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

Can countries hold out?

[Mdog]

One thing that has always given me some hope with all this DMCA stuff is that it only takes one sensible country to not accept it, and development can go on (albeit hampered.) This story makes me wonder if it's only a matter of time until only lawless countries can host such things. Troublesome.

Re:Can countries hold out?

[smasherbob]

There's a problem with your statement there.

Think of it this way - the DMCA is a worm. It's going to try to propogate itself by spreading to as many countries as possible. The ones that choose to keep it away can, but the more countries that adopt the laws, the more at risk these non-DMCA countries will be. Trade embargos and the like from different countries can spark a nation's government into shaping up surprisingly fast.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I really believe that every (developed enough) country will have a DMCA equivilant of some kind within the next 5 years. It's only sensible to cover these new actions under law. I'm not saying that every country will adopt a code as strict as America's, of course. Not every country is run by their entertainment industry. ZING!

I'm sick of this.

[harikiri]

I'm a longtime Australian resident, and have been saddened to see more kowtowing to our 'big brother', the United States, instead of seeking out our own identity and place in the global marketplace.

This possible DMCA "adoption" is another example of us bending over backwards to please our economic partners.

I had high hopes for us when our Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) started defending our rights against DVD region encoding. Looks like we need to do more campaigning to wake the public up before this new movement gets too far.

Why is this a surprise?

[chill]

In all reality, Australia -- as well as New Zealand -- has been the United States' bitches since right after WWII.

Remember Echelon? Back in 1947 the U.S. and the U.K. signed the Ukusa (really creative name) agreement that was soon after signed on by Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This basically cemented the major former U.K. colonies and English-speaking countries as the axis around which the future world would spin.

http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:OU6RBkDIMKs C: mondediplo.com/1999/01/04echelon+australia+united+ states+echelon&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Despite the occasional noise made by various MPs, PMs, Congressman and other politicians, there is a stranglehold of a tie between those 5 countries that will be almost impossible to break.

The U.S. leads because of the simple fact that they are the biggest, baddest and richest. (Usable natural resources, military, population, economy, etc.) The others may not toe the exact line, but everyone moves in the same direction.

Minor dissent is allowed, because it gives the illusion of self determination and national sovereignty. Major dissent never happens -- not over anything important.

The rest of Europe and Russia bitch because they aren't that important anymore. The world no longer spins around France, Germany and Russia. They are being pushed to the sidelines. Hell, they did it and now it is someone else's turn.

Sad, but that is the way it works.