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!

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.

Re:Can countries hold out?

[WhaDaYaKnow]

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.)

So long as there are countries that are considered 'tax havens' I don't think you have a lot to worry about. Despite how we feel about things in our constricted world, there are bigger fish to fry.

Re:Can countries hold out?

[glesga_kiss]

Trade embargos and the like from different countries can spark a nation's government into shaping up surprisingly fast.

No one is going to start a trade embargo over devices to copy Britany records. There are far more essential and profitable trades going on between countries. Why jepordise that just because they won't implement the same laws as you WRT digital media?

Trade works both ways. If (for example) the USA was to embargo imports from country A, then you can be sure that country A will stop importing anything from the USA. Where's the sense in that? It will harm more businesses than it benefits. If the government passes that, it's more corruped by the green of the RIAA than we thought.

Re:Can countries hold out?

[Wizord]

USA laws include some very protectionist on imports. Also, USA government spends a lot of money promoting local over foreign manufacturing; some agencies even spend a lot more on some items only because it's local. This is a form of protectionism also (on an ideal free market, government will purchase the better price/quality balanced product, not taking into account its origin).

Some USA agencies are somewhat double-tongue on this: on the one hand, they push and pursue foreign protectionism using the "global free market" rhetoric, while on the other hand, they impose draconian conditions and douanes for any foreing product to be sold on the USA.

Re:Can countries hold out?

[uncoveror]

DMCA, Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Read More
http://anti-dmca.org/
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/
It isn't just in the US anymore. The corporations have bribed, and continue to bribe many countries into passsing similar laws.

This is just great

[Billly Gates]

Since America, Europe and Australia all have trade agreements I can expect that the dmca like laws will never go away.

If the dmca is appealed then the RIAA will bust you under the UUCD( Europe's dmca) and if that is appealed then you will be tried under Australia's laws. Why? Your committing a world corporate espionage which is protected under trade treaties.

So no matter what your fucked.

Dont believe me? Look at Jon Johnson. Through world internation commerce espionage laws he was tried by an American law. These trade laws were written to catch crooked while collar crooks and corrupt ceo's but lawyers who love to twist things now interpret it as an international law. What is scary about the EU is that its not a democracy and there are no checks or balances unlike Australia or the United States. It will stay forever and will the world under one master law.

Re:This is just great

[Guppy06]

"Since America, Europe and Australia all have trade agreements I can expect that the dmca like laws will never go away."

"Trade agreements" doesn't mean they're married to each other. Despite the best efforts of the WTO, there are still inter-regional barriers to trade. I wouldn't really start to worry until Australia joins either NAFTA or the EU.

If anything, the recent article about the lapsing of European copyrights should be an example of inter-regional trade issues.

Re:This is just great

[Billly Gates]

EUCD not UUCD my mistake. European Union Copyright Directive.

Re:This is just great

[Corvass]

"What is scary about the EU is that its not a democracy and there are no checks or balances unlike Australia or the United States." Strange. Last time I checked the European Parliament was chosen by democratic means. Of course, the rest of the EU government is not, AFAIK, but that's pretty much the same as the US and Australia (well, the US chooses its president, and you can see what that's got them)

Re:This is just great

[LarsG]

If the dmca is appealed then the RIAA will bust you under the UUCD( Europe's dmca)

EUCD, also known as Infosoc or 2001/29/EC.

Dont believe me? Look at Jon Johnson. Through world internation commerce espionage laws he was tried by an American law.

I assume you're talking about Mr. Johansen? If so, he was tried by Norwegian law. Pre-EUCD Norwegian law.

Re:This is just great

[Beetjebrak]

The EU is not as tightly knit together as the states in the USA or Australia. The 15 EU members each have sovereign governments, each of which is democratically formed.

Re:This is just great

[vrai]

The European parliament has no power, it is simply a sham to convince the various EU countries populations that they are living in a democracy. All the power lies with the (unelected) commission. Given that the EU doesn't even bother with double entry book keeping we can safely assume that the commissioners are at least as corrupt as American politicians.

Corrupt politicians and centralised law making means lots more DMCA type laws.

Re:This is just great

[hherb]

What makes you believe that the EU is not a democracy? The EU is a loose union of independent nations, which are all democratic - some more, others less.

In fact, some of the EU nations are definitely more democratic than the USA. Especially Norway, where Jon has been tried (and won, though appeal is on the way).

In these countries, elections are not a commercialized spectacle or a farce. Courts are not just the brainless muscles of the corporates, and individuals do stand a chance in court. After all, legal expenses in Jons case were born by the public system, he wouldn't have faced ruin as he would have in the states even if he would have lost.

It is rather issues like Sklyarovs illegal detention (by international legal standards) that scare me and reveal which country respects basic human rights and which doesn't give a hoot.

Horst

Re:This is just great

[mr_stark]

>that is scary about the EU is that its not a democracy

Stop trolling, and do some homework. The EU is a democracy.

In short the EU parliament is democratically elected by all EU citizens. The council (of ministers) who decide policy are national government ministers. Ie all the treasury ministers form the 'treasury council'. The EU commission is just a fancy name for Civil Service.

>there are no checks or balances

What about the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the European Ombudsman? Not forgetting the citizens them selves who elect parliament and indirectly the council.

Re:This is just great

[Corvass]

"All the power lies with the (unelected) commission." The commision would be chosen by the national governments. While I agree that that's not direct democracy, nothing really is these days. Government coalitions in multi-party systems are not chosen by the voters either, and neither is, for instance, the US president, chosen by the electors.

Now, that doesn't mean they can't be corrupt -- I'm not about to argue that American politicians can be corrupt while European politicans can't be, nor vice versa, but my point is direct democracy is wishful thinking in nations/unions the size of the US or the EU anyway.

Re:This is just great

[Rogerborg]

Hush now, there's no point trying to debate this. Only the USA is a proper democracy with checks and balances. We know this, because (tee hee) it's written down (snigger) on a musty old bit of paper.

Re:This is just great

[russotto]

Who needs double-entry bookkeeping when you can just keep two sets of books? (and yes, Slashdot filter, I can actually type out a reply in 19 seconds)

PM's Email Address

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess now would be a good time to have his email address, so I can tell him just how I feel on this matter. Oh well, the form at http://www.pm.gov.au/your_feedback/feedback.htm will have to do.

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.)

Re:PM's Email Address

[DarkKnight]

Unfortunately Benelong is a very conservative Liberal seat. John Howard as prime minister would not risk being based in a marginal seat.

I've lived in Ryde for well on 7 years and my vote has meant nothing.

The best bet is to make alot of noise and protest over this. John Howard is vainly hoping to curry favour with the US. Its scarey.

Re:PM's Email Address

[kubrick]

So, my vote helps determine whether John gets to even be in parliament next election, much less PM.

Isn't he likely to retire anyway?

If he does stand again, I'd say that the chance of him losing Bennelong is probably smaller than the chance that the ALP will finish third on the primary vote... something that's looking more and more likely the longer they run without leadership, policies or indeed any effect on public debate whatsoever.

Parties tend to give their leaders extremely safe seats, although Beazley had a scare a while back.

Re:PM's Email Address

[stinky wizzleteats]

History has proven that the advancement of a civilization is directly related to the free exchange of information. The free and open environment of the 1980's allowed a thriving technical community to develop within the United States. Because the innovations this community threatened existing, entrenched business models on the part of megacorps dependent on the scarcity of information among the general public, the United States enacted a devastating, punitive, and horrifying blow to the free exchange of information within that country.

In the United States, we are now beholden to large corporations as to what we can say. The DMCA has been used in dozens of SLAPP lawsuits, and has even been used by religious groups to silence their detractors. Technical and scientific conferences are now taking place overseas because scientists are afraid of setting foot in this country. We are in a fearful death spiral, where ideas are exchanged only in dark corners, and where the community whose accomplishments made information valuable are now criminals.

I say, with all possible fervor and desperation, for the sake of the free world, do not follow us into this wasteland of corporately enforced silence. Even now, public awareness of the impact of the DMCA is growing. My representative is currently cosposoring a bill to check the awesome and terrifying power of the DMCA. Just as we repealed the restrictive laws against the use of alcohol by gradual changes in public attitudes, we will eventually put the sad chapter of the DMCA behind us. For the sake of your freedom and your people, have the courage to hold out until we can change things here. We would find it unconscionable if this terrible mistake of legislation turned into a worldwide cancer threatening the idea of free speech.

Re:PM's Email Address

[posdnous]

while North ryde maybe be the silicon valley of sydney, most people who work there do not live there, if anything of greater danger to John Howard is the increasing migrant(asian) population in his electorate, witness his huge campaign last election amongst the chinese community.

In one word...

[Chris_Stankowitz]

NO. I can see the -1 Flamebits now, but lets be hoenst here. People give the american govt. a lot of crap, but I think its our big buisneses that cause the negative view of america. Yes that includes the dirty "O" word, OIL. I guess many can agrue that the lobby power of these companies corupt the govt and it is in the end their fault. So lets start a new thread, which came first Big Buisness or Bad Govt? I think they are twins. :)

You go Australia!

[PasteEater]

The MPAA must be REALLY pissed off about all of the sharing of Kangaroo Jack down under. Of course, they will most likely get their way.

*sigh*

There goes another safe haven.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just the other day I was wondering where I'd go next if the US got too oppressive.

The UK's already too surveillance happy.
The US is getting there, and has too many stupid laws to boot.

I guess it's time to look at NZ.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[hdparm]

As a New Zealander, I can tell you - look elsewhere.

NZ is too small and too dependent on Australia's and US economies that it will have to obey probable requests of this kind.

