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Tougher Copyright Laws for Australia
smee2 writes "The Age reports Tougher copyright laws linked to the Australia-US free trade agreement (FTA) have been passed by the Australian parliament, AAP reports.
The bill, which passed the Senate last night, will enable people other than copyright owners to force internet service providers to take down material allegedly infringing copyright."
that is the internet will not last forever. cherish it.
From the country that granted a patent on the wheel? Oh, and FP!
Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
Isn't Sharman Networks based in Australia? I wonder if this will affect Kazaa.
Am I missing something?
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."
The article:
Tougher copyright laws passed
Canberra
December 8, 2004 - 9:30AM
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Tougher copyright laws linked to the Australia-US free trade agreement (FTA) have been passed by parliament, AAP reports.
The bill, which passed the Senate last night, will enable people other than copyright owners to force internet service providers to take down material allegedly infringing copyright.
The internet industry raised concerns in a brief inquiry held overnight that the changes could bog down the industry with automated copyright claims.
The bill also made minor and technical amendments to the Copyright Act and the FTA implementation laws to improve Australia's implementation of its copyright obligations.
The changes followed last-minute talks between Australia and the US to finalise the FTA which takes effect on January 1.
The FTA for the first time gave performers economic and moral rights in sound recordings.
A number of criminal offences were broadened to target copyright breaches for financial gain or commercial advantage and significant infringements on a commercial scale.
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New provisions were introduced in relation to the unauthorised receipt and use or distribution of encoded broadcasts.
And the term of protection for copyright material was extended by 20 years.
The Australian Greens and Democrats voted against the bill, saying it would impact on freedom of speech and media diversity on the internet.
Sam Varghese adds:
Internet Industry Association chief executive Peter Coroneos said the bill had passed after Trade Minister Mark Vaile had exchanged a letter with his Opposition counterpart Simon Crean, pledging to work with the industry in drafting regulations that would "take the sting out of the bill."
Asked whether the US would not object to such watering down, Coroneos said it was a case of treading another fine line. "We are meeting Mr Vaile tonight in Canberra to work on the regulations which would be used to soften the bill," he said.
He said the bill was likely to go to the executive council by the 16th.
Asked whether the Americans would not object to such "regulations", Coroneos said he had no comment about what the reaction would be on the US side.
He said the IIA had been working with the negotiators for the last 18 months and had reached agreement on suitable copyright provisions, acceptable to the Australian industry, in July.
Coroneos said the changes - introduced because of section 154 of the US Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act 2004 - which had the internet industry up in arms, was shown to him only last Thursday.
"It may look like a last-minute effort but it is not," he said.
Reading the article, it seems like the people in Canberra are like dogs, looking up to their masters and asking if they can do this, or that..
It's truly a sad day for all Australians
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
Asked whether the US would not object to such watering down, Coroneos said it was a case of treading another fine line. "We are meeting Mr Vaile tonight in Canberra to work on the regulations which would be used to soften the bill," he said.
Who cares if the US objects to laws in Australia? How is it any of the their business?
Rember this one?
Censoring The Net With A Hotmail Account
I think Australian ISP's will be very busy for the coming time..
it's creeping creeping. I hate to think how much of a police state this place will be in 10 years.
And the term of protection for copyright material was extended by 20 years. because 50 to 120 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries'_co pyright_length
will just not give you enough time!
(personel note: wiki is wrong right? it can not be THAT long!!!)
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Denis Diderot.
Dear Australia,
Stop following our example. IT IS NOT A GOOD ONE.
Your friend,
The U.S.
(I'm posting from Australia, it's a joke!)
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
... even highlighted the main issues. How to Kill a Country. A bit dramatic but the agreement undermines some crucial aspects of our sovereignty. The PM (Prime Minister) laughed off the IP issues as just "technical matters". Yeah right. Shafted a-fucking-gain.
Bitter and proud of it.
I'm in Singapore, which is also in a bilateral FTA with the USA. My concern is that the FTAs that are being pushed through are actually a blatant attempt to enforce american law in countries where they have no prior influence over. If you're looking for a governing body over the entire internet, there it is, America is becoming the Nazi that will police the cyberstate of the Internet(s!). Of course, living in the commie state that I do, you'll never hear any of these concerns voiced over the mass media channels, which are all but overflowing with praise for the government and their clever negotiating of this FTA. Fear.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
Heh. If you were really Americanized, you would have spelled it Globalization.
Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
Capitalism does not kill people - people kill people.
