[LINK] Aussie Drink or Die member handed to US on a plate

[Stilgherrian]

On 12/5/07 11:13 AM, "Rick Welykochy" <rick at praxis.com.au> wrote:
>> Is this somehow related to the Australian-US "free" trade agreement?
> 
> Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article:
> 
>    It is also apparent that the recently concluded Australia-United States
>    Free Trade Agreement embodies a new bilateral policy of safeguarding
>    software interests abroad. Whilst Griffiths' indictment was issued before
>    AUSFTA-induced amendments were enacted to harmonise the Australian
> Copyright
>    Act, his extradition, effectively overriding the principle of national
>    treatment, was put into effect after the free trade agreement was signed.
>    This seriously puts into question the raison d'etre of the AUSFTA.

Gee, there's a massive leap of logic in that paragraph! :)

It may well be "apparent" that the AUSFTA "embodies a new bilateral policy
of safeguarding software interests", since copyright protection for software
(including media of all kinds) was a significant change.

("It is apparent that" or "It is obvious that" indicate that the writer is
about to assert something without an evidence.)

But the next sentence just claims that because Griffiths' extradition was
put into effect *after* the AUSFTA was signed, it happened *because* of that
Agreement. No, it could just be that extradition negotiations take a long
time, and he'd have been extradited on the request of Our Great Ally in any
event.

And it doesn't over-ride "the principle of national treatment" because
there's no reason why further action couldn't be taken against Griffiths in
Australia for crimes or misdemeanours committed here. Assuming there are
any, of course -- I haven't been following this issue at all.

Ah, shoddy logic... it must be stamped out!

Stil


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