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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."
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.
Slashdot 's editors are dickheads
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.
http://saveie6.com/
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.
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. :)
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 are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
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.
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
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.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
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?
Posted by DanUltra
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.
Australian? Join EFA
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!?!)
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.
Man watching 6 MSCE's around a sun box, looks alot like the opening scene's of 2001:space odyssey...
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.
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".
Australian? Join EFA
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.
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...
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'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).
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.
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.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
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.
All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
Proposal:
.. because he's trying to work on it .. as promised
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
Check out Electronic Frontiers Australia, our equivalent to the EFF.
Man watching 6 MSCE's around a sun box, looks alot like the opening scene's of 2001:space odyssey...
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".
Will I retire or break 10K?
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.
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).
Posted by DanUltra
"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."
... Fuck.
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'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
In all reality, Australia -- as well as New Zealand -- has been the United States' bitches since right after WWII.
s C: mondediplo.com/1999/01/04echelon+australia+united+ states+echelon&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
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:OU6RBkDIMK
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.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
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.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mplist.htm
True to a degree.
.NET & Visual C# .NET to name two). If there's student editions, I'll buy them too.
If there's software I want within an affordable range for me (as a student), I'll buy it (Visual C++
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.
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.
It's just around the corner...
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.
37 - what does it stand for really...
In return, the US should implement Australian style restrictions on corporate donations to political parties, and European style data protection laws.
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....
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.
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.
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:
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.
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]
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.
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 ; )
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
Hmm that's right. Slashdot doesn't support Whirlcode...
BAH! Stupid waiting!
--
no sig for you. come back one year.
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?
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.
"Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love." --William Shakespeare ('Love's Labors Lost')
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.
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...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
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.
...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:
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.
Eternal vigilance only works if you look in every direction.
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
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.
c on omy/
o si tion/position-11.html#P563_140517
Take a look here for a look at the bright future offered by the "knowledge economy":
http://www.med.govt.nz/pbt/infotech/knowledge_e
Take a look here to see what that might require:
http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/int_prop/digital/p
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.