From 22c3bfee9148e1836817ef00b4829a8385570c69 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Grothoff Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2022 17:04:26 +0200 Subject: update RMS articles --- talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html | 102 ++++++++++++++----------- 1 file changed, 58 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-) (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html') diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html index 10511f3..5ed555a 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/hague.html @@ -1,19 +1,28 @@ - + + + + Harm from the Hague - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation + + + +

Harm from the Hague

-

-By Richard Stallman, June 2001

+
by Richard +Stallman
+ +

June 2001

Europeans have energetically opposed and thwarted the attempt to introduce software patents in Europe. A proposed treaty, now being negotiated, threatens to subject software developers in Europe and -other countries to U.S. software patents — and other harmful +other countries to U.S. software patents—and other harmful laws from around the world. The problem is not just for programmers; authors of all kinds will face new dangers. Even the censorship laws of various countries could have globalized effect.

@@ -29,7 +38,7 @@ country he lives in (or has assets in) for enforcement.

The treaty becomes a problem when it is extended to distribution of -information — because information now travels normally and +information—because information now travels normally and predictably to all countries. (The Internet is one way, but not the only way.) The consequence is that you could be sued about the information you distributed under the laws of any @@ -40,7 +49,7 @@ country.

For instance, if you release a software package (either free or not) in Germany, and people use it in the U.S., you could be sued for infringing an absurd U.S. software patent. That part does not depend -on Hague — it could happen now. But right now you could ignore +on Hague—it could happen now. But right now you could ignore the U.S. judgment, safe in Germany, and the patent holder knows this. Under the Hague treaty, any German court would be required to enforce the U.S. judgment against you. In effect, the software patents of any @@ -86,12 +95,12 @@ be applied to the parent company in the U.S.

It may come as a surprise to learn that exiled Chinese dissidents joined the case in support of Yahoo. But they knew what they were -doing — their democracy movement depends on the outcome.

+doing—their democracy movement depends on the outcome.

You see, Nazism is not the only political view whose expression is prohibited in certain places. Criticism of the Chinese government is -also prohibited — in China. If a French court ruling against +also prohibited—in China. If a French court ruling against Nazi statements is enforceable in the US, or in your country, maybe a Chinese court ruling against anti-Chinese-government statements will be enforceable there too. (This might be why China has joined the @@ -129,10 +138,10 @@ it to reject outright censorship judgments.

However, even that won't help you if you publish on the Internet, because your ISP either has assets in other countries or communicates to the world through -larger ISPs that have them. A censorship judgment +larger ISPs that have them. A censorship judgment against your site, or any other kind, could be enforced against -your ISP, or your ISP's -ISP, in any other country where it has assets — and +your ISP, or your ISP's +ISP, in any other country where it has assets—and where there is no Bill of Rights, and freedom of speech does not enjoy the same exalted status as in the U.S. In response, the ISP will shut off your site. The Hague treaty would globalize pretexts for @@ -140,13 +149,13 @@ lawsuits, but not the protections for civil liberties, so any local protection could be bypassed.

-Does suing your ISP seem far-fetched? It already +Does suing your ISP seem far-fetched? It already happens. When the multinational company Danone announced plans to close factories in France, Olivier Malnuit opened a site, jeboycottedanone.com, to criticize this. (The name is French for “I boycott Danone.”) Danone sued not only him but his site hosting company and domain name registrar for “counterfeiting of -goods” — and in April 2001 received a ruling prohibiting +goods”—and in April 2001 received a ruling prohibiting Malnuit from mentioning the name “Danone” either in the domain name or in the text of the site. Even more telling, the registrar removed the domain in fear before the court made a @@ -157,8 +166,8 @@ The natural response for French dissidents is to publish their criticism of Danone outside France, just as Chinese dissidents publish their criticism of China outside China. But the Hague treaty would enable Danone to attack them everywhere. Perhaps even this article -would be suppressed through its ISP or -its ISP's ISP.

+would be suppressed through its ISP or +its ISP's ISP.

The potential effects of the treaty are not limited to laws that exist @@ -186,14 +195,9 @@ investment if they did not support software patents. Meanwhile, the U.S. trade representative pressured Middle Eastern country Jordan to allow patents on mathematics.

- -

-A meeting of consumer organizations -(http://www.tacd.org) recommended in +A meeting of consumer organizations +recommended in May 2001 that patents, copyrights and trademarks (“intellectual property”) should be excluded from the scope of the Hague treaty, because these laws vary considerably between countries.

@@ -209,33 +213,27 @@ distributor or transmitter operates should have jurisdiction.

In Europe, people opposed to software patents will be active in -working to change the Hague treaty. - - +working to change the Hague treaty; for more information, see +www.noepatents.org. In the U.S., the Consumer Project for Technology is taking the lead; for more information, see -http://www.cptech.org/ecom/jurisdiction/hague.html.

+www.cptech.org.

A diplomatic conference is slated to begin today (June 6, 2001) to work on the details of the Hague treaty. We should make ministries and the public aware of the possible dangers as soon as possible.

-
+
- -

There is more information about the problems with the Hague -at http://web.lemuria.org/DeCSS/hague.html.

+at web.lemuria.org.

+
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