Free Software Advocacy + Politics (Australia)

Local Documents

Free Software as Appropriate Technology: Imagine you are putting water pumps into a village in Africa... GNU/Linux vs Microsoft Windows.
Development, Ethical Trading + Free Software: My own attempt to explore connections between community development and free software.
Against intellectual property: Brian Martin puts the case against intellectual property.
Information as a Global Public Good: A proposal for an Oxfam International advocacy campaign focused on the right to knowledge and communication.
Frequently Asked Questions: on information and development.

Book Reviews

More: civil liberties, the Internet, other book reviews.

Political Lobbying

Governments in France, Denmark, Brazil, and many other countries have made moves towards free software. In Australia, legislation has been considered by the South Australian government.

Certainly it would be good to get a better turnout in community submissions to bodies such as the Intellectual Property and Competition Review Committee.

Note: I try to avoid the term "open source". While it avoids the ambiguity of "free software", it emphasizes "access to source code" at the expense of other important ideas. Also, people outside the computing industry tend not to understand either "open" or "source".

News and Links

a summary of the iiNet case copyright authorisation case - LIV

is Microsoft still dangerous? - Lxer

California moves towards open access textbooks - Atlantic

patents make it possible for all smartphones and tablets to be illegal - Guardian

a South Korean court blocks sales of a range of Apple and Samsung products

UK government to mandate open access to funded research by 2014 - Guardian

a critique of open data as a public good - CT

(For more links, see my blog.)

Australian Organisations

the Australian Digital Alliance: defends the public interest in the copyright debate.
Linux Australia: has a directory of Australian GNU/Linux resources.
Open Source Victoria: an industry forum
Open Source Law: Brendan Scott runs a micro-boutique legal practice and publishes a weekly digest
Project Computerbank: works to provide computers and training in their use to those who couldn't otherwise afford them.
Community Activist Technology: is an anarchist group exploring the possibilities of online activism. The CAT is currently hibernating.

International Resources

The Free Software Foundation: is the guiding light of the free software movement.
Public Library of Science
Russell McOrmond's links