Yes, yes, send those people to Kirabilly House Sydney Australia.
Twit.
Ahahaha.
dude, they already did that 5-6 years ago. It didn't work then, infact all it did was drive a few porn-site operators out of Australia and move their hosting to the US, where it was CHEAPER to host the data (by a reasonable margin, what's more). Just take Abby Winters as a good example (google it yourself). She was pissed that she had to stop paying an Australian company money to host her material, even tho it was more expensive, iirc.
The blacklisting that was supposed to accompany it was a complete joke, what's more, and has failed miserably, a grand total of about 20 sites got reported in the first year or two, and no-one's heard of it since.
Good to see that Australia doesn't have the parents television council or whatever that bunch of whackos they have in the US is making things 'safer' for Australians (yet, *knocks wood*)
ashridah
Actually I think the real reason is that as the "Melting Pot", there are many Americans from other countries who now are so happy with living in America that they just want their fellow, (former), country men to have the same benefits they receive in America.
I don't get it - this is a Free Trade agreement - file sharing is the acme of free trading??!
> Indicators, they are your friends! >
As far as I know, Australia doesn't even have an official fair use cluse. Not in the law books, not in any verdicts. Ripping your bought CDs is technically illegal, technically.Not that anybody cares.
Scandinavian countries have fair use in their copyright laws, while the US has it in the Betamax verdict.
This place is falling apart.
... maybe we can make Tasmania a new country!
People thought it was bad being part of the monarchy (The Queen of England etc) but I'd much rather that than be the next state of the US of A.
It's sick, disgusting and nothing but a sell out of what Australia used to stand for.
I'm thinking that I'll move to NewZealand or
Not only has this copyright bill gone through, they also just passed an Electronic Surveillance bill that "regulates the use of surveillance devices (data, optical, listening and tracking devices) by law enforcement agencies and.... also significantly widens the circumstances in which they can be used and the types that can be used." where is the government free space??
They Don't need to, they already have made the same decision 11 years ago.
c.f. above
After the FTA was signed but before the enacting legislation, a bunch of sham "Public Consultations" were held. Lots of small businesses and individuals gave many good reasons why (especially) the IP related parts were very damaging to Australia and gave all the advantages to America.
End result: Nothing changed.
Thank you, Canberra, for selling me out yet again, you short sighted bastards!
The big deal was not the copyright enforcement provision, but:
"...the term of protection for copyright material was extended by 20 years"
and
"New provisions were introduced in relation to the unauthorised receipt and use or distribution of encoded broadcasts"
These will have a real impact on IP in Australia.
"The changes followed last-minute talks between Australia and the US to finalise the FTA which takes effect on January 1."
is how they dunit.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
...who is affraid of Indonesia.
Funny or Flame, you decide.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Sounds like brainwashed horde to me.
Its like, when you become a zombie after being bitten by a zombie, you want to bite others, and thus, infect them as well - turning them into zombies.
So, the US is inhabited by Zombies?
Ack! Zombies!
// instant - "I for one welcome our new Decaff Coffee-Flavoured-Coffee Overlords"
The Australian FTA is particularly bad for Australia (from a purely monetary American perspective, you should be glad the Australian government is such a ham-fisted negotiator), but I don't think it's particularly unique here. In fact, FTAs are bad news all round - and this is coming from a perspective of mostly being in favour of free trade. They force all sorts of stupid tracking costs so you can prove that you're not acting as a transshipment point for goods from countries not covered by the FTA, cause all sorts of distortions, and serve as a convenient political cover to force through all sorts of measures multinationals like but citizens aren't so keen on.
Frankly, I think the rest of the world should gang up on the United States at the next round of WTO negotiations and demand looser IP laws. Even if they don't get them it's a hell of a bargaining chip to get the US to play ball on a lot of other issues.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
That's really a pedant's argument: both spellings are acceptable in modern English when derived from the greek -izo. Some Americanizations such as analyze, use the same sound but critically they do not use not the same derivation and should correctly be spelled (at least in the UK) with an s.
Is there an up side, or did we just end up with the worst of both worlds?
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
to mention some of the existing doozies
l ia.law.html/
- identifying an inteligence agent
- refusing to co-operate (no such thing as a right to silence)
and don't forget The Crimes Act VIA 1914 (as amended)
A sample
http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/Crime/Austra
In some parts the Crimes Act VIA relating to Commonwealth data the onus of proof is reversed and possession of data = guilt until therwise established by a court of law
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
Did they just say that someone can request a takedown for copyright material of they don't own?
