Podcast: The fight for the Net

I’ve been at Nethui catching up on the state of all things internet-related and came away rather disconcerted about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement currently being negotiated in secret on our behalf and which could have major implications for how intellectual property is treated under the law.

Click below to listen to the podcast

Episode 36

[audio: http://ia600809.us.archive.org/17/items/SciblogsPodcastEpisode36TheFightForTheNet/SciblogsPodcastEpisode36.mp3]

A number of people at Nethui were concerned about this as well and they held a session during the conference looking at the implications of the TPPA and what New Zealanders should do to raise awareness of the issue.

The concerns over IP span everything from the extension of copyright from 50 years after the death of an author to 70 years, through to controls around the use of temporary electronic files, which InternetNZ is concerned could impact on the way information is transmitted around the internet.

InternetNZ for its part has created a website, Fairdeal.net.nz which lays out its concerns about the TPPA. It’s worth reading what they have to say, and if you’ve time, check out the leaked TPPA documents that outline some of the areas in intellectual property that may change if the TPPA is ratified.

On the podcast, you’ll hear from the likes of opensource software developer Daniel Spector, Kiwiblog’s David Farrar, intellectual property lawyer Professor Anne Fitzgerald and District Court Judge David Harvey – all with their views on the TPPA.

You’ll also hear from Professor John Naughton, author of From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg, about the internet and growing efforts to control it by governments and corporations. Will the net remain free in the spirit in which it rose to such prominence in our lives?

Finally, to the science news story of the week, we hear from one of the authors of a paper in Science who have discovered that two different vaccines used to control an infectious disease in chickens have been able to recombine to generate new virus strains.

The resulting new viruses have been responsible for significant outbreaks of disease and death in farmed chickens. The vaccines in question are known as live attenuated vaccines – and essentially contain weakened forms of the virus that causes the disease.

All of that is on the podcast this week… check it out and let us know what you think…!

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Show notes

InternetNZ’s Fair Deal website – a must read

Computerworld: Trade agreement campaign plans two-pronged approach

The TPPA intellectual property chapter

John Naughton’s view of the tech world via his Observer columns

My interview with john Naughton in the New Zealand Listener

NEWS BRIEFING: Vaccines combine to produce new virus strain (Science) – Listen back to the ausSMC press briefing

ABC: Chicken deaths prompt surprise discovery about vaccines and viruses