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Australian FlagProject Gutenberg of Australia has posted a sample letter to protest copyright-term extension Down Under, as provided in a rather problematic Free Trade Treaty. A laudable cause for Australians.

In addition, Americans might want to write very polite letters to Australian politicians telling them that our shameful Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is at odds with even U.S. traditions. Mention how Congress passed it by stealth in the middle of the Clinton impeachment controversy–without the normal procedures used to record votes.

You can get a list of Members of Parliament in Australia and even email the office of Prime Minister John Howard. The sample letter contains excellent points, and there are others to be made as well. Simply put, does Australia really want to deprive its own children of the right to read Gutenberg editions of the classics most relevant to them–the most recent ones?

Recommended reading for Australian politicians: The ‘Free Culture’ book

If nothing else, encourage Australian politicians to read Prof. Lessig‘s Free Culture: How the Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, which they can download for free in a variety of formats. Far from protecting culture, copyright term extension hurts it, as the Lessig book makes abundantly clear. So whatever you do, include the download link.

Also go into the specifics. Thanks to our Sonny Bono Act, for example, it will be years before American schoolchildren can read for free such works as The Great Gatsby, often called The Great American Novel. Gatsby would be in the U.S. public domain now if campaign donations from Disney and the rest hadn’t bought the Bono Act. Sonny Bono, the entertainer turned legislator, once told the Washington Post how he hoped that a Hollywood-friendly Congress would bring in more campaign donations for the Republican party. Democratic (big D) President Bill Clinton, who counted Hollywood millionaires among his leading supporters, signed Bono into law. This was a bipartisan outrage. It would be a shame if Australia repeated our mistake.

If Australians can resist term extension, this will give new comfort to public domain defenders in the States and aid the cause of the Public Domain Enhancement Act.

Detail: If nonAmericans and nonAustralians want to join the protest against Bono Down Under, so much the better! Let’s get copyright “harmonization” started in the right direction.

For old time’s sake: Below is a Web item I posted in ’95 when Sonny was still alive:

Sonny Bono, Cher’s ex–a California Republican–[has] been described as one of the dimmest bulbs on the Hill. Notice? No public e-mail address in the government listing to which I’ve linked. Who needs to mess with miserly Netfolks? Sonny’s too busy pleasing potential campaign contributors. He’s Point Man for the Congressional Entertainment Task Force. Jealous of the Democrats for collecting so much campaign loot from the copyright interests, some Republicans are trying to outpander them. As reported by the Washington Post of October 25, Bono “wants Hollywood’s leaders to ‘write your own legislation and bring it to us’” on certain key issues such as, gasp, copyright protection. The Post says “Bono isn’t promising passage, just serious consideration.” Such a relief. What’s next, a Congressional School and Internet Task Force for those whom Hollywood-written copyright law might harm? Don’t count on it. The campaign money just isn’t there. We need good copyright legislation (as author of more than half a dozen books I’m hardly anti-copyright), but not a “highest-bidder” ethos.

Let us honor the memory of Bono as a comedian, not a politician.

 
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