It's sad but that's how it is. Let me know if you find a place - we can go together.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[trezor]

How about Japan? I never heard any evil stuff about Japan, and I'll just assume they are a civilized country.

And in case GWB unleashes Worldwar 3 at the western world, an unpartial country would be nice to have...

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[DanUltra]

Japan has a history of human rights abuses. Any Amnesty person will tell you so.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[Johnno74]

Hey, what about the NZ-nuclear free issues then?

We held out on not allowing nuclear powered or armed US ships in our waters, in spite of immense diplomatic and economic pressure.

Sure, the DCMA isn't going to be such a powerful issue, right now, but how will the public feel in a couple of years, the way things are going?

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[hdparm]

My bet is on newkewlar :o) powered ships being back in NZ harbours before the end of this Labour term. If Helen wins next round of elections, we'll see armed ships as well, by 2007.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[Noodlenose]

Germany's even better, as the greens, the liberals and the social democrats are all pro - privacy.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[King of the World]

When given proper maintenance nuclear power has been safe for the last 10-20 years. I mean, at some point nuclear power will be OK, and I think we understand enough now to manage it.

However NZ doesn't need the power (ignore the newspaper stories today), we've got hydro damns running far below capacity and power plants shut-down because there isn't the demand.

I'm an New Zealander.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[bm_luethke]

yea, I know. At one time I somewhat *somewhat* jokingly said if the US gets rid of the first or second amendment I will move to switzerland or australia.

That's now a problem. As most of the "free" countries move toward globalization instead of looking and saying "the US has these great freedoms, Europe these, Australia these, etc.. and lets make this great big freedom type world" we have said "well the us restricts this, the EU restricts this, etc.. so lets combine these all" and create the most sucky restricted environment possible.

Note to lawmakers: just because your neighbour makes something illegal doesn't mean you have to also. Manytimes the reason people wish to emmegrate into your country is EXACTLY because you have said freedoms.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[cp99]

I have to disagree with you there. Anti-nuclearism is pretty much imbedded in a significant proportion of the population, that both Labour and National won't get rid of it. Right now it costs very little to maintain, but would cost a lot to change.

Re:There goes another safe haven.

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

NZ is too small and too dependent on Australia's and US economies that it will have to obey probable requests of this kind.

Well, we have essentially told both the US and OZ "No we don't want to join your war. But we will probably clean up after your mess." On the military side, we haven't just been going along like OZ has.

We also seem to have a higher percentage of people using the net, hopefully that means there are more people who understand and don't like these DMCA type laws.

We're also under a Labour lead gov, and have the Greens in parliment.

Hopefully, all this will be just enough to dodge DMCA type laws, without totaly fucking up our OZ-US dependant economy.

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:Aus Govenment weak willed

[DanUltra]

I agree with you entirely, except for the DVD bit.

Region-free DVD players are perfectly legal anywhere, so long as the person distributing them region-free hasn't signed the CSS license.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[tconnors]

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!)

I tried searching on google with no success. Can you provide references to the local content on TV claim?

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[more fool you]

i remember this was around the time that johnny was trying to negotiate free trade in regard to our primary producers. i couldn't find much, but i remember speculations that included increasing the amount of american shows shown in aus.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/12/10238 64297100.html

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[trezor]

And making a DVD-player without signing the CSS-license is a infridgement of the DMCA...

The asshole who thought of that law should be casterated slowly by the use of solderings irons. Thats my opinion.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[DanUltra]

The DMCA is the 'Digital Millennium _Copyright_ Act' - legally it has nothing to do with regions. So, anyone not tied to the CSS license (i.e. consumers) are able to make modifications. That's my knowledge of it anyhow.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[LarsG]

Region-free DVD players are perfectly legal anywhere, so long as the person distributing them region-free hasn't signed the CSS license.

Once a significant percentage of the EU countries have implemented the EUCD, I expect the movie barons to try to shut down region free players.

Oh, and don't try to import DVD movies from outside EU after the EUCD goes operative. Article 4.2, community exhaustion.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[kubrick]

they allmost all nowdays seem to be either yes men for Howard, Idiots or Cranks
... and then you get some, like Wilson 'Ironbar' Tuckey, who are all three!

At least Region Free DVD players are legal here :)

Watch for that to change if the Libs get their man as head of the ACCC when Fels steps down.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[NDPTAL85]

Its not illegal for the US to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction.

On the other hand, sitting by and doing nothing while not illegal is surely morally bankrupt.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed

[Dr. Evil]

As I understand it, it has to do with copyright holders controlling the way their holdings are used.

Circumventing a technology which implements a control is against the DMCA.

Communicating methods to circumvent a control is against the DMCA.

Evil DMCA... evil... and some other Slashdot mumblings.

Don't fear us!

[SHEENmaster]

As an American citizen I should tell Autralia not to fear us. We won't bomb your asses unless you give us damn good reason to.

The MPAA may be sleeping with congress, but they can't afford the needed bribes to start a war. So long as we keep pirating movies they never will and the world will remain safe!

I hereby confess to reverse engineering magnetic tapes. It was an act of civil disobedience. Come and get me.

Re:Don't fear us!

[DanUltra]

I know this is a stupid question, but what's wrong with reverse-engineering magnetic tapes? They were invented ages ago - surely all patents would have expired by now?

Re:DAMN!

[DanUltra]

As an Australian also, I am also immensely disappointed. This only confirms my suspicions that my government is filled with greedy politicians.

Anyhow, what are we going to do about it? Here's a few of my suggestions:

1. Complain to our "representatives".
2. Disobey.
3. Create our own countries, outside the jurisdiction of evil legislation.
4. Exercise our rights to free speech and, in the case of Free Software, print code on T-Shirts, in books, on mugs and, what the heck, on the Net. After all, how can free speech be overruled by lesser dmca-like laws, anyway?
5. Stop using computers. Ugh. I don't like the sound of that.
6. Cry and/or scream in horror (and shame).
7. Rejoice that the media cartels will now profit even more, at our expense.

Anyone have any more suggestsions?

Even ARIA admits piracy isn't the problem!

[decefett]

Check out this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, Piracy not the burning issue in CD sales slide: ARIA

I amazes me the lengths the Howard government will go to in order to suck up to the US.

Re:Even ARIA admits piracy isn't the problem!

[tealover]

Actually, it appears Howard is sucking up to Big Business. It appears the Australian gov't is no different than any other western style democracy. Those with money get access. Those with access get laws written.

Australia is a backwards shithole

[AbRASiON]

Trust me, I live here :(

If it's not Telstra fucking us with a Microsoft style monopoly, or "protect the people" revenue rais... whoops speed camera's - then it's senator Alston making us look like nearthandals tech wise "high speed internet is used only for porn"

Then there's a new tax / levy introduced tri-monthly to help out some band of poor bastards - course they never see the money but we still get our wallets bent over and plowed.

(I'm surprised I can still browse slashdot actually considering that "ISP's must ban content" clause that the government passed several years back.

Oh oh and we pay a SHITLOAD for cars here too, like 15 metric assloads for a car, that's right this BIG fat country with 20 million people and you can't find a decent second hand car under 10,000$ - but our backwards sheep plowing neighbours in NZ can score ex Japanese imports in the 6000$ (NZ!) range... wheeeeee

(sorry for the rant but I just have to do it now and then)

I love this country *COUGH* (I've said this a million times now, but is there ANYONE out there in the states with a spare basement for me to live in!?!)

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[Noodlenose]

Oh oh and we pay a SHITLOAD for cars here too, like 15 metric assloads for a car, that's right this BIG fat country with 20 million people and you can't find a decent second hand car under 10,000$ - but our backwards sheep plowing neighbours in NZ can score ex Japanese imports in the 6000$ (NZ!) range... wheeeeee

sorry, I only paid 1000 NZ$ for my Accord EX-T

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[cranos]

I love this country *COUGH* (I've said this a million times now, but is there ANYONE out there in the states with a spare basement for me to live in!?!)

Hey here's an idea, instead of running away, why don't you stick around and do something about it. You know the only reason we kept electing lawyers? Because they're the only ones standing. I get really sick of people pissing and moaning about our pollies(God bless their corrupted little heads) and then when asked to help make a difference, they suddenly remember they need the pubes curled or something equally important.

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[twistid_chris]

Well, as an Australian living in the UK, part of me agrees with you, part of me does not. In terms of consumables (cars, homes etc) Australia does not have a lot in terms of choice (monoplised backwater), yet, in terms of access and use of technology (in Sydney at least) it seems to kick the butt of London. (oh, and can I bitch about 11pm pub times now?) Yes, Alston has a very narrow view of the world, but every government has that type of prat (must be in the job description : Wanted...Government official to f*ck up the technological lives of millions, required skills, none, assumed skills, none: must be willing not to improve base skills) Oh, and speed cameras here, I pass at least 15 per day...

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[SirCrashALot]

On the bright side, gas doesn't cost nearly as much as england.

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[slittle]

I think you should pay closer attention to the following, with emphasis on not leaving urban areas, since anything remotely resembling a tree is currently on fire.

"Australia - The Confusing Country", by Douglas Adams

Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom half of the planet. It is recognisable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge deep into the girting sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology and plate tectonics, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight" proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory, but they can't spell either.

The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place. Where other land masses and sovereign lands are classified as either continent, island, or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically, it is unique in this.

The second confusing thing about Australia are the animals. They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them. However, there are curiously few snakes, possibly because the spiders have killed them all. But even the spiders won't go near the sea. Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on) under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this task.