As far as I know, it is technically impossible for anyone but the copyright holder to know if the copyright is being violated. Why? Copyrights don't have to be enforced. Most people that don't care too much about their specific copyrights just don't bother to enforce them unless there is blatant plagiarism.
Further, how would anyone but the copyright owner know if some agreement had already been made?
Please tell me I am just incredibly misinterpreting it (and, yes, I did RTFA) and they aren't just being mind-bogglingly stupid.
The "Brittanica" is published in Chicago; so that's not really relevant. Personally (Australian) I use "ise" whenever there's a choice.
I've heard very little discussion about how we (people who believe copywright and patent law has tipped too far in the corporations' favor) can use these laws AGAINST the big guys.
An earlier post suggested overwhelming Aussie ISPs with inaccurate copyright-breach claims.
But how about taking these laws to their logical, unreasonable conclussions on the lawmakers' and coprorations' own turfs?
For example:
- Bring coypright violation claims against the websites of the Aussie parliamentarians / senators / corporations that supported the bill.
- Try to find ACTAUL copyright violations of these guys. Then tell ISPs to bring down these offending sites. But do it in a trickle of death. I.e., don't tell the site maintainers about all infringing content at once. Rather, tell the ISP about it once offence at a time, requiring a new take-down---fix-content---bring-up cycle for each offence.
- Develop our own submarine patent portfolio for use against corporations.
I think at best this could get new versions of the law up for consideration by lawmakers. Unfortunately, that just gives the special interests more of an opportunity to craft law to our disadvantage.
How do we actually get the lawmakers to TRY to craft law that's fair or even anti-copyright? Is there no way we can do it, since they ALWAYS ultimately follow the money?
Encyclopedia Britannica favoured ize before they became an American company.
What if the copyright owners gave permission to post the material? For example, the source for Linux is copyrighted, but the copyright owners gave explicit permission to post it.
If you are really concerned about your "precious intellectual property" getting posted on the Internet DO NOT PUBLISH IT. Lock it up in your safe and don't let anyone see it.
...richie - It is a good day to code.
THIS is a overbearin copayroit law.
Hrm. Not as catchy as the knoif.
Someone had to do it.
What is likely to happen is that ISPs will simply bump up their prices to cover the cost of processing all those notices.
And amend their terms of service so that when they process and act on a fake takedown notice there is nothing the customer can do against them.
and now they are succeeding in spreading it to the rest of the world. Throughout history talented individuals created artistic movements. These movements are often based upon the foundation built by others. Artists copied the work of others and then changed it to suit their needs. As these ideas became popular they were copied yet again from others. How long until even this will be not allowed? Imagine if you will what would happen if the precepts that are taking over in the entertainment field were to be applied to science? Imagine what would have happened to the newspaper industry if the current laws had been on the book back when it was starting to take off?
I hope politicians in other countries aren't so ready to follow the US so blindly down the path to mediocrity. But it looks like it is too late for the Aussies.
One that takes all the good things from the different networks and makes them into the ultimate P2P app.
It should have:
1.complete open unencumbered protocol specs
2.Open Source reference implementation
3.Complete encryption of all files shared along with random files being stored in random locations (i.e. like Freenet has where its next to impossible for anyone to tell exactly what files a given person is actually sharing). It should be designed such that even the owner of the machine has no way to know who is downloading what from their machine.
4.Good search feature so you can find what you want easily (including an equivelent of the ed2k:// links so websites and stuff can link to files on this network)
5.communication features (ala IM/chat) that let you find and talk to other network users.
6.Encrypted network traffic. A great way to do this would be to encapsulate everything with SSH so that anyone in the middle only sees SSH requests. This makes it harder for service providers to shape or block it without harming all those who use SSH for its many many legitimate purposes such as CVS and remote access.
7.It should feature downloading from multiple sources if available (i.e. spread the load around)
8.It should feature a built-in program similar to peer-guardian and other such programs that can block IP address ranges owned by the copyright police (with the database being totally open for all to see as well as ways to add your own local entries if you want). Certainly this would be incorporated into the protocol specs and the reference implementation.
9.It should be deasigned to be totally non-relient on any one central server or servers.
and 10.It should be designed such that it does not require large system requirements (e.g. big CPU usage, large RAM usage, big disk space requirements etc) and so that it doesnt have undue bandwidth requirements (i.e. no more than current P2P apps require)
Because its Open Source (and Open Specifications too), there is no central target to go after like there is with kazza or napster or audiogalaxy.
