Robin Miller has a longer writeup that focuses on U.S. exporting domestic
laws such as the DMCA:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/05/15/2138208&mode=nocomment
---
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43820,00.html
Worldwide Copyrights a Quagmire?
By Declan McCullagh (declan_at_wired.com)
2:00 a.m. May 16, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- Richard Stallman has a simple message for the U.S.
government about a proposed copyright treaty: Don't even think about
signing it.
Stallman, the bearded, irascible creator of GNU Emacs and a spokesman
for the free software movement, showed up at a U.S. Copyright Office
roundtable on Tuesday to warn that the draft measure would imperil
American programmers by encouraging frivolous software patents.
"It appears disastrous for program developers," Stallman said. "Many
countries have laws about what kinds of software can be developed....
Everything relating to information should be taken out of this
convention."
The treaty in question is a heretofore obscure proposal known as the
Hague Convention, which European nations generally support, but the
U.S. State Department has criticized. If countries agree to the
convention, they'd be required to enforce judgments in certain type of
civil lawsuits brought in another jurisdiction.
That prospect lightens the hearts of entertainment lobbyists, who fear
increasingly widespread piracy and the possibility of Napster clones
arising in countries that don't have laws restricting online
file-sharing.
Currently the Hague Convention includes copyright offenses in a
section that Stallman, Internet providers, and consumer groups are
lobbying to remove. Stallman, for instance, claims countries that are
even more permissive about awarding software patents could sue U.S.
programmers for violating them -- and thereby wreak havoc on the free
software movement.
[...]
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Received on May 16 2001
Intro
