[LINK] Australian standards blocked from open access

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Glen Turner wrote:
> On 08/07/09 08:42, Tom Worthington wrote:
>> The result is that SAI Global has exclusive publishing rights for
>> standards issued by Standards Australia, even those standards
>> developed by a third party. The effect of this would appear to
>> preclude the provision of any SA endorsed standards in an open access
>> format free online.
> 
> In short, the concerns about Australian Standards becoming a mechanism
> for secret law have been borne out.
> 
> This doesn't effect IT much --- ISO and its national bodies have historically
> handled ICT standards so poorly as to make ISO irrelevant (the OOXML saga
> merely being the latest demonstration of this).
> 
> It is of huge concern in other fields, such as construction, where
> Australian Standards have been references in legislation, but the
> standards are not available at a fair price for those who need the
> full detail of the law.
> 

Yes, I made that connection too.. though "The Law" has only recently become
openly available mainly through the efforts of
<http://www.austlii.edu.au/>

As far as I can tell, the federal and state attempts are pretty poor and I am 
not sure
that Standards Australia understands all the copyright issues whether open or 
closed.

Ofcourse, SAI global don't just sell standards ....and could probably adjust their
business model (if they haven't already done so). More about SAI Global here:
<http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/companyInfo.do?by=asxCode&asxCode=SAI>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202