FC: Hollywood lauds Hague treaty, free software fans slam it

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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 () 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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