Strangely, it tends to be the second class of animals (the Odd) that are more dangerous. The creature that kills the most people each year is the common Wombat. It is nearly as ridiculous as its name, and spends its life digging holes in the ground, in which it hides. During the night it comes out to eat worms and grubs.

The wombat kills people in two ways: First, the
animal is indestructible. Digging holes in the hard Australian clay builds muscles that outclass Olympic weightlifters. At night, they often wander the roads.

Semi-trailers (Road Trains) have hit them at high speed, with all 9 wheels on one side, and this merely makes them very annoyed. They express this by snorting, glaring, and walking away. Alas, to smaller cars, the wombat becomes an asymmetrical launching pad, with results that can be imagined, but not adequately described.

The second way the wombat kills people relates to its burrowing behaviour. If a person happens to put their hand down a Wombat hole, the Wombat will feel the disturbance and think "Ho!My hole is collapsing!" at which it will brace its muscled legs and push up against the roof of its burrow with incredible force, to prevent its collapse. Any unfortunate hand will be crushed, and attempts to withdraw will cause the Wombat to simply bear down harder. The unfortunate will then bleed to death through their crushed hand as the wombat prevents him from seeking assistance. This is considered the third most embarrassing known way to die, and Australians don't talk about it much.

At this point, we would like to mention the Platypus, estranged relative of the mammal, which has a duck-bill, otter's tail, webbed feet, lays eggs, detects its aquatic prey in the same way as the electric eel, and has venomous barbs attached to its hind legs, thus combining all 'typical' Australian attributes into a single improbable creature.

The last confusing thing about Australia is the
inhabitants. First, a short history: Some time around 40,000 years ago, some people arrived in boats from the north. They ate all the available food, and lots of them died. The ones that survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in the scheme of things, and spiders. They settled in, and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories.

Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged and stupid people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in Autumn(failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons when moving from the top half of the planet to the bottom), ate all their food, and a lot of them died.

About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal, and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say) - whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert, equipped with a stick.

Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being
Europeans on Extended Holiday and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your boots every morning for fatal surprises.

They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories. Be warned. There is also the matter of the beaches.

Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock, and has venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders. However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk.

As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst, and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful, and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger, unless they are an American. Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile disarmingly and look for a stick. Major engineering feats have been performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string, and mud.

Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land "Oz", "Godzone" (a verbal contraction of "God's Own Country") and "Best bloody place on earth, bar none, strewth." The irritating thing about this is they may be right.

There are some traps for the unsuspecting traveller, though. Do not under any circumstances suggest that the beer is imperfect, unless you are comparing it to another kind of Australian beer. Do not wear a Hawaiian shirt. Religion and Politics are safe topics of conversation (Australians don't care too much about either) but Sport is a minefield. The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best
{insert your own regional swear word here} country in the world!".

It is very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will 'adopt' you, and on your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served. Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite. You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul-taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes. Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal difficulties with "It's his first time in Australia, so we took him to the pub.", to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook. Be sure to tell the story of these events to every other
Australian you encounter, adding new embellishments at every stage, and noting how strong the beer was. Thus you will be accepted into this unique culture.

Most Australians are now urban dwellers, having
discovered the primary use of electricity, which is air-conditioning and refrigerators.

Typical Australian sayings

"G'Day!"

"It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp
stick."

"She'll be right."

"And down from Kosciusko, where the pine clad ridges raise their torn and rugged battlements on high, where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze at midnight in the cold and frosty sky.
And where, around the overflow, the reed beds sweep
and sway to the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide. The Man from Snowy River is a household word today, and the stockmen tell the story of his ride."

Tips to Surviving Australia

Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any
reason whatsoever. We mean it.

The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think it is.

Always carry a stick.

Air-conditioning.

Do not attempt to use Australian slang, unless you are a trained linguist and good in a fistfight.

Thick socks.

Take good maps. Stopping to ask directions only works when there are people nearby.

If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at all times, or you will die.

Even in the most embellished stories told by
Australians, there is always a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore.

See Also: "Deserts: How to die in them", "The Stick: Second most useful thing ever" and "Poisonous and Venomous arachnids, insects, animals, trees, shrubs, fish and sheep of Australia, volumes 1-42"

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[kubrick]

You know the only reason we kept electing lawyers?

Because they're preferable to bigoted chip shop owners who only go into politics to scam the public for money?

Thank God she didn't end up like Pim Fortuyn, or we'd be under a One Nation government by now. I wonder if we'd notice the difference at all...

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[imroy]

...I was preparing for my trip there by reading up on this this guide for Americans.

Oh my god. Do not follow the advice in that link. It sounds suspiciously like a certain Hungarian phrase book :)

Re:Australia is a backwards shithole

[Scipher]

Regarding Telstra, Australia's primary telco, this company has a monopoly of broadband internet rates, as they provide a mass of lines to other ISP's. It is extremely expensive for high speed net access at the moment - $50 a month gets you 256Kb access with 500 MB "free". After this each MB is another $0.08.

I pay $24.95 a month for an unlimited 56K connection from Spin.net.au. I have my machine on permanently, the current phone call has lasted 6 days, downloading. It automagically reconnects and it is "always on". Last month I clocked 10 gigs of downstream traffic. This months looks set to be around 12.

The trickle effect seems to work quite nicely, and $760 worth of traffic for free isn't bad either.

A form of civil disobedience.

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.

Those suckers on land

[SHEENmaster]

will never know the simple joy of monkey knife fight, err non-commercial dvd players.

Doesn't Homer just inspire the best in us? Anyone have a yacht and 13 miles of CAT5?

Re:Those suckers on land

[lazybeam]

[" Anyone have a yacht and 13 miles of CAT5?"]

I have a pair of WL200's and I'm not afraid to use them!

Re:Those suckers on land

[lazybeam]

Hmm that's right. Slashdot doesn't support Whirlcode...

BAH! Stupid waiting!

This sucks...

[chriskenrick]

Australia already has an equivalent of the DMCA, in terms of circumventing access controls and so on. In Australia, there are no fair use clauses for duplicating your own CDs (except software), or even for videotaping from TV. And now this, which will just hamper ISPs and make it cost more for them to do their job. Typical weak Aussie government bending to the slightest hint of international pressure. On these rare occasions, I wish I lived in a country that valued individual freedom a bit more highly compared to corporate interests.

Re:This sucks...

[DanUltra]

I've heard people say things to the contrary (about videotaping and so forth). I've tried to find information about such things out myself, but to no avail. copyright.org.au doesn't seem to even consider fair use at all, so I don't see how you can immediately conclude that there aren't any, based on what they say.

I'm probably wrong on all accounts; I'd love to be enlightened, once and for all.

Re:This sucks...

[chriskenrick]

Look in the information sheets section on copyright.org.au

Particularly the "Copying CDs tapes and records" and "TV Programs: home taping", and "Videos: home taping" ones. Pretty dire reading, unfortunately. Each one basically says "You can't copy without explicit permission, unless it's for the purposes of study, or the government".

Certainly puts the letter of the law at odds with the way it's observed

Re:This sucks...

[SlimElvis]

What about ss40 -47 of the copyright act - the 'fair use' provisions

or is it that you think your use is fair?

Economists don't believe in this agreement

[decefett]

An opinon peice from Ross Gittens (a noteable economic commentator) titled Free-trade agreement is Howard's ticking bomb does not look kindly apon this agreement.

A choice quote: Contrary to appearances, bilateral FTAs don't rate as micro reform because, as any textbook will tell you, they're more likely to be "trade diverting" than "trade enhancing".

there went that dream

[absurdhero]

I guess I won't be moving to Australia. *checks another country off a small list*

I was hoping I could escape our (America's and the rest of the Western world's) crazy possible 1984ish future by moving down under. I would still like to see New Zealand though. And they seem to be stubbornly American independant according to a kiwi friend.

Re:DAMN!

[chriskenrick]

Well, I've never tried complaining to my representatives yet, but I think I'm about to start now. Between this and the proposed new tax on blank media, enough is enough...

Chill

[djupedal]

For every higher wall there is a taller ladder

(3) YRO in 6 hours

[teamhasnoi]

That's got to be a record!

Hell, I said 'record'. Now I'll have to pay a fine of $250,000, undownload my 600 mp3s, sell my 12x CD burner (equivelent to 347) and have to move my offices to the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

Where is safe haven?

[josh crawley]

Where's the safe haven for "hackers", "reverse engineers", and decrypters? There must be some place that has:
1: 1'st world type living
2: Somewhat bustling computer community/advancement
3: Decent economy
4: None of these "DMCA" laws

And dont answer Sealand. It's way overcrowded (for a cement pole in the ocean).

Re:Where is safe haven?

[DanUltra]

Like all great hacks in the past, this will need to be built from scratch. The only problem is... I like things other than computers. If it's in the middle of the ocean, I won't be able go running very easily :-(

Re:Where is safe haven?

[Jugalator]

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get away from these stupid laws, and stay away from them in the future, is to create SlashNation, where attempts to keep any forms of information, such as source code, secret has a death penalty. CowboyNeal for president!

This might provide solutions to your points mentioned above except the first "1st world type living". The Geeks of SlashNation would have a long way to get there, but I'm sure we can do it!

Re:Where is safe haven?

[Goth Biker Babe]

Crap motor bike laws in Switzerland. They are very much second class vehicles. Thus negating the whole point of having a bike.

Re:DAMN!

[d_caff]

Join the EFA!! (Electoronic Frontiers Australia). At $22 AUD a year it's cheap at half the price. Better yet, $110 for a life membership.

