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The TPP E-Commerce chapter has a provision banning requirements to transfer or provide access to software source code. This applies to "mass market software."
Article 14.17: Source Code
1. No Party shall require the transfer of, or access to, source code of software owned by a person of another Party, as a condition for the import, distribution, sale or use of such software, or of products containing such software, in its territory.
2. For the purposes of this Article, software subject to paragraph 1 is limited to mass-market software or products containing such software and does not include software used for critical infrastructure.
3. Nothing in this Article shall preclude:
(a) the inclusion or implementation of terms and conditions related to the provision of source code in commercially negotiated contracts; or
(b) a Party from requiring the modification of source code of software necessary for that software to comply with laws or regulations which are not inconsistent with this Agreement.
4. This Article shall not be construed to affect requirements that relate to patent applications or granted patents, including any orders made by a judicial authority in relation to patent disputes, subject to safeguards against unauthorised disclosure under the law or practice of a Party.I'm wondering how the GPL fares here, and how much money Microsoft spent lobbying to get this included in the TPP, or if the NSA has a role in this. One aspect of this provision is that governments cannot insist on source code transparency, for mass market software, even to address concerns over security or interoperability.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday November 07 2015, @09:11AM
Provided the copyrights are all owned by corporations that aren't paying royalties to the people that put in the long hours to create it, sure.
If it's more a matter of "I don't want to spend the money I worked hard to earn in order to buy something somebody else worked hard to create," then it would be far more ethical to enjoy and promote the genuinely free music, games, videos, and stories out there, and ignore the creative people trying to earn pocket/rent money with their work. :)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Saturday November 07 2015, @10:24AM
Shirley, may I call you Shirley? that is not even a possibility. The fact that you bring it up at all makes me wonder. Yeah, that is what all us rebels want, free stuff, rather than freedom itself. If creative people are thinking about money, they are not creating. Sometimes they have to, but it is a distraction from what is important. Besides, really, "royalties"? Who do they think they are? Royals? Weird Al Yankovic, Tinfoil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0TEJMJOhk [youtube.com]