[Linux-aus] Final petition draft...

[Rusty Russell]

Hi all!

	Here is the PDF (produced with Scribus!). Final URL and things to be
decided on the "What to do page", but text is basically there I think
(thanks for the help!).

If everyone likes this, we'll should get the web content rolling this
weekend, ready to go live.

Text:

Don't Ban Digital Innovation and Consumer Rights!

Australia is required to enact harsh new "anti-circumvention" laws under
the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement.  Some large business interests
are pressing for the government to restrict legitimate access to digital
material, even though the treaty does not openly require us to do so.

We should be able to play DVDs and games bought overseas, even though
some companies want that ability banned.  We should also be able to
fast-forward through forced previews on DVDs, copy CDs to iPods, or play
iTunes-bought songs on other MP3 players, even though some companies
want those banned too.  These are legitimate activities on our own
property!

This also means that we must be able to create, buy and sell devices or
services to do these things, without seeking additional authorisation
from the copyright holder: we need competition to supply devices which
give us, the legitimate owners of music, movies and games, control over
how we use them, despite any restrictions created by overzealous
copyright-holders in the future.

We ask the Parliament in the revision of these laws to clearly tie
circumvention offenses to things which assist piracy, not activities
such as playing our own DVDs or games without explicit permission!  We
ask the Parliament to commit to market freedom and competition in
Australia, and refuse to provide new legal weaponry against competitive
and innovative technology companies and users, such as Free and Open
Source software.

Thanks!
Rusty.


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