global issues

global issues

Posted Oct 7, 2005 1:56 UTC (Fri) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: Extranational issues by job
Parent article: The Authors' Guild and Google Print

LWN's reporting is among the least 'national' of any publication I've
ever read. The coverage here of happenings (including legal issues)
across Europe, India, China, South American countries, Taiwan, Africa
(well at least South Africa), Japan, Australia and the US is very
impressive indeed.

Unfortunately we do get limited reportage from places where a limited
proportion of people speak English. It's not exactly coincidental that
English-speaking countries (and those where large numbers speak good
English as a second tongue) are the places where free software and
related technologies are most widely developed (the reasons concern
empire, wealth, education, communication and commercial opportunities).

The fact that US legal issues are reported here reflects exactly the
disproportionate influence of America in trade. If you wish to trade
with the world, it pays to trade with America. If you wish to trade with
America, it is useful (often compulsory) to make yourself amenable to
American business, which is what America itself has done, surprisingly
enough. Moreover bilateral 'free trade' agreements between the USA and
other countries explicitly *oblige* countries to align their legal
framework, especially copyright and patent laws, with that of the US.

And although LWN does not exist to inform the world about the US legal
system, articles here and at Groklaw (regularly linked from LWN, and
you'll notice that the article here was written by the editor of Groklaw)
have done an excellent job of explaining how the system works and how it
is 'gamed' by various players.

(I use America interchangeably with US because that's standard
English-language usage. People south of the US in non-English-speaking
countries often use 'American' as a collective adjective for people from
the American continent(s), but English speakers north of the US get
offended if you call them Americans).

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