Danny Yee

Free Software Advocacy and Politics

I'm interested in linking the free software movement with the struggle for social justice and developing the synergies between them, and in connecting free software with freedom of information issues in other areas. (For freedom of speech issues, see my fighting Internet censorship in 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

T-Mobile Sidekick users lose their personal data - SFgate
an illustration of the danger of having information locked in a proprietary system
Ofcom should not let the BBC DRM free-to-air television - Guardian
Malaysia patents shadow puppets and gamelan? - Viva
IBM tries to move a third of a million employees to OpenOffice - LinuxMag
Russia is seriously pushing free software in schools - profy
60,000 teachers to "learn Linux by the end of 2009"
Yochai Benkler on open-source economics - YouTube

(For more links, see my blog.)

Other Documents

Radio National interviews me
August 2001

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
Danny Yee