Development of clients can happen in many countries and in many places making it impossible to stamp out. (plus, if its popular, it will be mirrored in plenty of places simply through that fact alone)
Because its encrypted and goes over SSH (or something else standard if SSH is not sutable), its difficult to block this without getting legitimate users of that service annoyed
Because it has the encryption and "files can be anywhere" features of Freenet its much harder for the copyright police to link files to machines/IP addresses (which makes figuring out who to sue harder) Also, this means that it would be possible to show (even in a court of law) that you didnt know that your file share contained copyrighted material, child porn, terrorist stuff, music not produced by the RIAA cartels or whatever else that the government who holds juristiction over the machine in question has decided to declare "illegal" this week.
Because it has IP blocking (like Peer-Guardian etc) its easier to find where the copyright police are scanning from and stop them from connecting to your machine
You know, that giant Country on top of you guys. Come on up, we'd like the company. Just dont bring that piss you call beer. ( And dont forget a toque, but only for 6months )
Will all people other than the copyright holders be able to do this? Will only the duly appointed representative of the copyright holder have any standing?
The problem with such an open ended definition is that the quote in the submission makes it sound like anyone can suddenly make ISPs do all sorts of things.
And to you Aussies, I feel for you. As a Canadian we frequently find that FTA with the Americans means "you must buy our stuff, but your cheaper made goods are unacceptable". It ends up feeling being a new open market to sell US goods without any reciprocation whatsoever. They're too busy passing laws to protect their own industries.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Wait a minute.... If enough hotmail members claim they own the (c) to Linux and have the sites taken down, who is going to benefit? Is this a ploy of MS to counter L? ;-)
The metric tonne is a unit of mass, 1000 kg. But what is the unit of weight in the same order of magnitude? Is it the new tonne, 10 kN?
Are you sure that what you ask is possible to implement? Freenet has had to make some sacrifices to some of your other points in order to maintain enough anonymity for a plausible denial. Some of your requirements seem conflicting in practice, especially 3, 4, and 10.
...when I say:
We're geeks... We're the sorcerers of the modern-day world. --
I was using SSH for a while, backing up my hard drive's overflow onto a friend's server. But then one of his up-stream providers apparently decided to block it. My friend's internet service still works for him, but heck, I can't even ping my backup server there at his office. My traceroutes go AWOL about where they come to his city-wide aggregator, not even his local ISP!
His local authorities have legitimate reasons for network-warfare paranoia. They do have high-grade criminal and foreign-intelligence activities to try and block; and they don't have an army of English-speaking network experts to keep up with all the latest hacks & counter-hacks. But my point is, their action has disabled legitimate use of the net.
And this kind of shit is happening everywhere.
So we need to be thinking about steganographic successors to SSH, if we are to take what is left of the net and restore some usefulness. So to your list, I want to add:
11) We need systems that tunnel everything through what appear to be simple, boring port-80 http requests.
12) And we need ways to make it all work from behind fascist NAT firewalls--NATted http is already all the access many of us have left. [Let me add, BitComet's NAT hack is glorious. So is the TSP IPv6 client's NAT tunnel, if only more stuff would become IPv6-aware and use it.]
13) We also need virtual clients/ nodes implementing the above features, that can for example run entirely in web-browser Java plugins, to be used portably on locked-down public-access machines. [I'm thinking partly of Portable Firefox et al that can run on machines without installing; but also Azureus & the MindTerm SSH client, and all those web-based virus scanners.]
We do need ways to communicate securely between machines, without looking guilty with all that obvious encryption; without drawing so much traffic-analyzable attention to ourselves. In this perspective, SSH with its up-front encryption [even when it works] is just a first-generation hack. Mere crypto always looks guilty; always makes authorities nervous. The SSH needs to run on top of an additional, steganographic layer.
The internet was a nice idea while it lasted. But if we are going to keep the net useful for anything better than viewing adds, there are a lot of great programming challenges still out there. That's why I keep hoping all you laid-off hot-shot programmers we hear about, don't get depressed and let your skills rust just because the management doesn't want you any more.
time to reach for the shotty, RE style (d-pad up...wait...wait....BOOM!)
we need RE:AMERICA.
all you are, is all you are, i'm so sorry for you.
Not when the term extends to 70 years after the author's death. Even at the term of the author's death is too long. A 10 years term sounds more reasonable. What? You think your works are original and free from derivations of others' works?
