[Linux-aus] Never mind the MyDoom crap, make some noise about this!

[Anthony Towns]

On Mon, Feb 09, 2004 at 08:26:29PM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
> On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 18:01, Anthony Towns wrote:
> > I don't know what (a)'s about. Could be important, could be trivial.
> End of any remaining sovreignty.

*shrug* That's not Linux Australia's fight.

> > (b)'s disappointing, but I don't think it affects Linux or Open
> > Source at all.
> They can clamp your FOSS project with essentially no evidence.

If they've got the same terms as the US does, it requires ISPs to take
down websites if they're violating copyright; that doesn't have any
particular relevance to open source software, since we don't violate
copyright.

> > (c)'s disappointing at first glance, although the "public interest
> > exception" could be interesting.
> DMCA.au

...was passed in 1999 as the Digital Agenda act. Circumvention devices
(read: open source DVD players) have been illegal since it came into
force.

> > (d)'s disappointing, but is negligibly different to just retaining
> > the current term, which is effectively infinite anyway.
> We need it to go the other way in order to be reasonable. 

*shrug* It'd be nice, but it's not going to happen any time soon.

> It's not a business-as-usual, it's another notch on the stove dial 
> that's cooking our collective frogs.

Which is business as usual.

(If you want to make the "giving up our sovereignity" or "US lapdog"
argument, the appropriate thing to look at is the fact that the wide
ranging public review of our copyright law has been trumped by the US's
free trade bartering. Entering into more treaties is nothing exciting)

Cheers,
aj

-- 
Anthony Towns <aj at humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.

             Linux.conf.au 2004 -- Because we could.
           http://conf.linux.org.au/ -- Jan 12-17, 2004
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