Pay Attention To .Au/.Us IP Trade Law

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.

Take our laws... we don't want 'em.

[LostCluster]

Wait a second, the ??AA organziations are letting Austrailia copy our copyright laws? Make them write their own... :)

What do you expect from a bunch of ex-cons

[Anonymous Coward]

*raises fist in air and shakes it*

Hey, we could be part of outsourcing!

[JNighthawk]

Hey Aussies. Let's move to India. There we could be paid decent wages for tech jobs, not be afraid of losing our jobs and even you hippies can be vegetarians without being ostracizes!

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And she said,

[Himring]

Do you code from a land down under? Where the DMCA grow's and makes plunder?

/duck
/dodge
/hide

Re:Alternative

[LostCluster]

What, you didn't hear about the new slogan? "Slashdot. Political action for nerds. Stuff that makes a difference."

I just wanna know if Taco's going to endorce Bush or Kerry this year...

Re:And she said,

[LostCluster]

/duck /dodge /hide

You better run. You better take cover.

Let me be the first American to say:

[Atario]

We're truly sorry.

You Aussies, with your koalas and kangaroos

[Anonymous Coward]

think you're above ... er, below the law.

Re:Take our laws... we don't want 'em.

[Guppy06]

Yeah, then we can sue them for our prior art!

Re:No can do!

[Anonymous Coward]

Since you refuse to fit the slashdot stereotype your Slashdot account is officially canceled. Please return all nerd & nerd-like supplies to CmdrTaco or Hemos.

Re:It's technology, stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Security-by-Obscurity works...
I'm just not going to tell you how!

and in return - we give you ... neighbours

[iconnor]

Seems like free trade - crappy laws for crappy tv.

http://www.oxygen.com/neighbours/?slot=nav

Re:It's technology, stupid

[titzandkunt]

"...legislating away a technical problem is like Congress passing a law which would prohibit a motor vehicle from travelling the speed of light. which makes no sense...."

It's not down to congress, it's down to the states, and they've all got legislation in place to limit the unladen & laden weight of vehicles.

All vehicles travelling at c or near c (>0.01c) will be far too heavy to be allowed on the public roads.

T&K.

Re:The black helicopters in Australia…

[next1]

they quite possibly do - we buy them from you.

Re:It's technology, stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

All vehicles travelling at c or near c (>0.01c) will be far too heavy to be allowed on the public roads.

It's generally not a problem traveling on the american highway system at or near c as the vehicel in question will only be in the continental US for about .8ms-1.6ms, after which it's some one else's problem.

Re:It's technology, stupid

[r_j_prahad]

All vehicles travelling at c or near c (>0.01c) will be far too heavy to be allowed on the public roads.

Aaah, now I understand why vehicle taillights appear to be red.

Re:What do you expect from a bunch of ex-cons

[Bush Pig]

The only reason the British got interested in using Australia as a penal colony is because, after 1776, they couldn't send their convicts to the American colonies any more ...

The late Douglas Adams once wrote that there was a bridge near where he lived that still had a sign on it threatening anyone who defaced or damaged it with transportation to New South Wales. He didn't understand why there was any bridge left. Despite the damage done by our current government, Australia is still a paradise on earth.