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Aussie ISP Scans Downloads For Copyright Violation

Posted by Hemos on from the your-data-is-not-safe dept.

Steve Nakhla writes: "According to this article, Excite@Home has begun snooping users' downloads in order to find copyrighted or pirated material. Violators have their access cut off. As an Excite@home user, this alarms me. What exactly is their definition of copyrighted? Doesn't the New York Times copyright their online articles? Can I not view them any more for fear of violating Excite's policies?"

1 of 423 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How is this different from a wiretap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    First off - we're talking about Australia - they have a different take on things down there, and what may be legal here might not be there (and vice-versa.)

    Well, sure. Australia was founded as a penal colony. Everyone is descended from criminals. Everybody knows that. That's why their judicial system is founded on the perfectly valid notion of "guilty until proven innocent." As upside-down as it may seem (like everything else about that antipodal garden of strange), in Australia the police actually have to get a warrant if they're not going to search your private effects.

    Anonymous cowards are currently offering seminars to assist the humor-impaired.