Re:I'm sick of worrying on behalf of pirates.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't use 'pirate' when you really refer to illegal and/or controversial trading of copyrighted files. It's too emotive. File sharing is not pirating - no one is hurt, only helped, including the media giants, through extra sales and publicity.

That, my friend, is the truth. Yes, I'm being an Anonymous Coward.

Re:DAMN!

[DanUltra]

Thanks for that! I wasn't even aware of it :-\

China to the rescue?

[lingqi]

Not trolling, but this point in the game it might really take a country that doesn't give a shit about US bs-laws, and who is a huge market, to avert this kind of crap.

I know the knee-jerking is that "oh it's a terrible regime" and "human rights" and "think of the children" and so forth, but really though - China didn't think so much of DVDs, so they went ahead and defined SVCDs - not as nice and versatile, but pretty good standard, useful.

I mean with all the trade agreements in place, US can pretty much enforce DMCA on everybody through trade embargos and get away with it... No hope for these guys standing up to the US in these areas.

Re:China to the rescue?

[praksys]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but in China the laws are already considerably worse than in the US (Why is this a surprise to anyone? These are the guys who like to drive tanks over protesting students). For example, people have been prosecuted for collecting information which has been published in newspapers. The Chinese have no reson to outlaw circumvention - they will happily throw you in the can for posessing entirely unprotected public domain information.

New spin on the Men-At-Work song

[vodka2112]

New laws in a land down under
Where creativity is cast asunder
Can't you see, can't you see your blunder ?
You better run, you better fix it over

No seriously, this is getting sadder and sadder. Does Australia even have a body analogous the EFF to lobby against this ? Someone really oughta step up and question the validity of a law which so blatantly throws consumer rights out the window.

The whole system is screwed, I tell ya.

Re:DAMN!

[mcbridematt]

Proposal:

Convert all Anti-War protestors to anti-DMCA protestors.

If I only knew the PM's email. Don't expect Senator Alston to reply and listen.. as promised .. because he's trying to work on it .. as promised

Australia's equivalent to EFF...

[harikiri]

Check out Electronic Frontiers Australia, our equivalent to the EFF.

Re:DAMN!

[mcbridematt]

8. Make false Windows CD's and boxes which actually contain Linux distros, and 'How to get the most out of killing your local Liberal MP'

Australian "fair dealing" is more narrow than US's

[yerricde]

opyright.org.au doesn't seem to even consider fair use at all, so I don't see how you can immediately conclude that there aren't any

TV programs: home taping (PDF)

I cannot reproduce the text here, but suffice it to say that Australian copyright law's "fair dealing" exemption is limited primarily to "research or study" and does not apply to home video taping of a copyrighted work of the sort commonplace in the United States of America after Sony v. Universal established the "Betamax Doctrine".

Who will rule the world?

[teamhasnoi]

The U.S. no longer knows how to make shovels, but they know how to buy them from 3rd world countries. They then use these shovels to overwhelm these same countries with the one thing that makes America 'great' - culture.

When the U.S. is reduced to its last surviving companies, it will be the producers of media that have spent trillions of dollars in the pursuit of an unstoppable monopoly on 'content' and the profit that follows.

Will there be U.S. Steel plants? Refineries? Agriculture? No. Will any durable good be manufactured in the U.S. No.

The only thing that other countries can't compete with the U.S.: the creation(in the loosest sense), distribution, and consumption of U.S. made MassMedia.

The war on terrorism is already a poor excuse for a reality-TV show, the war on drugs is an effort to direct your 'escapes' to more profitable, advertising-rich video and movies; the war on piracy is nothing more than a giant squeezing blood from a stone.

When all that is real has been lost to a soft, dehumanized, videodrone people - that is when the countries who have made the shovels, dug the ditches, grown the food, built the roads and cities in the U.S. - that is when those countries will walk in and quietly pick up the fallen reins of America, and sense may return.

I think I just choked on a pretzel.

Re:Who will rule the world?

[jhunsake]

Keep dreaming there buddy.

Re:Who will rule the world?

[AmbyVoc]

Makes me wonder why US is so afraid of terrorism...

I believe I am finally beginning to understand the motives driving the middle east terrorists to attack US of A.

- Voice of Ambience -

Re:Who will rule the world?

[praedor]

Good job. You're on "the list" now. One false move now and you'll be picked up as a terrorist as it becomes convenient. Posting as anonymous coward didn't save you, Tom Ridge and the F.B.I. have you now.

Another term with Shrub and you will also be on the poo-poo list of the soon-to-be-formed Office of Religious Fidelity, praise JAY-SUS!

Re:Who will rule the world?

[teamhasnoi]

Yes. It's called Urban Sprawl.

Re:DAMN!

[DanUltra]

9. Convince the police to conduct a raid on all MP's houses, and punish them for 'time-shifting' and owning old tapes copied from LPs by charging them $50000 per item.

I mean, seriously, has anyone here not taped anything from TV? Recorded something from the radio when you were 7? If John Howard claimed to never in his entire life had a single infringing item in his possesion... I wouldn't believe him. He's just not saintly enough (take this proposed legislation, which should be shoved aside, not even 'considered', for instance).

Re:DAMN!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, as an Autralian citizen, I must say I'm very disappointed. I'll complain to my local MP straight away.

"Ooh! Ah, that's it. I'm going to report this to me member of parliament. Hey, Gus! I got something to report to you."

I think I can safely say..

[EvilCabbage]

... Fuck.

Where Will Quantum Computers Be Designed

[Greyfox]

Who will be the first to file charges against IBM for attempted development of a device which will render all existing crytopgraphy useless? The handy side effect that Quantum Computers make factoring trivial should be enough to use legal means to halt all further work on the devices. The lawsuits should be filed now, before the threat of the Quantum Computer is allowed to fall into the hands of hackers and terrorists everywhere!

I love a sunburnt country...

[Anonymous Coward]

.. where noses are as brown as the soil.

Re:I love a sunburnt country...

[Aussie]

a land of sweeping laws.

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.

Re:Why is this a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

"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."

Of course the world no longer revolves around London either, but as you indicated earlier we're humoured into thinking we have a certain significance, so what can I interest you in this year?

- Mercenaries, you need a few good troups here and there? SAS can help on the cutting edge and the rest of the army makes a good occupation force... err I mean "peace keepers", n.b. in original packing only used once recently in Afghanistan, but good as new.

- Various basesd and coastline facilities capable of housing mid range missiles that could reach Moscow, note, some obsolescence has been noted.

- We've some free space on a remote moorland already packed with radar and interception facilities, it would make a good location for future NMD Star Wars bases for tracking weapons from various scumbag uncolonised... err I mean "uncivilised" states. Again, we don't mind becoming a target even if we're not within StarWars, nor is there concern about painting a big fucking target all over the North of England, it's miles away from London.

- Airbases on the North Sea for testing suspiciously new aircraft and frightening the Russians.

- 1 x Permanent member vote on the security council.

Also on offer this week:

1. Nuclear testing groud in the Australian outback, they like to think they have their own government but generally they don't mind us blowing up the occasional nuke here and there, though some Aborigines can get pretty pissed at radiating their land for the next 2000 years, get them.

2. Interception bases in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Indian Ocean bases and Hong Kong (see previous), the Chinese usually don't like people spying on them.

3. Oxford or Harrow education for loyal arab states, have your favourate emirate top brass swear like an Englishman. See Jordan, or King Faisal.

4. Various bases, see Ascension Island, Gibraltar, Cyprus etc.

In return we simply ask for a sense of importance and meaning to distract from the indignity of having lost our preeminence and our descent into a tiny backward 2nd world island where nothing works properly. There's two ways of dealing with this, laughing in sorrow, or getting extremely bitter (see France).

Re:Why is this a surprise?

[cp99]

New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance was hardly "minor dissent". It lead to the breakdown of military treaties.

Re:DAMN!

[Kronovohr]

3. Create our own countries, outside the jurisdiction of evil legislation.

Several states in the US tried this years ago, and they were far better armed. I doubt you'll have that much of a chance.

Re:DAMN!

[DanUltra]

Oy, I'm not in the US. But, I concur; it would be rather difficult anyway. Also, I was half-kidding, in case you didn't notice. Half-serious, too, mind you.

Re:DAMN!

[more fool you]

find your local rep here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mplist.htm

Re:I'm sick of worrying on behalf of pirates.

[krumms]

True to a degree.

If there's software I want within an affordable range for me (as a student), I'll buy it (Visual C++ .NET & Visual C# .NET to name two). If there's student editions, I'll buy them too.

Otherwise, I'll download it off the Internet.

Am I a criminal because I pay for what I can afford, but download ('pirate' some might say) what I can't afford and thus wouldn't buy anyway?

In the eyes of federal/state laws: of course I am.

It's my responsibility to understand my country's laws. Even if they don't make any sense.

Too close to home

[Anonymous Coward]

I am an Australian citizen, but now call New Zealand my home.

I really really hope this brown-nosing with the U.S. doesent rub-off here, after all NZ has continually told the U.S. to keep it's nuclear-powered warships out of it's harbours, regardless of incentives offered by way of trade agreements.

But now that things like LOTR are so hot, and sponsered so heavily by holywood, I wonder how long NZ will be a DMCA-free zone. Not long I bet.

It'll be interesting to see how long it will take the DRM 'cancer' to spread throughout this part of the world.

The source letter and another news article

[xixax]

The Australian IT section ran this story on it today, and this letter (PDF) seems to have been the source of the stories.

Xix.

Re:DAMN!

[Noodlenose]

Move to New Zealand.

It's just around the corner...

well...yeah!

[spazoid12]

Come on...there must be thousands of people chompin' at the bit to illegally copy "Kanagaroo Jack".

