Linux Australia and the FTA
If we’re ever going to do anything about the problems various copyright laws and patents cause us, we have to start sometime. Linux Australia is starting now, and focussing on the Australia/United States Free Trade Agreement. They have a page full of information up at http://www.linux.org.au/fta/. If you’re an Australian, you’ll be affected by these changes, so go read that page, and then follow up on it.
The easiest way to follow up on it is by signing the petition that’s been setup by the Linux Australia committee. We’ve tried to make it something that’s strong, but that can be supported by all sorts of folks who develop, admin, use, or otherwise support or rely on free software. If your parents, or boss, or clients get value from open source, please point them at the petition, explain what and why the concerns are, and ask them if they’ll consider supporting it. By some estimates we might need as many as ten thousand signatures to get results, so every single one is important.
If you’re not confident just signing a petition will do any good, there’s lots of other things you can do recommended at the Linux Aus FTA site. Every little bit helps.