Australia May Adopt DMCA-Style Copyright Regime

beaver1024 writes "Australia, desperate to garner more U.S. trade, has indicated that it is willing to follow a more stringent regime for protecting copyright. This follows attempts by MediaForce to force Australian ISPs to comply with U.S. DMCA provisions. I fear that due to the current Australian government's weak spineless nature, the harsh provisions of the DMCA will soon arrive in the land down under."

Comments

Re:Can countries hold out?

[Russellkhan]

I dunno...

I'd like to believe you're right, but it seems to me that if only one or two or even a few countries hold out against the DMCA, that these countries will face trade pressure as the article points out Australia is facing - only worse, since in this hypothetical future scenario we're talking about the majority of countries having already given in to DMCA pressure.

Aus Govenment weak willed

[BloodAngel_Au]

John Howard is acting more and more as one of Bush's little lackeys, first with considering a trade agreement that will force australia to reduce local content on TV (and open up more time for US shows), lately marching into and illegal war for no other reason than USA asked him to (more likely said or else!)

Bah... And people wonder why the public is so dissolusioned with Pollies. they allmost all nowdays seem to be either yes men for Howard , Idiots or Cranks.... I wish some real people would run for election (and rule that PM can only stay in power for 2 terms), but we can only dream.

At least Region Free DVD players are legal here :)

Re:PM's Email Address

[m00nun1t]

Well, it's a bit easier for me: I live in John Howard's electorate. I live in North Ryde which is in the electorate of Bennelong - interestingly North Ryde is considered the Silicon Valley of Sydney, so should be interesting to see how the electorate responds.

So, my vote helps determine whether John gets to even be in parliament next election, much less PM. As such, I have at some level or another greater access to influence John than the rest of the Australian population.

However, all I see in this thread are rantings: "this sucks", "Australia is the US' bitch", etc. While these point may (or may not) be true, they are hardly convincing arguments.

So, if you were in my place, what would you say to your local member of parliament AKA the Prime Minister?

(Only rational responses need apply.)

Good idea

[91degrees]

In return, the US should implement Australian style restrictions on corporate donations to political parties, and European style data protection laws.