Something needs to be done...

Unlikely to happen

[nich37ways]

I somehow doubt that this will go through the Senate* in Australia as the opposition (Labour Party) and independents/greens/democrats will block it because they dont want to tow the American Line and a lot of the non-Liberal politicians are making their claims to fame by not being pro-American but pro-Australian.

Although I do not doubt that we will get a watered down version there has been too much bad publicity (at least in the circles that care/understand) about the problems with the DMCA that we shouldn't end up with such draconian measures. Also we have the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commision) who have done a good job looking out for the little guy in the past ( with a fair amount of thanks from the community), and I dont think that the opposition party is willing to risk further destroying our rights and alientating the constituents for the Liberals policy glory.

nich

*Senate - We have a two house sytem, Lower House and Upper House(Senate). The government is whoever holds the majority in the Lower House, currently Liberal Party (mainly look out for big business and John Howard(Prime Minister) is seriously Bush's lap dog.

Re:Aus Govenment weak willed - Off topic

[trezor]

I still mean that part about soldering irons, though.

Good idea

[91degrees]

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

Not worried about Europe

[Captain Beefheart]

Australia may make concessions to the US to maintain favorable status, especially after that nasty bit of terrorism, but I suspect Europe will smile, nod, and tell the States they can shave their arse cheeks if they like.

The US isn't making any friends right now in the U.N., that's for sure. This is not corporate agenda, by the way, this is political. "You agree to a localized version of the DCMA, and we won't put you on our Suspected Harborer of Terrorists List," or some offer of that nature.

It's just fucking lovely when the government co-opts a corporate campaign for political gain. Hey, that rhymes. I see T-shirts and mugs in my future....

Re:Not worried about Europe

[praksys]

Actually I think you will find that most European countries have already signed on to the same treaties as the Australians, and that they are also in the process of introducting DMCA-like laws.

Take a look here for example:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25088.htm l

where you will find this:

The directive [EUCD], which was approved last year, extends European copyright legislation so that it is even more restrictive than America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), critics argue. National governments have until December 22 to incorporate the directive in national legislation.

Imperialists

[Esion Modnar]

Now I can see why much of the world sees the US as a bunch of imperialists. Everything we do, we just gotta export, including political correctness, blue jeans, and that steaming pile of shit we call the DMCA. And anybody that does not toe the line, we either bribe with incentives or threaten with bombs. We need to fix our own affairs, and most importantly to the rest of the world: mind our f*cking business!

Re:Australia...

[cranos]

Yes we have a long standing dedication to our citizens not being shot in a drunken rampage by a bunch of rednecks/depressed teenagers/psychotic public servants/whatever the flavour is today.

Bringing it back on topic, I am still trying to understand why they didn't tell Warners to go and stick their Cease and Desist up their arse. The DMCA has no force here and nor should it. If they don't like it perhaps they should talk to mini Bush and try and get him to actually look at the concept of free trade, as opposed to everyone else open up your markets but we are going to tariff the shit out of your exports.

John Howard: largest cock-sucker to run Australia

[vandan]

Is there anything Johnny won't do for his master, Baby Bush?
We go fight the US's oil war without investigating the facts or paying attention to popular opinion - here or abroad.
We accept thee US's GM crap for sale on Australian markets, unlabelled.
Now we accept the US's legal system, including their DMCA.
We might as well burn the Australian flag, loose 50% of our brains, adopt a "GIVE ME, GIVE ME" attitude and call ourselves the 53rd state of the USA.
So welcome George Bush; Australia's collective anuses awaits your shrivelled tool. I believe John Howard has already had his share.

CSIRO DIT

[pommiekiwifruit]

Is that still there at the crossroads?

Re:another state of america anounced

[Exter-C]

IT also just shows the greed that everyone has, piracy in general doesnt cost the community that much and most ISPs are paying / oncharging traffic to thier customers in Australia anyway so userpays.. its not as if every customer is doing its a select minority of average net users that download pirate software/music/videos/movies/etc/etc/etc..

little harsh considering

[phrostie]

a little harsh to call the Australian leaders names considering we americans let some F@#$% A$$ from ArKansas pass the damm thing to beguin with.

no it was not Bush who passed it.

yep, we're fucked

[Anonymous Coward]

I was born in Australia, still live here, and right now am ashamed to admit it... our government has its head up Bush's arse - supporting the latest imperialist initiative and every other boneheaded concept out of the U.S. - and the only thing that mitigates my shame at being Australian right now is the knowledge that I didn't vote for the idiots in power. Europeans built this country - why can't we look to them instead?!

DMCA takedown letters going beyond law...

[Anonymous Coward]

The DMCA letters being sent to ISPs go too far. They are not just demanding that the ISP stop the customer from sharing, but they are demanding that the ISP sever all business relationship with the customer.

This became apparent when one of the ISPs in Australia refused to comply, and went public. They showed the contents of the letter, which included the demand of immediate halt of the customer's sharing, but also the immediate cessation and severing of all business relationship with the account (identified by ip address/date/time/files/etc.)

Here's the exact quote:

Since you own this IP address, we request that you immediately do the following:
1) Disable access to the individual who has engaged in the conduct described above; and 2) Terminate any and all accounts that this individual has through you.

This goes far beyond so called "copyright infringement". This is a punitive action made by a very embittered (and according to their own sales figures, very greedy) RIAA/MPAA.

As someone who's had their dsl plug pulled on three days notice, and have been waiting more than three weeks for a new dsl provider to get permission and get switched on from the local telco, I can tell you from first hand experience the problem this causes.

If one of my children downloads and installs a p2p program, and keeps the defaults as installed, I get to have my plug pulled? All of my web sites taken down? My email server cut off? My remote users cut off? My dns server that other networks rely on as a second dns server shut down?

A careful review of the users of the p2p programs would show that the majority of the users are children. As defined in the US, children are under the age of 18. As defined by many of the "save the children" advocacy groups, children are under 19, under 21, under 25.

I've been working on getting a CD burner working on my computer, but have had problems because of the unusual ide/scsi multiple hard drive setup I have. So it is not working under gnu/linux, and I've been making coasters under windows. I have a large collection of music which I own. Does the fact that I can download the same music that I own so I can listen on my computer/car cd player disallow me from downloading this music? I have the originals, just need them in a different medium. This is known as fair use. Will a default/misconfiguration of a p2p application cost me my entire net connection? Is this what was envisioned by the senators and congressmen when they signed the DMCA bill? Was this the intent of the law?

An internet connection is viewed in the US as a necessity now. Schools are handing out assignments that include mandatory internet research. Those that don't have a connection are expected to go to the library or make arrangements with the teacher. But now the MPAA/RIAA are allowed to demand that the ISP pull the plug? On no or short notice? Library hours are being curtailed due to budget constraints everywhere. Libraries open on Sunday are unusual, and becomming more so. Saturday hours and night hours are being curtailed as well. Getting your children to the library is not an easy thing for a single parent or two parent family where both parents work. So the MPAA/RIAA get to pull my plug because their automated computer thinks I'm sharing copyrighted works?

Who reimburses me when my child's school project named after a copyrighted title shows up as a dmca violation, my plug gets pulled, and I lose customers for web sites/co-location hosting/email services/voicemail services/backup services because I can't get another dsl connection running right away? Or the downtime with ip propagation through the dns servers to the root servers with the new ip addresses of the new isp account because the old isp complied with the sever all business demand by the mpaa/riaa?

As I read the DMCA act, it says that the isp must stop the sharing. I haven't read that it says that all business must be severed with the customer. Yet the mpaa/riaa are demanding this of isps. If you were a small time isp, would you comply or fight their lawyers? So you keep the connection and face mpaa/riaa lawyers, and more enforcement action/attention by them and the bsa, or you pull the plug and face a remote possibility of a lawsuit from a user. Which would you choose?

Any changes to the DMCA law must include a prohibition on allowing the mpaa/riaa to demand that all business relationship be severed. It must only include the means necessary of stopping the "infringing" use, and the customer must be given the opportunity to respond prior to the plug getting pulled.

My plug was pulled. I suspect it was a DMCA demand that caused the plug to be pulled. But a different, unrelated excuse was used to pull the plug. In the meantime, I had three days notice. What would you do, fight it out with an isp that wants to disconnect you? Or hurry up and find another isp so that you could get your revenue producing content back online? Are all of your internet travels really within your isp's tos? Including your posts to slashdot? ISPs, if necessary, have enough loopholes to disconnect you within their terms of service so that if they get a takedown letter, they simply pull the plug rather than deal with any legal issues.

Since my local telco doesn't allow servers on their dsl connection, and since they require that the service be disconnected before another dsl reseller can place an order for service, and since the order for service takes anywhere from one to three weeks, there is no way of avoiding a several week downtime. And my local telco is the local telco for most of the northeast, and most of the east coast of the US.

It's easy to say don't allow the p2p use. But when you have pre-teen and teen children on your connection, you'll think differently. And if I "share" a number of files, yet firewall off the files so that they can be seen as being shared, yet can't be uploaded from my server, that does not violate the dmca, yet would result in a dmca takedown letter. No files were uploaded from my server to anyone else's computer, they can't be. Yet the way that the mpaa/riaa is scanning for shared files, they "see" the files as being shared, and that results in a takedown letter. So I'm not violating any law, yet the riaa/mpaa get to pull my plug and cause me economic harm?

