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Trans-Pacific Partnership
by Ben Finney 16 Feb '11

16 Feb '11

Howdy guys, At the January 2011 meeting, I talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Here is the information for the group. Short version: It's pretty bad. We need to lobby government to stop this. There's hope that other nations seem partially aware of the problems. The Trans-Pacific Partnership <URL:http://www.ustr.gov/tpp> is a plan currently being effected by the USA's Office of the United States Trade Representative. […] a regional, Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement with the objective of shaping a high-standard, broad-based regional pact. […] The first round of negotiations took place from March 15-19 in Melbourne, Australia. The second round of negotiations took place from June 14-18 in San Francisco, California. USTR is currently conducting an unprecedented fifty-state domestic outreach strategy for TPP. Read about our outreach events and updates on our TPP outreach page. Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) has been discussing the leaked internals of this secretive international pact. Industry is asking the US government for a number of TRIPS plus, WCT plus and ACTA plus provisions: - To seek the highest possible IP protection from TPP negotiating parties. - To built upon existing FTAs and use the US/Korea Free Trade Agreement as a baseline. Although the letter does not specifically mention the May 10, 2007 compromise that included important public health flexibilities in the US/Peru FTA, US Industry is clearly demanding the US government to reject the compromise as the basis for negotiations. - To go beyond the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). For instance, it states that the TPP should outlaw camcording in theaters, despite the fact that the ACTA made it optional for countries to have criminal penalties for camcording. <URL:http://keionline.org/node/1034> Public Knowledge reminds us that this is “ACTA the sequel”. While a text may not have been drafted yet, content owners are doing their bit to ensure that the TPP would contain IP provisions that aggressively protect their interests at the expense of the rest of ours. A paper prepared by the U.S. Business Coalition for TPP (reported to be drafted by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Motion Picture Association of America) and leaked on the Internet, indicates that rights holders are urging the USTR to include in TPP IP protections more extensive than those present in ACTA. Specifically, the paper suggests that the following issues be addressed in TPP: * Temporary copies: [cached or intermediate copies within a computer] * Circumvention of digital locks: [harsher DRM enforcement] * Copyright terms: The paper urges the TPP to provide for longer copyright terms. * Statutory damages: [ignore putative damages suffered by plaintiff; instead, calculate damages as multiple of nominal fee for use] The coalition suggests many other worrisome provisions such as requiring ISPs to act as copyright cops and treating individual infringers with the same severity as large-scale pirates. <URL:http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/acta-sequel-transpacific-partnershi…> The above article at Public Knowledge also discusses a leaked document within the NZ government, which shows a good awareness of the issues raised by the TPP in light of similar regimes and their effects on economies and freedom. -- \ “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you | `\ have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither | _o__) on your side, pound the table.” —anonymous | Ben Finney <ben(a)benfinney.id.au>

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Next discussion group Thu 17 Jan
by Ben Sturmfels 13 Feb '11

13 Feb '11

Hi Folks, Our next discussion group is on Thursday 6:30pm at the State Library. Meet in the foyer a little before. Look forward to seeing you there! Proposed agenda: - Freeing music players with Rock Box - The GNU Privacy Guard, and how it brings trust to the free software community If you already have a GPG key, print out a few copies of its fingerprint so others can sign your key. You can export this with: gpg --fingerprint [your email or key ID] Regards, Ben

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Support a firm, simple declaration against ACTA
by Ben Finney 12 Feb '11

12 Feb '11

Howdy all, The Free Software Foundation is seeking signatories to a “firm, simple declaration against ACTA” which they intend to use to show the USTR office that there is strong public opposition both in the USA and other affected countries. <URL:http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/acta-declaration> -- \ “Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do | `\ so too.” —Voltaire, _Essay On Tolerance_ | _o__) | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] Next discussion group Thu 17 Feb
by Llew Thomas 12 Feb '11

12 Feb '11

Unless you have developed a free and open source time machine Ben, I suspect you intended to say "Thu 17 Feb", so I have edited the subject to that effect. :-) I have never seen the Rock Box project before, but it has totally made my day. I am hoping to attend the next meeting, looking forward to it! Llew On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 1:58 PM, Ben Sturmfels <ben(a)stumbles.id.au> wrote: > Hi Folks, > > Our next discussion group is on Thursday 6:30pm at the State Library. > Meet in the foyer a little before. Look forward to seeing you there! > > Proposed agenda: > > - Freeing music players with Rock Box > > - The GNU Privacy Guard, and how it brings trust to the free software > community > > If you already have a GPG key, print out a few copies of its fingerprint > so others can sign your key. You can export this with: > gpg --fingerprint [your email or key ID] > > Regards, > Ben > > > _______________________________________________ > Free-software-melb mailing list > Free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb >

