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Australia to Get Software Patents and Anti-Circumvention Laws
Marlor writes "Australia's main opposition party have just confirmed that they will be supporting the Free Trade Agreement with the USA. This means that Australia will be adopting DMCA-style laws and Software Patents in the name of 'harmonizing IP laws with the USA', despite consistent lobbying against them. Matters are made worse by the fact that, unlike Americans, Australians are not protected by 'fair use' provisions." Odd that 'harmonizing' is always in one direction - for some reason, no one ever wants to decrease IP regulation to harmonize with some other country.
If the conservatives are voted out, the provisions can be watered down or ignored in new 'enabling' legislation, much as the US will ignore their side of the bargain.
"There are four boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order." Ed Howdershelt
I'm sure you see the importance of stopping people that run Linux from playing DVDs. Go FTA!
I'd like to see a block of maybe africa and the middle east just say screw it and form their own economic associations independent of the United States. They wouldn't have great GDP's but at least they'd be creating their own economies suited to their specific needs and not letting the vacuum machine that is the US suck up all their money.
Developing countries are not a market for our TV production and their home textile industries can't get off the ground because the West floods developing markets with cheap bolts of cloth or discarded clothing. Our economic interests do not match, the developing world needs to bootstrap itself to the next economic level while the West economies tend to take aggressive advantage of any market as our goal is the creation of our wealth not for the benefit of the markets that such behaviour tends to suck dry.
Or not.
Shh.
I have yet to see anyone mention the real force behind the devolution of the copyright bargain throughout the world. People here on Slashdot go on endlessly about the evil of Windows and Bill Gates, but utterly fail to acknowledge the real source stifling innovation: Rupert Murdoch.
Today, the final shread of faith that I had left in my government has finally disappeared. I am now sorry to be Australian.
I "know" why they're doing this. The same reason they got into politics in the first place. Power. Money. Fame. Although perhaps the wholesale "if you don't cave in, you can forget about trade and any kind of military protection in the future" line from the US government helped seal the deal.
What I do not understand is how these people sleep at night, knowing they have sold out every last Australian they supposedly represent. Do they lie in bed next to their loved ones and think "today I signed away my people's freedoms to foreign companies; what a great leader I am"? Or are they just so profoundly stupid that they can't see the plague they are about to unleash on us?
To the Liberals and Labor: you make me ashamed to even be the same nationality as you. If I ever hear you utter the word "freedom" again, I will be sick.
I'm going to cry in the corner now. You can rest easy knowing that you've betrayed us all.
We're geeks... We're the sorcerers of the modern-day world. --
I'm in Finland at the moment, for the Assembly demoparty, and I can honestly say things seem a lot more logical here than in the UK and the US. Things aren't done for companies, but things aren't done for the people, they seem to have taken the "thinking" approach and thought out what is the most sensible law. I actually prefer Helsinki to any other city on the planet I have visited - the streets are clean, there are no hobo's (they all die every winter) and the people are generally really nice. Maybe it's just my British accent, but they seem genuinely friendly, not just a business type friendlyness. Oh, and I have yet to see an ugly Finnish girl/woman under 30 ;)
Just as a side note, the US and Australia have been allies for years. Australia hosts US military and surveillance operations. This was mentioned in The Falcon and the Snowman, where the US intelligence was using a station in Alice Springs (Australia) to gather signals from Rhyolite intelligence satellites. According to the book, the US had promised to share everything with the Australians but apparently didn't do this. However, Australia seems to be quite tolerant, and is still cooperating with US military and intelligence.
Methinks Crocodile Dundee was entirely American. Way too many stereotypes for it not to be :-/
The way it is looking too unless something major can happen the UK and Europe are heading the same way....
Web Sig: Eddy Currents
The more bilateral treaties the US can sign which contain DMCA, Software Patent and Big Pharma-friendly provisions, the less chance it will have of repealing such laws. The U.S. executive will be able to point to these bilateral treaties and shrug - we couldn't change them even if we wanted to. THAT is why GW Bush signed the treaty just now (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1168 234.htm) with unseemly haste. Not because Australia matters economically to the U.S., but because it helps to entrench these obscene laws in the U.S. and put them beyond the reach of future legislation.