I have some limited technical knowledge. Try explaining this to a small business owner, or someone who relies on email, internet access, and some reason (web server, vpn, mail server, etc) for a dsl connection for work. They get their plug pulled and are disconnected for 2-3 weeks or longer while they scramble to find a new dsl provider because the mpaa/riaa is looking for revenge and twisting the dmca law to their benefit? Cable isn't an option as a backup, as they don't allow vpn, and don't allow servers. A second dsl provider involves extra cost, and a separate additional phone line, or line drop, and it still involves ip number/dns interruption.

Changes to the dmca law need to be made to prohibit this vindictive behavior by the entertainment cartel. A net connection is no longer viewed in our society as a luxury. It is a necessity. No one should have the right to completely pull the plug on someone's connection. There are steps that can be taken to prevent copyrighted file sharing. Pulling the plug is an unconscionable action on behalf of a very bitter, vindictive cartel, and exposes them for who they really are.

The Verizon court case, where the entertainment cartel are attempting to ascertain the identity of a file sharer is a case in point. They state that they want to find out the identity of the person so that they can "tell them what they are doing is illegal". Really? Wanna bet they want that plug pulled and want the isp to "sever all business relationship" with that person?

Those outside the US, those in Australia, take this lesson to heart. When the laws in your country are being fought out, make sure the above situation is not allowed to happen as a matter of law. The entertainment cartels will look for any advantage they can get. You need to be equally vigilant that your legislators protect your rights. And speak up. Or you will also lose in the end.

Here is the full information on the DMCA takedown letter, and I believe the story above is linking to it also, although the story link may be a higher level link. My link goes direct to the letter and background.

This is a re-posting of an original post I made. I don't like to do this, but it is more relevant here, than at the original location several days ago. Here's the story location of the previous post for full disclosure, and here's the original post. Please don't mod this down, as this is a real world example of someone hurt by the DMCA, and is very relevant to the current topic. If you agree and have a mod point to spare, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

The entertainment cartel have declared war on us. We are all on the firing line right now and are taking casualties. Good luck to us all. We are going to need it.

Re:DMCA takedown letters going beyond law...

[russotto]

While the RIAA does demand such actions as severing your connection, they don't have the authority to do so.

In fact, the court in the Verizon case agreed that in P2P cases, the ISP is covered by DMCA 512(a). There is no takedown provision in 512(a); the ISP is not required to take ANY ACTION WHATSOEVER to retain its shield against liability. Further, YOU can sue THEM if they do; they are not shielded as 512(c) providers are.

The judge did (erroneously, IMO) decide that the 512(j) subpoena provision applied, but that doesn't mean they get to yank your access.

Re:Does anybody know any good Wheatabix jokes?

[hplasm]

Guy spends 3hrs looking thru the phone book for 'Weetabix The Builder'....

(Catchphrase from an old Weetabix advert..)

statement from the Hilary Rosen

[Anonymous Coward]

DMCA in the land down under? Where we'll go and then plunder? She said, are you trying to tempt me? loss of freedom's not much to pay! [then it got garbled, her mouth was full, something about a vegemite sandwich]

Yeah Well...

[holy zarquon's singi]

But with compulsory voting, , strong opposition [yes, I know that the democrats are dead] leading to the upper house hobbling the lower house this isn't going to get very far. Never mind. Thank god for three year terms of office, that's what I say.

Re:another state of america anounced

[Wizord]

That way, you'll at least gain the right to vote who rules you. Right now only USAers can do it.

Re:DAMN!

[mikerich]

*cries* oh it's true... it's so true... boooohoooo we're nothing but arse kissers!

Hey come on! Us Brits have precious little to be proud of (whole of Australia nods in unison), but Tony Blair's sensational record of kissing the USAian arse has been unchallenged.

Until now.

Please don't take this last achievement away from Britain - aren't The Ashes enough for you?

Best wishes,
Mike.

Re:DAMN!

[Yorrike]

Well, as an Autralian citizen, I must say I'm very disappointed. I'll complain to my local MP straight away.

As a New Zealander, I suppose I should say; "HA! That'll learn ya for kissing America's arse. Go shag a dingo".

As a freedom loving geek, on the other hand, I must say that having something this scary possibly going down so close to home sends shivers down my spine. Especially considering that New Zealand and Australia are basically considered a single market in terms of media releases.

Upside to being in New Zealand, however, is zone-less DVDs are not at all illegal, due to our fantastic parallel importing laws.

Come and live in New Zealand, it's cheaps and we own all your brewies anyway ; )

Re:What's good for US is good for AU and ALL

[CavemanKiwi]

Last time I check the USA wasn't where the car,powered water craft where invented but still. and Kangaroo Jack kick arse :)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Canada!

[orakle]

Come to canada ! No DMCA here (at least not yet!)

Something like this?

[FosterKanig]

Bruno: Ooh! Ah, that's it. I'm going to report this to me member of parliament.
[yells out window] Hey, Gus! I got something toreport to you. [Gus tends his swine]
Gus: That's a bloody outrage, it is! I want to take this all the way to the Prime Minister.
[they go down to a lake] Hey! Mr. Prime Minister! Andy!
Andy: [floating naked on an inner tube with a beer] Eh, mates! What's the good word?

Re:DAMN!

[chesapeake]

Convince the police to conduct a raid on all MP's houses

That'd be great, but (correct me if I'm wrong - this comes from a high-school trip many years ago), MP's in Australia aren't bound by copyright for their term of office. So really, they couldn't be charged with anything.

I hope that ISP's stand up and fight this anyway - they've got enough problems with the way the US Telco's charge them for bandwidth - the last thing they need is more red-tape caused by the USA's deputy sheriff, our own John Howard.

resolving copyright limits

[JThaddeus]

I wonder if Australia will change it's copyright limits to match the US. Currently, the Aussies permit copyrights 50 years after the death of the author while (as we know) the US is now twice that. That's why you can download the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald from Project Guttenberg's Aussie site but not from a US site.

Re:resolving copyright limits

[leandrod]

> permit copyrights 50 years after the death of the author while (as we know) the US is now twice that.

Do we know indeed? I think the US is 70 years.

By the way, copy rights aren't permitted, they are granted. Copy rights are not a natural rights permission, but a state-enforced artificial monopoly grant.

WIPO WCT

[SubtleNuance]

The DMCA is the US embodyment of the The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT).

This treaty, (probably) written by the RIAA/MPAA (literally) was approved by appointed trade representatives to WIPO. (see here)

When you see people marching as advocates of Fair Trade (like the opposition to FTAA) they are protesting neo-liberalization of trade by the WTO... so, dont like DMCA? dont want DMCA in *your* country? Join the effort to end Corporate Globalization through the WTO... the DMCA is a *result* of these thieves carving up our future.

Australians, Canadians, and Europeans: Find out who is your WIPO/WTO delegates are, and write a letter condemning neoliberalism (as embodied in the WCT(DMCA treaty)) and send copies to your PM/President and Federal Representative... ill be doing that now.

Have you tried?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you actually tried obtaining one through US distribution channels?

1. Go to buy.com.

2. Buy Sampo DVE112

3. Power on

4. Press open button

5. Key in 330880

6. Power off

7. Enjoy player that now plays DVDs from any region.

[...]

8. Profit!!!

Re:Have you tried?

[Eccles]

7. Enjoy player that now plays DVDs from any region.

Being region-free isn't enough, as there are DVDs that will refuse to run in that situation. You need one you can set to a particular region before you put the DVD in. (My Cyberhome 500 allows that, but they aren't being sold any more.)

Re:Have you tried?

[BollocksToThis]

The DVD's that allow you to use the 330880 code also allow you to specify which region to use - the last digit is the region.

330881 = region 1
330880 = region 0

Australia Should HATE Hollywood

[E-Rock-23]

Why the hell are they backing down and complying? If anything, they should be pissed off at the US Entertainment Industry for insulting them with that damned "Kangaroo Jack" movie...

Except, of course...

[PontifexPrimus]

...in such pesky little cases as United Nation votes on the legitimization of certain wars against certain oil-producing countries.
"Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem," said Rumsfeld, a former NATO ambassador. And what a shitstorm it caused over here - did you get any feedback on that in the US at all?

Re:Except, of course...

[chill]

...in such pesky little cases as United Nation votes on the legitimization of certain wars against certain oil-producing countries.
"Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem," said Rumsfeld, a former NATO ambassador. [cnn.com] And what a shitstorm it caused over here - did you get any feedback on that in the US at all?

We got feedback, but you would be amazed at the apathy over here. The general feeling is almost 100% opposite from what it was in the early 1800s -- now the U.S. is the big power and every one else is yapping little dogs barking at their feet.

We listen politely then do what we want, regardless.

I'm not saying it is right, I'm just saying that is the way it is. People here say "If France and Germany don't want a war in Iraq, then they don't need to fight."

Not that everyone in the U.S. is please with the situation, either. Many protest, speak out and disagree. However, the VAST majority are apathetic. The situation with Iraq should have been resolved 10 years ago -- it has dragged on too long and will continue to drag on forever if the Europeans have their way.

Quarterly report

[SgtChaireBourne]

Australia is pro-U.S. because most of the old-timers, those in or heading into retirement, remember that the U.S. more or less prevented Australia from becoming Japanese. The Brits had used the Australian and New Zealanders for cannon fodder and there were only enough left to post one soldier every few miles on a line down the center of the continent. The U.S. also put pressure on Indonesia to cease annexation of PNG (and probably Australia eventually). However, those are past deeds and not good for credit in the current generation.

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.

If these various DMCA-like laws keep popping up, then the world will stop revolving around the U.S. and it will be yet someone else's turn. Especially if a war is used to address the next set of quarterly financial reports. Russia is out - collapsed economically and out of control, which is why Putin kisses up. Britain is out. But Germany stands a good chance or, in a few years time if luck holds out for India, maybe even India.

