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Tougher Copyright Laws for Australia

Posted by samzenpus on from the do-your-own-work dept.

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."

10 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. the wild wild west by u-238 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that is the internet will not last forever. cherish it.

  2. Potential Problem? by smclean · · Score: 5, Interesting
    So is it then illegal to send notices to companies making allegations of copyright violations which are not true? If not, then a good way to get this law removed or modified would be to send out hundreds of e-mail to websites alleging copyright violation where there is none taking place. It would become common practice to ignore such requests, and those that were 'legitimate' would be lost in the crowd. The expense to businesses would be enormous and the law would be modified.

    Am I missing something?

    --

    "'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."

  3. Re:Kazaa by Propagandhi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Even if Kazaa is shut down by these new laws (or some others already on the books or in the queue*) will it really affect P2P traffic?

    Personally, I don't even use Kazaa anymore; it's so overrun with half downloaded songs and mislabeled files that it's nearly useless and better alternatives are already in place to grab the standard should/when Kazaa fall(s). In fact, cleaning out the dregs that the Kazaa network has become will only increase the efficiency of the P2P machine.

    Sites like Suprnova and Shareconnector verify the content before providing links to the torrent or donkey file, eliminating the possiblity of a mislabeled or otherwise misleading file. Sure, the speed can be slightly slower, but faster alternatives (Bearshare, Ares) are also available for the speed freaks. And unlike Kazaa, these newer apps are willing to share networks, rather than trying to corner the market.

    Napster showed us that killing a single app (even one as prevalent as Napster was) hardly interferes with the P2P machine, I don't think any legislation will manage to slow it down.

    * denotes bad P2P joke

  4. Previous Slashdot article by RenHoek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Rember this one?

    Censoring The Net With A Hotmail Account

    I think Australian ISP's will be very busy for the coming time..

  5. We need more time! by malsbert · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  6. From your friend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dear Australia,

    Stop following our example. IT IS NOT A GOOD ONE.

    Your friend,
    The U.S.

  7. A recent book... by Evil+Pete · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... 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.
  8. Re:Our new overlords.. by polysylabic+psudonym · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A bit of a broad brush, perhaps. Please don't say "the people in Canberra". I'm a Canberran, I'm not a politician and I'm certainly not a dog.

    I utterly despise US style copyright. It's a travesty of freedom.

    Copyright should be there to encourage authors - how does paying their publisher 70 years yonder help the author?

    Under the previous Australian system authors got 50 years after their death, companies got 50 years from date of publication. May terrible things happen to those who put Australia in the position we're now in.

  9. add to the electronic surveillance bill to that by cobbler_26 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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??

  10. Re:Well, what do you expect... by michaeldot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He means Australia should make friends with the school bully in order to prevent getting the crap beaten out of it.

    And so to achieve this, what the school bully wants, the school bully gets.