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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.

11 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. It's technology, stupid by haxeh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When are people going to realize you can't legislate away a technical problem? (assuming you think IP infringement is a problem, i guess)

    1. Re:It's technology, stupid by nomadic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Just about as effective as security-by-obscurity.

      Which is actually is pretty effective.

    2. Re:It's technology, stupid by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Consider the phrase
      licensed.

  2. Write to my MP by Artega+VH · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My federal minister happens to be John Howard (the current prime minister and bush lap-dog) so somehow I don't know if he'll be totally receptive to my letter...

    --
    groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.
  3. first the us...then au by Rodrin · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What is next? All of europe? The world seems to be heading this way..can we stop it?

    --
    FuckTheFuckingFuckers.com - Post your th
  4. Re:No can do! by EverDense · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Speak for yourself!

    I wrote to my local MP about this back in November.

    He passed my letter to the Attourney General, got a reply to my specific queries and sent me back the reply.

    --
    http://jesus.everdense.com/
  5. Why not write your US Senators too? by grvsmth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just because the Bush administration pushed it, and expects the Senate to ratify it, doesn't mean that it's automatic. We can at least show them they don't have as much support as they thought. I'm going to write to Hillary Clinton, that shining beacon of truth in the face of corporate, um... Well, I'm going to write to Chuck Schumer, that dashing defender of the... Aw, who am I kidding?

  6. Why don't any petition signatures get displayed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I'm sure it's some obvious thing like having to install flash or load an activeX control, but why do the buttons that should display the signatures simply redisplay the same page? This is not mentioned in the petitiononline FAQ.

  7. Re:No can do! by EverDense · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't have the letter here at work, but in a nutshell, the good news was, anything that has already been placed in the public domain, will not be removed from the public domain.

    The bad news was (if I read between the lines of poli-speak correctly) anything that would have gone into the public domain soon, will not for another 20 years. Due to copyright being extended to the longer time that the United States uses.

    It was interesting, in that I sent an e-mail, but the final reply passed on from the Attourney General, came via snail mail. Took a matter of 3 months to get a reply, but I was happy I got one.

    --
    http://jesus.everdense.com/
  8. Re:The decline of American civilization continues by BillyBlaze · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In a thousand years, DeCSS and PlayFair will be remebered with the same reverence as the Rosetta Stone. You heard it here first.

  9. Re:Howard is against DMCA by ajt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Local software developer Jeremy Howard's against the DMCA, according to the Age by way of google news. No mention of Prime Minister John Howard being against it.