Re:Quarterly report

[chill]

Well, DMCA-like laws popping up won't have much effect in loosening the grip of the West until the majority of content is produced outside the West.

You are right in that China, Germany and India have potential. However, India is too distracted by: Pakistan, Muslim vs Christian vs Hindu violence, and extreme contrasts in infrastructure development. They need another 20-50 years.

Germany just needs to get its economy together. If they stick with quasi-socialism, they are going to have a hard time strengthening it to the point of being a major power.

China is the interesting one. If they can deal with their internal political issues (Tibet, Tiawan and the western separatists) AND make a transition to a government not run by 80-year-old hardliners -- they could be a major world player. However, it is going to take a few of their leaders dying off for that to happen.

Re:DAMN!

[marko123]

Agh, tell me if you guys have Vic Bitter (DB sucks the big one). If so, then I'll go there when I get a fat VPN to my workplace in Australia. Sorry, don't wanna give up the salary.

Cheers, sheepfuX0Rs!

Re:DAMN!

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Or check out my sig. Would be alot cheaper than emmigration every 5 years.

it's not NZ owned...

[slittle]

And it wouldn't have to stop off at NZ if it weren't in the fucking way..

Re:Aussies vs USA

[niwrat]

Ah ... love you your description of Australian geeks! It's because we're Mahoys (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ma hoy)not geeks ... big difference.

The bright side

[gr8_phk]

Remember that everything done to increase copyright protection makes the GPL that much stronger.

This isn't a surprise

[mjj12]

Sadly, we have known this was on the cards for a while, and one or two people who work in government in Canberra have mentioned it to me. Australia wants a free trade deal with the US, and particularly in agriculture. In return for this, we have to go along with what US trade negotiators want on issues like intellectual property, and the US government is in Hollywood's pocket on this.

mod up!

[Billly Gates]

The commissions which are corrupt like the American polical system really writes the laws and makes proposals to the parliament. The parliament is not directly elected anyway so no its not a democracy. I am sure a few lobbiest from hollywood can convince oops I mean advise various EU ministers on who to elect oops I mean appoint to the parliament.

What I would like to know is if an individual convicted under a EU law can ever be appeal his/her case to a EU supreme court to have a bad law overturned? My guess from what I heard is no and that your individual member country would prosecute you and you could only appeal to your countries supreme court which would have no jurisdiction.

I am not an anti socalist nut or anti European nut. I am just simply giving you all the facts.

You may hate the American way and view us as less free because of corruption but those lobbiest that you all laugh at are already at work in your countries! England, Australia and the EU all have lots of RIAA representatives and eventually will be just as corrupt if not more over time. How do I know this? Because our system has checks and ballances that are more ballanced then the EU. If its this bad in America now, just imagine the future in the EU in 20 years?

The American system was originally designed to be more ballanced in terms of checks and ballances. It still is. Its just that %97 of the American population are unaware of the DMCA and Americans believe captitalism and the free market means tough copyright laws which will continue propserity and job growth. We are conservative and many Americans believe whats good for bussiness== more jobs. If enough Americans become outraged at the DMCA then you bet it would be appealed. Infact an assult rifle ban was almost appealed even though the vast majority of Americans oppose the appeal. Why? Because enough of Americans who own guns even though they are in the minority elect people with their views. The people hold the power and in the EU the elected prime ministers who got their campaign money from lobbiest decides who runs the parliament. It is not direct. The less direct it is the more corrupt its going to get. Sure many europeans have great legal systems but the EU is a lawset that they have to obey if they are apart of the EU.

Europe does not have it better then the US. The comments I read here so far are pure fud.

Re:DAMN!

[slittle]

Uh, we don't actually get The Ashes... you lot get to keep it no matter who wins it..

The US will.

[NDPTAL85]

You are a blithering moron if you think that just because of outsourcing that the US will lose ALL manufacturing capacity.

There is such a thing as a "strategic industry". The Pentagon knows what they are and won't allow them to go away. Ever wonder why our farmers get so many subsidies? Its one of those pesky strategic industries in that a superpower ought to be able to feed its own populace without relying on other countries for food.

Between 1929 and 1932...

[freeBill]

...the Hoover administration (in the U.S.) made two colossal errors which turned a recession/stock-crash/run-on-the-banks into a full-scale worldwide depression:

• They cut taxes on corporations hurting from the stock-market crash.
• They paid for this by raising tariffs (triggering a trade war that spread the problem worldwide)

The corporations didn't have anything to do with the extra money (there was a recession, after all), but their stock prices were depressed. So, they decided to boost their share prices by announcing larger-than-expected dividends (paid primarily to rich people). Rich people behaved as rich people are likely to do in a recession: They put the money away, playing it conservatively.

Since the Bush administration has decided not to risk the chance that corporations will avoid depression-producing behavior by requiring them to pay dividends for their stockholders to receive the latest round of tax cuts, we have to ask, "Will this cause a depression?" We have to consider the possibility of at least a '90s-Japan style depression (if not a Great Depression like the '30s).

One thing which always reassured me was the fact that no one seems likely to repeat the mistakes of the Trade War of the Early '30s. Now I'm beginning to wonder if DMCA- and WIPO-style intellectual-property regimes may serve a Trade-War-like function today. Like trade wars, they spread from country to country, stifling economic growth (trade wars do it more directly, but the DMCA does it by hamstringing innovation).

We may have discovered the missing ingredient in our depression recipe.

Re:John Howard: largest cock-sucker to run Austral

[NDPTAL85]

Why do you arrogantly assume that Americans are 50% dumber than Austrailans?

The Actual Problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

The actual problem with unjust laws in the US is that Americans are too lax about knowing their rights. The Jury in any trial or Grand Jury has rights and abilites far beyond the judge or prosecutor. We would not have so many unjust laws if citizens knew their power to disregard the instructions of the court and the resulting FULL and FINAL veto power over acts of legislature (laws). The government is here to service us, not the other way around and we have the final say in which laws are upheld in the courts.

If you get a summons for duty, don't aviod it... you may be passing up the ability to reject and unjust law... perhaps it will be a DMCA case itself! Just don't let the judge or prosecutor know you are aware of your veto/nullification power becuase they will strike you every time, it's your moral duty and perogative to lie when they ask the question. "Have you read anything about jury nullification?"

If you are unaware of your rights as a Juror then see this page:
http://www.fija.org/juror-handbook.htm

Phoenix

Re:DAMN!

[mikerich]

Uh, we don't actually get The Ashes... you lot get to keep it no matter who wins it..

Oh yes, I forgot that - apparently they're now too fragile to make the trip Down Under.

A shame that the ECC didn't think of that excuse before Nasser and the team flew out - we could have been saved a great deal of embarrassment.

Anyway if you're desperate to have the Ashes you couldn't have come to a better place, I am personally willing to exchange one of our greatest cultural icons for one of yours. Please FedEx Kylie immediately.

BTW. Isn't it wonderful to know that most of the Americans on this list have no idea what we're talking about?

Best wishes,
Mike.

Re:Australia...

[ari_j]

That's right, gun control works. Australia is a very safe place to live, now that crimes like armed robbery are more common than before the 1996 ban/confiscation took effect. You sound brainwashed to me.

Re:Like most garbage...

[praksys]

I'd like to think so too - but NZ politicians like the idea of NZ turning into a "knowledge economy", and they almost certainly think that stricter ip laws will be required for that to happen.

Take a look here for a look at the bright future offered by the "knowledge economy":

http://www.med.govt.nz/pbt/infotech/knowledge_ec on omy/

Take a look here to see what that might require:

http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/int_prop/digital/po si tion/position-11.html#P563_140517

Where you will find this little tidbit:

H. WIPO Internet Treaties

36. The Ministry recommends making any changes to the Act as a result of the current review in a way that benefits New Zealand, whilst enabling our compliance with relevant aspects of the WIPO Internet Treaties. Views are sought on New Zealand's possible accession to these treaties.

Re:DAMN!

[mikerich]

AMERICAN. Not USAian. AMERICAN! United States of America! Its in our friggin country name.

And that folks is what happens when you take /. postings too seriously.

No other nation in the Western Hemisphere has "America" in its name.

Hey you're right - and there's only one Mexico and Uruguay as well :) These unique country names could come in useful someday.

Calm down no one was offending America, we all know what an important role it has in stopping Canada fraying at the edges.

Best wishes,
Mike.

But isn't that what the people want?

[mnemotronic]

You Aussies have previously demonstrated your willingness to relinquish your rights, so what's the big deal? Oh, by the way, once you start down the path of surrender, you can't stop, but you knew that.

The sad part is that this same progressive loss of liberty has already started elsewhere, including the US. Government works best with unobstructed power, and personal freedoms get in the way of that. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Re:But isn't that what the people want?

[MrOrn]

What a lot of garbage that article is.

In Australia today, police can enter your house and search for guns, copy the hard drive of your computer, seize records, and do it all without a search warrant.

Bzzzzt. Wrong answer. Police need a search warrant to enter your house to search for anything.

Port Arthur (a Tasmanian resort)

Bzzzzt. A resort, yeah right. It's a collection of ruins that is a tourist attraction.

crime Down Under has escalated

Bzzzt. To quote from the Aust. Bureau of Statistics : Between 1993 and 2001, there has been an 11% decrease in murders where a weapon was used over this period....while the number of victims of murder has increased slightly from 296 to 306, as a rate per 100,000 population there has been a slight decrease from 1.7 to 1.6 victims.

"And consider the fact that over the previous 25-year period, Australia had shown a steady decrease both in homicide with firearms and armed robbery - until the ban.

