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TPP Has Provision Banning Requirements to Prevent Transfer of or Access to Source Code

posted by janrinok on Saturday November 07 2015, @05:16AM   Printer-friendly
from the lawyers-rejoice! dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2015, @01:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2015, @01:16AM (#260179)

    Ever use a magnifying glass to look at something with little tiny holes in it (like your skin)?
    That's what you should be thinking when you use that term.
    pore+verb [google.com]

    I've see this several times here recently and this time it was pushing my buttons once too often.

    ...and the preposition that typically follows "pored" is "over".

    -- gewg_