1 lb of fat = 3500 calories.
Most humans use up about 2000 calories a day.
So, you need 40 lbs * 3500 calories = 140,000 extra calories over 30 days = 4667 additional calories a day (above your 2000 or so needed), so let's say 6667 calories a day.
Using their nutrition table, let's pick:
Breakfast:
- Deluxe Breakfast 1220 calories
- Vanilla Triple Thick® Shake (32 fl oz cup) 1110 calories
Lunch:- Double Quarter Pounder® with Cheese 730 calories
- Another Double Quarter Pounder® with Cheese 730 calories
- Vanilla Triple Thick® Shake (32 fl oz cup) 1110 calories
Dinner: same as lunchTotal: 7470 calories a day, for a total gain of 46.8 lbs.
So it is possible.
Blegh, I feel sick.
Want to silence a dissident? Easy, just get ASIO to plant some kiddie porn on their computer, or change their tax records and get them for tax evasion.
Matabolizing a pound of fat releases 3500 Calories, but it contains over 4000.
It requires much more than 4000 for your body to make one, even assuming that all the Calories would be stored rather than excreted.
Might as well assume that you're adding muscle - that's under 2000 Calories a pound.
-- Should you believe authority without question?
Who cares if the US objects to laws in Australia? How is it any of the their business?
Like it or not, sovereignty is considered the enemy of free trade... and there is a global push (call it globalisation) to put economic (usually big corporate) interests ahead of the ability for a country to pass it's own laws.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
And copyright here is poorly understood. I turned up at "Copy Canada" to copy a piece of 18thCentuary music that was published in 1920. They flat out refused to do it because they said they'd be infringing copyright... the business had received letters from "concerned industry representatives" to that effect.
So they knew nothing about copy-right, so I explained it to them. They said they didn't believe me... after all, how could someone make a buck out of selling that music if you could photocopy it for free?
Since then, I've found the pretty much everyone I meet feels that copyright means that you have no right to copy. How ironic.
The copyright-cartel can pass any laws they want and everyone will suck it up. It makes me want to slay myself.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
"I'm in Singapore...Of course, living in the commie state that I do..."
/.?
I recently read "Confucius Lives Next Door" by T.R. Reid (1999?), which says that you can be jailed merely for criticizing ("defaming") the government in Singapore.
I hope your post can't be linked to your actual adentity.
And even if it can't, is it too far-fetched to imagine that Singapore might try to block
btw, is it true that they actually have legions of cops on rooftops with binoculars, as a means to enforce even those laws regarding gum-chewing, etc.?
"I think the rest of the world should gang up on the United States at the next round of WTO negotiations and demand looser IP laws"
Dream on.
Why do you think the USA succeeds at this stuff?
The USA has "the best politicians which money can buy";
do you really think the situation is different in other countries?
And how do you account for the EU handing over air passenger records, despite EU privacy laws and the objections of the vast majority of citizens?
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/images/networkpitc h2.JPG
"You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples.
There are no nations.
There are no peoples.
There are no Russians.
There are no Arabs.
There are no third worlds.
There is no West!
There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars.
Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds and shekels.
It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet.
That is the natural order of things today...
You...howl about America and democracy.
There is no America.
There is no democracy.
There is only IBM and ITT and A T & T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business.
The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war and famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused."
The bill says that ISPs, etc. must investigate each claim of potential infringement.
Does that necessarily bar the ISP from first billing the complainant for the cost involved?
What type of ice do you play that on?
-Derek
Treat me like a marketing stat, and I'll treat your movie like a series of ones and zeros
Next:
increasing usage of unbreakably anonymous/encrypted p2p mechanisms.
Then:
prohibitions on p2p, encryption, and "non-standard" ports & protocols.
http://blog.librarylaw.com/librarylaw/2004/11/emgo ne_with_the.html
erroneous slash sorry
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
Not that I can talk - as a whingeing Pom, I live in a country where the supposedly left-wing Prime Minister is actually presenting himself in a goatse manner to a Republican President even more than Margaret Thatcher did to Ronald Reagan! Tony Blair, you're a fucking disgrace to your party *and* your country.
Seriously - what *are* the kickbacks that our so-called 'leaders' in the UK and Australia are getting from Bush? A guaranteed place in the Mothership when the Rapture happens? A golden barcode when the New World Order is implemented? Whatever it is, it sure as fuck isn't benefiting the majority of the citizens!