Funnily enough it is still decreasing, as I have just shown.

There is obviously a highly intelligent and well-read author at work (Dr. Miguel A. Faria Jr.) saying, inter alia:

• "Australia remained a subject of Great British [sic]",
• "the leftist Australian government" after having just described it as centre-right,
• "this last one [citing the "Australian Democratic Party" [sic] -- I assume he's referring to the Australian Democrats] easily tilted the balance of power toward stringent gun control" which is totally false, as the present conservative Prime Minister introduced the bill himself.

Laughable. Thanks for sharing your ignorance.

PS You forgot to have a look at comparative staistics between countries: Gee, doesn't the data show what a tragedy Australian and English gun control is for children. I'll leave you to search for statistics on adult deaths; which will be higher, as the US adults "have the right to bear arms".

from what I have seen the Aussy gov. do

[the_2nd_coming]

I bet they will take the DMCA 10 step s farther and make it even more draconian.

ridiculous prognosticating with baseless reasoning

[vena]

that post is ridiculous. the US provides 1/3 of the food imported by the ENTIRE world. if anyone here is being lead by the media, it's you. the US is a pretty damn big country, and simply because only the coasts get on the news doesn't mean they're the only parts of the country doing anything.

if i had mod points, i'd mod you the troll that you are.

Re:DAMN!

[coke_dite]

Ouch - my Canuck ears are burning.

Re:DAMN!

[Yorrike]

You actually like VB? OK then. Yes, if you moved to Kiwiland you would have no problems in your continued self punishment. We have plenty of VB ; )

Re:John Howard: largest cock-sucker to run Austral

[zurgatron]

We might as well ... call ourselves the 53rd state of the USA.
If Australia became another US state then at least we'd have gotten something in return for all that brown-nosing: the right to work & vote in the USA.
I'm sure the US would prefer to keep stringing us along as alien colonials with no rights.

Re:DAMN!

[Snoopy77]

If there is one thing Australian's live for, it is seeing us out do you Poms. On the sporting arena it has become all to easy, but when Tony Blair started licking some Bushy ass we knew we had to bring back Little Johnny Howard. We do have to give you Brits some credit. You pulled a swifty on us. We had no idea Blair could lick ass so well. I guess we, the Australian public panicked a bit. What were we to do. Little John was lying through his teeth about boat people and locking up 'deadly' refugees for years. But we needed an ass licker. So, with our country's pride at stake, we voted him in for a second term, with a clear mandate to lick ass till he had worn his taste buds right off his tongue.

Blair performs well, he's got good form. But his only weakness is that he sometimes tends to think for himself. This is why we chose Deputy Ditto, as we affectionately call him now, to go into bat for Australia. Johnny's ability to think up of absolutely no ideas himself has made him tough to beat. But I think what really sets him aside from Blair is his small stature, just the right height to lick ass.

Sorry if we've outdone you again but we'll let you beat us in soccer :)

Re:John Howard: largest cock-sucker to run Austral

[styrotech]

Why do you arrogantly assume that Americans are 50% dumber than Austrailans?

1) after loosing 50% that would be twice as dumb, not 50% dumber.

2) they can't spell Australians

I'm just kidding - BTW extra apologies for blindly assuming you are American :)

noooooooooo

[lmt]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ok i dont care that much, but still, its crap.

I kind of like it

[0x0d0a]

No other nation in the Western Hemisphere has "America" in its name.

But, of course, there are other countries on said continent. And "European" doesn't refer to, say, a citizen of a member nation of the EU -- it refers to any resident of Europe. "African" doesn't refer to a resident of South Africa.

Frankly, I've always felt that using the phrase "US citizen" instead of "American" would be more accurate. The only problem is that it's too long -- "USian" solves that, however. I think I'll start using "USian".

Re:I kind of like it

[NDPTAL85]

How are idiots who use the term USian supposed to pronounce it?

An idea!

[0x0d0a]

I guess it's time to look at NZ.

Oh, come on. Why not try to get a job doing IT work at the largest data haven in the world? :-) It doesn't fall under Brit law, though of course you couldn't live on the mainland if you wanted to stay outside of it...

Re:DAMN!

[BollocksToThis]

I have a question for your MetaNet FAQ -

What's the difference between this idea and freenet?

Buisinesses can't fire missiles

[donscarletti]

Americas big buisinesses never presured our governement to send our boys to 'nam, It is America's governement that is cutting of trade to Iraq, robbing us of a valuable wheat export. And it is the American governement that forces Australia to lick rim for them or else. The only two countries that have pulled their tongue out of Uncle Sam's butt are North Korea and Iraq and look at George W threaten them with death as part of a diversionary tactic to cover up his own stupidity and incompitence with a wave of national patriotism. When those troops charge over the border from Kuait in a few weeks if Iraq does not kiss more arse it will be the governement slaughtering Iraqis not Coke, not GM, not even the dreaded Microsoft, but an elected body chosen by the American people.

It is this that causes the negative view of America. Arabs don't fly planes into buildings simply because they don't like American comertialism. Would you be prepared to take your own life for buisiness reasons?

It is these trade embargoes like against Iraq, against Cuba, against every country that dares to defy the United States. And it is the constant threat of invasion by the American army with a flurry of self rigtous rhetoric that the Australian government fears. Hell the American Governement has military bases inside of Australia with god knows what weapons of mass distruction (yes, America has them too). Out here it is kiss arse of die. If John Howard refuses to adopt American policys (like the DCMA) we may at any time be labled as a "rogue state" and part of the "Axis of Evil" and America may claim we have "weapons of mass distruction" and invade us unless they have proof that we have no weapons. Which is too bad because even if they don't find any weapons, that is not good enough, we would have to proove we had no weapons by showing them the weapons that we don't have. And if the weapons they do not turn up do not include all of the weapons they claim we have.... it will not show that they were wrong... it will show that we are hiding something.

You see the Australian government lives in fear. And your corperations have nothing to do with it.

Re:Australia...

[cranos]

Oooh look you use links, when I first saw them I thought maybe hes using unbiased sources to put forward his point of view but nope, should have known better.

So far we have a link to the "Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed"(weapons I assume). The MCSM which looks strangly like a militia under cover as a group of "Concerned Citizens" and an article by two economists? Oh and article which in itself is over a year old and uses a report which uses data from 1995.

Well let me just say that Im convinced.

Re:John Howard: largest cock-sucker to run Austral

[styrotech]

Hehe, and if anybody thinks my spelling mistake (or mistakes?) has any bearing on the discussion - Sorry, I'm neither Australian nor American.

Doh! :)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The poster of this topic really pissed me off

[GuruJ]

It's not about being 'desperate for more trade', it's about forging closer ties with the U.S. (not that we need them, thanks to Little Johnny), staying true to the Government's philosophy of lowering trade barriers, and reducing government intervention.

I truly hope the free-trade agreement falls through. I don't think it's in Australia's best interests. But writing about it in this way is at best, not helpful, and at worst, misrepresentative and counterproductive.

Re:DAMN!

[vandy1]

God, why on earth is my comment "Overrated?", anyone? Fuck, what are moderators on today?

Michael

under the DMCA, everything

[SHEENmaster]

because it allows the copying of copyrighted material, even if I just use it to make personal backups as I am legally entitled to do.

The DMCA is bs.

Re:Australia...

[ari_j]

I searched Google. There were exactly two articles supporting or giving positive results of the Australian gun ban: one was written in 1996, about 1 month after the ban took effect, and the other didn't back themselves up with any numbers whatsoever. If you read all my links, you'd see that they all agree in numbers, and come from various sources, and indeed one is even very objective. Don't be a fool - it's okay to disagree with me, but not blindly.

Re:ridiculous prognosticating with baseless reason

[Johnno74]

Can you please provide some links to back that up? 1/3rd seems a little high....

Not that I'm saying anyone here would make up statistics on the spot, y'know... ;)

Re:Australia...

[cranos]

Im not disagreeing with you blindly I am just stating a fact. Of the articles you linked to one was referencing out of date information, two were blindingly biased towards the pro gun lobby and the last one was written by two economists, people who can't agree on how to run an economy let alone proper crime policy.

You the funny thing is we banned guns to reduce crimes with guns and you know what it worked. Crimes involving fire arms fell. The other crimes rose and fell as well. Funny that, happens every year and given the current uncertain economic climate and political climate I would not be surprised if crime was up last year either. We removed one aspect of crime however we still need to tackle other aspects such as economic in-equality, what we want our justice system to do and so on.

Re:DAMN!

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Thank you, I'll add that tonight. In the meantime though, I'm glad to answer this here.

First off, let me say that I have no ill will towards freenet. The more options, the better off we all are.

However, freenet is designed to simply be a secure p2p network. This is good for many things, but it lacks many of the things that I like about the internet proper. Things that have been abused or mismanaged. Mind you, there are people wanting to build an IP transport layer onto freenet, but this is the wrong approach IMO.

In the end, it's rather simple. The designers of freenet want a secure p2p network, and I want a secure IP network. Heck, maybe we should run freenet over Meta? ;)

Re:Australia...

[ari_j]

They were hardly blindly doing anything. They had numbers, and the numbers have agreed with everything I've been able to find. As to crimes with firearms falling, everything I've read indicates that firearm crimes did fall in the first 1-2 years after the ban took effect, but have been rising and are right back to within 0.1% of the average level from years prior to the ban. What you're failing to do is provide any sources that disagree with those which I cited. I'd love to see some numbers on this, but I can't find any objective data at all that supports Australia's gun ban.

Electronic Frontiers Australia media release

[ghostrider_one]

Electronic Frontiers Australia has just issued a media release on this topic.