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AGIMO re-opens comments on OOXML
by Alex Fraser 21 Jan '11

21 Jan '11

Hi all, Good news: due to the buzz on the net about AGIMO's decision to back OOXML in government, they seem to be accepting further comments on the issue. Reposted from the CLUG mailing list: "You asked for it - #AGIMO seeks comments for future Common OE versions http://bit.ly/gcNfZY #gov2au #OOXML" http://twitter.com/sherro58/status/28310468300906497 So what shall we do? Perhaps the easiest is for each of us to leave a comment on their blog: http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2011/01/21/back-to-the-future-another-chance-t… Cheers, Alex

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Next discussion group Thu 20 Jan
by Ben Sturmfels 19 Jan '11

19 Jan '11

Hi Folks, Hope you're having fun and free start to 2011! I've updated our webpage and iCal calendar with the Free Software Discussion Group dates for 2011: http://www.softwarefreedom.com.au/free-software-melb/ This month's Discussion Group is on Thu 20 Jan, 6:30 - 7:30pm at the State Library. Meet just before 6:30 in the foyer, or call 0458 925 588 if you're running late. Any suggestions for topics are welcome. The recent emails suggest we could perhaps discuss "experiences with free software in educational institutions". Regards, Ben

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Removal from list
by Darren Poinen 24 Dec '10

24 Dec '10

Hi there Can you please remove me from the mailing list thanks Regards Darren Poinen - Freelance Tutor and Statistics consultant Bachelor of Social Science (Economics & Statistics),1994,Cape Town Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) In Statistics,1995, Cape Town Certificate in Logistics Management, 2003, Johannesburg Master of Accounting, Curtin Perth, 2008 Mobile : +61434260887 Email : darren_poinen(a)hotmail.com Email : stats.tutor(a)hotmail.com

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2010 report on OSS use around the world
by Adrian Colomitchi 24 Dec '10

24 Dec '10

Hi guys, I think you might be interested to get a perspective on the degree of use of OSS around the world, at least the way it looks like from Spain. http://observatorio.cenatic.es/images/stories/estudios_e_informes/empresas/… "The United States, Australia and the Western European countries lead the development and adoption of open source software." "In the public sector, Europe has experienced greater penetration." "In the Pacific region, Australia stands out as one of the countries with the highest degree of open source software adoption in the world, thanks to its active communities of OSS developers who participate in international projects. The universities also play a very important role in both training qualified ICT personnel and participating in OSS projects. The Australian business sector spends a significant part of its R&D budget on OSS projects, which results in the country having a large subsector of open source software companies within the ICT sector and in the presence of OSS centres of excellence in the country. This is accompanied by a policy of support by the government, which has encouraged the adoption of OSS by the Public Sector." What? To me, it doesn't feel quite right, but maybe my "basement" is deep enough to "shield" me from the marvellous extent of OSS in the Australian public sector? Any additional info you may have specifically on this? The links at page 98 look rather old, are these policies and guides still actual for the public sector ? Regards, Adrian

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Discussion group next Thurs 16 December
by Ben Sturmfels 13 Dec '10

13 Dec '10

Hi Folks, Just a reminder that our monthly free software discussion group is on next Thursday 16 December, 6:30pm at the State Library of Victoria. Meet in the foyer a little before 6:30pm. For those that haven't been before, we essentially get together and chat about a few (ideally pre-arranged) topics around free software. It's mostly non-technical and no experience is required. Proposed discussion topics: 1. Alex Fraser's summary of the New Zealand campaign against software patents from his meeting with Don Christie. 2. How does the ACTA agreement (Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) affects use of free software? My (Ben's) understanding is that it may prohibit defeating any "digital handcuffs" even for legitimate use - eg. playing a DVD you own. Look forward to seeing you there, Ben

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Apologies, I forgot about the meeting
by Ben Sturmfels 24 Nov '10

24 Nov '10

Hi Folks, My apologies, I've just realised that we had a discussion group meeting scheduled last Thursday night and I'd completely forgotten.. I'd accidentally written the meeting in my diary on the wrong week. Sorry to anyone who went along on Thursday. I'd be happy to buy you a drink some time to make up for it! Next discussion group is on 16 December, which is *definitely* in my diary this time. ;) Cheers, Ben

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