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Pro-DRM Law May Be Coming To Australia
paxmaniac writes, "The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Federal Government will soon introduce laws making it illegal to circumvent copy control 'technological prevention measures' (or TPMs). The laws will make it illegal to modchip a console, to hack a DVD player to make it multi-region, to install DVD decoders on your PC, or to circumvent DRM in any other way. From the article: 'Anyone found to have used technology to circumvent copy control TPMs will face fines of up to $6600, while those guilty of distributing enabling devices and services to others through a variety of means face imprisonment for up to five years and possible fines of $60,500.' Australia is obliged to introduce these laws as part of it's Free Trade Agreement with the USA. Gee thanks, George!"
You act like this is something new...
Uh, no. Other countries pass their own laws. No one forced them to sign anything.
You're obviously new around here... I'd like to welcome you to Slashdot. If you check by the registration page there should be a phamplet with the pre-requisite quick snappy responses such as..
"I blame Bush"
"Windows blows"
"I can't wait for the Wii to come out"
It's easy once you get in the hang of things.
As for the article and topic. The question becomes will there be some measure to defeat this legislation before it becomes law there. And is this an effort by Australia to prove it's more media cartel friendly than the US, or just a play by the media cartels to see if they can test the waters there before bringing that same legislation here to the US.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
I was afraid this day would come! Now what are aussies going to do ? help help!
-- sig
"Free Trade Agreement" has nothing to do with free trade. It has everything to do with building a system of unfair and unbalanced trade. If you're a big US corporation then it might be "fair trade" for you, because you stand to benefit from it.
Actually I voted for Kerry before I voted against him.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Well, it only makes sense that in order to make free trade, the involved parties should stop their customers from using the purchased goods freely, right?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!