A bit more info from NZLUG related to my thread "Re: OT: NZ to get the DMCA?"
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: [nzlug] Government overhauls copyright law. Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 21:26:00 +1300 From: "Ian McDonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "NZLUG Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Waikato Linux Users Group" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Folks, Here is a major announcement from the government: <http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=28024> and the actual proposed legislation is here: <http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/5A88D15B-C4A1-42C2-AE75-9200DD87F738/48250/DBHOH_BILL_7735_40193.pdf> Some quick highlights as I read the act: (Note I am not a lawyer) - Reverse engineering IS allowed under some circumstances - basically for interoperability - format shifting is allowed but only initially for 2 years, this can be extended though (or not) - time shifting is allowed provided you don't keep it and it's not available on demand - ISPs are basically not liable (provided they follow take down notices) - allowed to alter commercial software if the vendor doesn't fix problems in reasonable time - anti-TPM (DRM via another name) is prohibited for sale or for producing (seems to cover open source). Fines of $150K or 5 years jail. Doesn't seem to prohibit if you have a copy but you can't write it yourself, sell it or tell others about it. Does make it an offence if you use it to copy copyrighted material. But you are allowed to use anti-TPM for "interoperability of software" so conceivably you could use software to play Itunes or DVDs on Linux. But this only applies if you have asked vendor for a copy you can use and they don't supply in a reasonable time. Overall this seems to be much better than DMCA of the USA but not perfect. It is probably better than people could have hoped for. Ian -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -------------------------------------------------------
