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American Movie Execs Could Face Aussie Jails For Hacking

Posted by timothy on from the but-but-but dept.

pegacat points to a story in the Melbourne Age which says that "American movie, recording and software executives could be arrested if they travel to Australia, could be prohibited from entering Australia, or could be extradited to face criminal charges if Californian Democrat congressman Howard Berman's copyright protection bill, which allows cracking of computers, passes into law." That's because "Under section 9a of the Victorian Summary Offences Act (1966), 'a person must not gain access to, or enter, a computer system or part of a computer system without lawful authority to do so'. The penalty if convicted is up to six months' jail."

2 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. wow by RiotXIX · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    A country that obeys the current law rather than change it for "special" people (you know, the ones with corporate money).

    Weird.

    --
    "You know you don't act like a scientist, you're more like a game show host." Dana Barret
  2. Re:Lawful authority? by StevenMaurer · · Score: 2, Flamebait
    a) If an Australian broke a US law, in Australia, the Australian courts would happily agree that the USA has jurisdiction if someone actually bothered to prosecute.

    Really? Do you see the Dutch being pressured to turn over drug addicts to US courts?

    Maybe you mean someone committing a crime in the US and fleeing to Australia? In that case you're correct - the US and Australia have an extradition treaty, effective since 1976.

    b) If a US person with money/political power broke an Australian law *and came to Australia/or while in Australia* you can bet your sweet ass that the USA would block any such attempt or our own USA-ass-kissing govt would interfere and kill off any such action.

    You mean, like this?

    Actually, you have it quite the reverse. Before an American murderer will be shipped back to the US, the Aussie Attorney-General must be assured that the person will not be subject to the death penalty. The US imposes no such non-reciprocal conditions on the Australians.

    c) If an Australian broke an American law while in Afghanistan then the Americans will kidnap the Australian and hold him illegally without representation in a US military base.

    Illegally?

    According to who, pal?

    Legalities are nicities that we all talk about to deal with civilian misbehavior during peacetime. During wartime (I hope I'm not shattering your worldview) groups of people systematically plot to go find groups of other people and commit what would otherwise be called first degree murder - not only without "representation", without even a trial!.

    In war zones, enemy combatantants are lucky to be merely detained. In the real (third) world, they are quite often quietly and unceremoniously killed. Only first-world armies such as the US actually follow the Geneva convention.