grow's and makes plunder?

    /duck
    /dodge
    /hide

    --
    "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
    1. Re:And she said, by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Funny

      /duck /dodge /hide

      You better run. You better take cover.

  5. Let me be the first American to say: by Atario · · Score: 4, Funny

    We're truly sorry.

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Re:It's technology, stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    All vehicles travelling at c or near c (>0.01c) will be far too heavy to be allowed on the public roads.

    It's generally not a problem traveling on the american highway system at or near c as the vehicel in question will only be in the continental US for about .8ms-1.6ms, after which it's some one else's problem.