Rami Olwan

I have recently prepared a report on Jordan to Consumers International. The 2010 Consumers International IP Watch List report asks various questions to asses the copyright system available in the country to determine its level of openness to the idea of access to knowledge (A2K).

Oman has taken a key step forward in its drive to promote free software by signing collaboration agreements with three leading higher education institutions in the country.

The memorandums of understanding (MoUs), signed by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), the Nizwa University and the Higher College of Technology, outline levels of co-operation to develop and strengthen a culture of free software in the society.

Recommending Linux makes you an enemy of the state, apparently.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance, which is an umbrella group for the entertainment cartels such as the MPAA and RIAA, has demanded that Indonesia, Brazil and India should be placed on a special trade watchlist merely because they recommend the use of open source software.

The Consumers International Global Meeting on A2K 2010 is to be held at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 21 and 22 April 2010.