Australia Rules Linking to Copyright Material Also Illegal

An anonymous reader writes "A recent ruling in Federal court upheld the ruling that the operator and ISP that hosted the site 'mp3s4free.net' were guilty of copyright infringement violations because they provided access to the copyright material. From the article: 'Dale Clapperton, vice-chairman of the non-profit organization Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), explained the ruling as follows: "If you give someone permission to do something that infringes copyright, that in itself is infringement as if you'd done it yourself. Even if you don't do the infringing act yourself, if you more or less condone someone else doing it, that's an infringing act."'"

Comments

Re:Bizarre.

[Anonymous Coward]

Another analogy could be putting up signs to advertise the services of drug dealers, which would make most people think the ruling was obvious. It's a good thing we don't make decisions based on analogies, right?

What next?

[junglee_iitk]

I am going to kill my neighbor. Every one here is guilty of not stopping me. Well, at least all Australians.

Shutdown the Web!

[Flendon]

Well both the text of the article and the legal document make one thing very clear: By linking to any copyrighted material in Australia you are encouraging someone to download and use that material illegally.

Since almost everything published is protected under copyright almost all hyperlinks are illegal! The web as a whole is nothing but one great big collection of pirates and must be shutdown to protect the record industry!

A *gasp* COMPUTER Was Involved!

[l0ungeb0y]

Quick, jettison all common sense and everybody do the freakout!!

Thank you Australia for showing us there is a nation in the "free world" with it's head *just a little" further up it's ass than America when it comes to copyright law. Remember, every inch counts.

Not just Aussies

[PopeRatzo]

This kind of thing means no more internet for more than just Australians.

There is a concerted effort to turn the internet into cable television. The entertainment/military/industrial complex is working with the big telcos to make sure Slashdot becomes a quaint throwback to the days of open internet. Sure there will still be geeks pining about the days when any old body could put up a web site that could get the same attention as one put up by Sony, and a couple of nobodies could come up with a Google, but face it, that's just not the way of the world.

Don't get fooled by the $12.95 per month DSL. Forces are working overtime to put ISPs as we know them out of business. When they finally put the last nail in the coffin of Net Neutrality, watch how fast things change. Then, get ready for all of the internet to look like myspace, and watch for the articles about how great it is that we're free to choose our own "friends". We're already seeing more and more of magazines like Wired dedicated to the joys of the mercantilisation of what's left of the Web.

Remember, Google became a phenomenon without adverts, and existed for years that way. Could that happen today? Think it will happen when there's no "neutrality" about the Web? Freedom never gets easier to defend.

Re:Not just Aussies

[MSZ]

There is a concerted effort to turn the internet into cable television.

I'm having doubts that it is really a coordinated attack, yet it is clear that corporations want complete control of the internet. This may be not a conspiracy, but rather them having similar plans and simply wanting the net for themselves, where trampling of the users is a prelude before fight between the megacorps. There can be only a few ;-)

This is not the worst part IMHO. Really bad is the fact, that people in general (aka "the masses") do not see this grab for control. The internet as we know it is dying, because no one sees it's getting sick.

Like with political dictatorships, "it has to get worse before it gets better". Until it actually bites them in the ass, people will not care. So, I welcome our new corporate overlords, modem tax overlords, *AA overlords - come here, fuck it up and be quick about it! Maybe then the masses will notice. Maybe. Lets hope so.

Linking to Almost Anything Illegal

[RAMMS EIN]

``Australia Rules Linking to Copyright Material Also Illegal''

So, basically, linking to almost anything on the Internet is now illegal in Australia. After all, the vast majority of what is on the Internet is copyright material.

And what if you're not the one doing the linking? For example, your site is a forum and other people post the links there? Apparently, you're guilty, too. Even if you're the ISP hosting the site and had nothing at all to do with its content, you're guilty.

Re:The really scary part of this ruling....

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Kazaa and Napster didn't actually provide the content either.
The idea of extending this to imply that all Australian ISP's are in danger is retarded.

You didn't get what I said at all did you? Napster/etc are the equivilant to mp3s4free.net (the charges against whom, as I said was sad, but understandable).

However, the hosting ISP was also charged. Can you see how charging a hosting provider for hosted content has implications for the wider industry?

Re:The really scary part of this ruling....

[Gilmoure]

As far as you know, you're not an Australian lawyer? Is there a chance you were down there on shore leave, got drunk, kissed an ugly girl, got a tattoo and passed the bar?