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Australian Media 'Crooks' to Come in from the Cold

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop dept.

pagefault writes "News.com is reporting that millions of Australians who tape TV shows and copy CDs will soon get the right to do it with a clear conscience. From the article: 'The Federal Government will next year legalize the video recording of television shows for personal use, and the transfer of songs from CDs to MP3 players, in a bid to overturn a ban which has made criminals of much of the population."

4 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Everyone's a criminal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If everyone does it, then maybe its not so illegal.

  2. Moral vs Legal by Stan+Vassilev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I seriously doubt someone had unclear conscience while trying to copy his own CD-s to his own mp3 player.
    Again brainwashing in action to make what's moral and what's legal the same thing.

    If they outlaw living should I have bad conscience for being alive?

  3. Not criminals! by the+packrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just to insert a little sanity here. In Australia, most copyright violations are prosecuted in the civil courts (exceptions include sale of couterfeit goos, called 'passing off'). It is only in corrupt countries where the media corporations can easily buy new laws that such things have fallen under criminal prosecution.

    Let's not even begin to talk about the DCMA, the shiny new laws which make videotaping a movie in a theatre more heavily punished than several types of killing, or the perpetual copyright on Mickey Mouse or anything else that american corporations bother to pay supreme court justices for.

    --
    Nihil Illegitemi Carborvndvm
  4. Re:Artists lose??? by wkitchen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Artist" in this context means "media corporations", and "lose" means "fail to gain".