[Linux-aus] Re: IP legislation threatens Australian ICT business!

[Janet Hawtin <lucychili@internode.on.net>]

Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> Can somebody come up with some ideas?  I'd be happy to review drafts,
> but I have neither the time nor the overview to write something
> myself.
>
> Greg

I wasnt specifically thinking of Robyn contacting the ICT committee.
I think that a broader number of people raising the issue from a range 
of contact points is going to be important.

I did write a batch of examples targeted for specific interest groups.
they can be found and copied from http://lucychili.blogspot.com

Greg you were asking for a here and now example of DMCA applied in AU,
I can't write one because it isn't here yet.

There are very many examples being documented of the way it is being 
misused in the US where it is already deployed.

Commentary on the new revised, broader and harsher DMCA version being 
proposed there is also thick on the ground:

For example Felton proposed the risk to critical systems as an exemption 
to the DMCA in the US.

Ed Felten in his Blog, Freedom to Tinker, describes the response of the 
DMCA lobby:
"They’re worried that there might be “serious doubt” about whether their 
future DRM access control systems are covered by these exemptions, and 
they think the doubt “would be even more severe” if the “exemption would 
turn on whether access controls ‘threaten critical infrastructure and 
potentially endanger lives’.”

Yikes.

One would have thought they’d make awfully sure that a DRM measure 
didn’t threaten critical infrastructure or endanger lives, before they 
deployed that measure. But apparently they want to keep open the option 
of deploying DRM even when there are severe doubts about whether it 
threatens critical infrastructure and potentially endangers lives.

And here’s the really amazing part. In order to protect their ability to 
deploy this dangerous DRM, they want the Copyright Office to withhold 
from users permission to uninstall DRM software that actually does 
threaten critical infrastructure and endanger lives.

If past rulemakings are a good predictor, it’s more likely than not that 
the Copyright Office will rule in their favor."
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=984
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?cat=5

Having said that I am working on writing something, shorter and with an 
industry angle, I am just not sure it will be what you want, so feel 
free to customise.

Janet