"There are four boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order." Ed Howdershelt
As far as I can tell, as an American, I cannot go through my day without breaking the law. My quest is no longer to be a law-biding citizen, that's impossible, but rather not to get caught.
Even the bleach for my laundry says it's a felony to use the product inconsistent with its labeling. So, if rather than measuring the one-cup recommended amount I pour it in guessing, they could put me in jail.
Yes, but they'd never do that I hear someone saying for such a minor infraction. Uh-huh. Here in Atlanta a man was put in jail because a Viagra pill fell from his wallet when he retrieved his license for a police officer. He had a legal prescription; the problem was not that he had the pill. He was jailed because the pill was not being stored it's original container. Some jail time, sexual abuse checking cavities during intake, a few thousand dollars in fines, attorney and court costs and he's again a free man.
I cannot speak words strong enough to convey my conviction of the need for a totally un-traceable, encrypted form of P2P. This is not the United States I learned about in school. Maybe it never existed. But I know today is doesn't.
Other countries have faced or are facing this same thing. I don't believe greed and the desire for the power to control the masses is inherently American. I believe it will get to the point where certain laws are just going to have to ignored. This is where I think the P2P solution comes into place. Abet, it will only be a temporary solution. They will eventually outlaw and trace encrypted packets.
-[d]-
The problem is that to the average Australian, there is the constant, rarely mentioned threat of Indonesia and the idea that they are ready to pounce. By virtue of their enormous population, they could easily overrun Australia.
Most Australians have no concept of how large or harsh this country is. They have no idea about the deficiencies of the Indonesian military or the fragile nature of the Indonesian state. Most only have some vague idea that it would be WWII all over again with a withdrawal behind the Brisbane line and faith in the idea that America will save us because we've always been behind THEM.
Exactly. And this is entirely stupid, because it increases their cost of doing business, which means they'll be able to offer less in trade. Which means our exporters will be taking a pay cut. Which, of course, means that people will lose their job. But you won't hear about those jobs, because they don't all "vanish" at once, so there's no political advantage to pointing it out.
I'm simplifying here, there are quite a few more good and bad effects of this.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
I always hated that saying. Finding one exception proves there can't possibly be any more?
I'm swedish, and we have that exact saying, translated very literally from english.
"Undantaget bekräftar regeln". After reading your post I now realize that the proper translation (and probably the original form) is "Undantaget prövar regeln"
"Prövar" means "tests". This implies that the exception tests the rule and causes it to fail, just as you said. And of course pröva and prove are obviously related words.
I will take it upon myself to spread this wisdom to my entire nation. My workmates will probably be extremely bored by my linguistical nitpicking, and will throw small objects at me to make me stop (as always).
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
Exactly.
That's one of the many reasons why I've become an active supporter of the Socialist Alliance leading up to the federal election.
Those who think Labor are providing 'opposition' to the Liberals and their neo-conservative buddies in the Whitehouse should have a good hard think about Labor's position on the Free Trade Agreement ( among other things ).
Vote out Howard, but don't give Latham & Labor a landslide - give your first vote to left-wing parties such as Socialist Alliance and the Greens, and give your preferences to Labor - send Labor a message that we aren't 100% with them.
It's not worth it guys. Free trade with America is not bilateral. In Canada, we're screwed daily by America on issues like Softwood Lumber, Wheat, and fresh water
We're screwed on our water and forced to export it against our will.
We aren't allowed to pass legislation on split run magazines.
If there's an american lobby group that wishes higher prices, they can buy off some congressmen and get trade blocked.
Free trade with America is a farce. The only goods that flow freely are the goods that aren't protected by American lobby groups.
They will tie you up in litigation for years before opening up their market to you.
American Congress is a bunch of industry whores, nothing more.
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I believe Niue's highest point above sea level is only four metres however... :)
That's how I used to vote too, but then I learned that that preferences only come into play when none of the parties in contention are able to get >=51% of the vote. If you vote for the minor parties, and give only 2nd or lower preference to Labour, it's possible that Labour will lose simply because they didn't get enough of the first-preference votes. If the Liberal party (they're called Liberal, but really should be "wannabe-Republicans") get 51% of the vote, then it's all over, they win. More info at the Aust Electoral Commission site - http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/what/voting/votes_c ount.htm