Linux Australia have kicked off the fight against the Free Trade Agreement-imposed DMCA-style restrictions that might soon land in Australia with the launch of iownmydvds.org and iownmymusic.org, two sites that try to get some basic messages across to Australians about what effects such legislation will have if it is passed.

The risk of the new laws is that it gives copyright holders (such as the music and movie industry) the power to dictate to you how you must access their content. If you care about your rights as a consumer, it is worth taking the time to check out the sites and print and sign the petition.

Just a petition... Why no t-shirts?

although these that sort of legislation obviously would suck... really.. who is gonna care? recording tv shows on vhs has always been illegal but no one really seems to care & i've never heard a case of it being policed. i see this as being the same deal... it'll be illegal.. but never actually policed so no one will give a hoot.

Well... I think the main problem is, if they are going to impose such a ridiculous law, then what next? An even more rediculous law.

"WARNING: This DVD will self destruct in T-minus 10 seconds. Drop me and run."

Remember two years ago, when we were complaining about the FTA being bad and restricting our rights, and that we needed people to protest and stop it from being signed?

Yeah. Linux Australia, you're a bit too late. Where were you in 2004 when we needed you?

They were fighting the good fight back then as well!

from what i understand if this law gets passed then sony has the right to install its s*** spyware crap and make you use some s*** program to listen to music on your computer that will install itself when you pop the cd in.