You must think in Russian.
They do it to the relatives houses, the teenage bomber I assume is in bits. Collective punishment was a war-crime last time I checked. I don't support EITHER side and if we all did that it would never have been more than a bar brawl between Arrafat and Sharron. The Iserali's are terrorizing all Palesinians because of the crimes of some AND they are a modern state. Yes there are thugs at the UN, they stand up and say "your with us or against us" and sell weapons to all sides. It makes me want to puke that zenophobes like you applaud the same behaviour that lead six million to the gas chambers.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
And then there's the Bush Administration ... don't get me started on them.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Troll? - maybe not informative but troll? 2 morons in 2 weeks, what a joke.
If you are really concerned about your "precious intellectual property" getting posted on the Internet DO NOT PUBLISH IT. Lock it up in your safe and don't let anyone see it
:-)
But then you'd have no copyright protection because such protection applies from the date of first publication
You are right that globalization means Americanization for the time being, but the rest of your post is dead wrong.
American values become a part of other cultures because America's culture is held in high esteem. Freedom and democracy hold lots of weight in the eyes of foreigners. America does not have to force its ideals on people, they openly accept them. Take fast food chains in Europe, for example. I have spent a good amount of time in Europe, and everyone I meet says how much they hate McDonalds, but they go there anyway. You see, Europeans in particular love to hate America. They say how much they hate McDonalds as they jam a big mac (or Royal, as it is called there) down their throat.
The same holds true for the rest of the world. The more people despise American values, the more they become a part of their culture. Just do a little research instead of spouting off your anti-americanism. Almost all the leading figures on globalization agree on this: Globalization makes it incredibly easy for cultures to adapt pieces of other cultures into their own. America's culture is looked highly upon because of its freedom and openness. Therefore it is the one that is often taken from right now. In the future it may be a different culture.
In the mean time, go research globalization while you eat fast food, listen to crappy MTV pop, and curse America.
Speaking of reactions to 9/11 there was a great cartoon in a newspaper over here. It dipicted an enormous giant with a black-eye. He was picking himself up off the floor. Circled around him and streching off to infinity was a crowd of tiny people, all looking up. There was no caption, only the letters USA on the giants crumpled coat.
"Palestinians danced in the streets to celebrate Sept 11th. My gut reaction then, was, not "oh dear, why do they hate us", but, "they hate us, kill them all."
- That is exactly the reaction it was intended to elicit. Surely you can see the implied link between 9/11 and Arrafat. Repeating this propoganda and implying there were a significant number of people involved is the same as printing "American devils, jackals, demon consorters". I doubt you have seen your grandfather burried alive in his home by an armoured bulldozer or heard the screams from your children when thier big brother's head suddenly explodes from a random sniper bullet. Gaza is basically an insecure prison where the gaurds are armed with tanks and Helicopter Gunships. The violence from both sides is motivated purely by revenge and Machevellian politics. Arms dealers love it.
"I used to support the Palestinian cause".
It is not a football match. When observers feel they have to choose one sides atrocities over the others the problem can only get worse. If you really must have a "cause", do us all a favour and pick one that is constructive.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Australia has a copyright provision called "fair dealing" which is similar to fair use in some ways. However, the two are certainly not identical. See this information sheet (PDF format) for details. In particular, fair dealing specifies a number of categories for usage of a copyrighted work. It is important for the use of a work to fall within one of the categories for the use to be fair. In this respect, "fair dealing" sounds less general and open-ended as compared to US "fair use." (Among other things, the information sheet talks about the differences between "fair dealing" and "fair use.")
...and that is the way it should be, however, diplomatically you are what is known as an appologist. Your standards of "evidence" look to me like someone who would support Bush in everything simply because you voted for him (ie: one-eyed). Many people did the same with Hitler & Stalin, it is part of human nature. BTW: The US OPPOSED creating the state of Isreal after the war, go figure, huh?.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I would refute your post, but honestly I have no idea what you are saying. What do Big Macs have to do with the values of freedom and democracy?
When I think about where I want to have lunch, I don't go through all the restaurants looking for one that represents the most prestigious culture. I don't drive by McDonalds and think, "ah, McDonalds, you sell overpriced crappy food that clogs my arteries, but your American ideals are just so pure. I must have a Big Mac! Now!"
Usually, my thoughts are more along the lines of, "There's nothing in this town but a McDonald's. Fuck."
A strain of paranoid prevention can be worse than the disease, whate'er the intention.