Australian Crackdown On Console Modchips Likely To Continue

angry tapir writes "Late last week an Australian court issued an injunction against a handful of retailers selling or importing hardware — commonly known as 'mod chips' — that allows unauthorized software to run on Sony's PlayStation 3. The court also required that the four parties that were the subject of the injunction actually hand over to Sony any PlayStation modchips they have. Sony's PlayStation 3 mod chip lawsuit could be just the first of many such cases in Australia, according to a lawyer who defended a client against Nintendo in a similar case earlier this year."

Comments

Australia: The Lucky Country

[slackarse]

Come visit Australia, "The Lucky Country". I mean, come visit Australia, We will steal your internets, then we will steal your pr0n, now we will steal your gamez".

Fuck it, don't visit Australia, because it's gone to the dogs already.

Unlawful seizure

[mykos]

This no-questions-asked demand of goods without a trial and insta-judgement favoring the plaintiff doesn't bode well for the country as a whole.

Looks like they're cutting straight to the heart of the matter. Whoever has the most money is right.

What's With Australia?

[Frosty Piss]

What is it with Australia? They want to filter the Intertubes in was that make Iran look like an island of freedom, they regulate games like some nanny from 1984 ( the book ), their proposed copyright laws cause orgasms for the record and movie cops... Are the people that propose these law actually elected and represent the views of the average Aussie?

Re:What's With Australia?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're asking that about a country who had their elected prime minister axed and replaced earlier this year by his own party, and where recent elections resulted in a hung parliament where neither of the two major parties could form a majority.

Answer: no, they don't, and Australia is generally getting pretty sick of it.

Re:What's With Australia?

[mjwx]

What is it with Australia? They want to filter the Intertubes in was that make Iran look like an island of freedom,

That was a small group of religious extremists, who have since been smacked down. Getting a filter now is impossible, since the greens control the senate and the independents control the house (we had an election a few weeks back). The best they got was a "voluntary" filter from Australia's worst ISP's (most people in Australia have the choice of 5+ ISP's). In the mean time, my Amcom and iinet connections remain unfiltered.

Would you like it if I said all Americans were naive blubbering vagina's like Rush Limbagh? (I cant be arsed googling the correct spelling). Not fair using the worst example of a people as the average is it?

Are the people that propose these law actually elected and represent the views of the average Aussie?

Is Joe Biden or John McCain a representative of the average American, how about Sarah Palin (no wait, dont answer that). Polly's always live in a world of their own and always seem surprised when reality crashes in on them. Same in every country mate.

Re:What's With Australia?

[timbo234]

What is it with Australia? They want to filter the Intertubes in was that make Iran look like an island of freedom,

Actually thanks to the recent election this filter is basically dead, it will never get through the senate.

Are the people that propose these law actually elected and represent the views of the average Aussie?

They're elected but the elections are on topics like the economy and boat people. Most Aussies think things like internet filtering and copyright are irrelevant side issues and don't elect politicians based on these issues, so nothing changes.

Re:What's With Australia?

[thegarbz]

The prime minister is not the president. The party selected a new figurehead, but the same party was still in power driving pretty much all the same decision. We vote for a local representative who is part of a major party. The party itself can have massive disagreements amongst themselves too, but ultimately the prime minister only shakes hands and kisses babies. Only an incredibly good prime minister actually has the power to sway negotiations within their own party. Clearly ours wasn't even good enough to keep his own job let alone have any impact on policy.

When the prime minister was replaced nothing was lost, and nothing was gained. To the party's credit they did this right before the election too so even people who don't understand the Westminster legal system should appreciate that what was done is still quite democratic.

Re:What's With Australia?

[yoshi_mon]

You make very good points but just FYI Joe Biden is our current VP. Compared to McCain, who recently sold his soul to keep his senate seat, Biden has yet to do anything really 'bad'.

Biden actually aside from often sticking his foot in his mouth is actually a pretty down to earth guy. So, again especially in light of what McCain has done lately, to put him in the same sentence with McCain is a bit unfair.

All that being said the right has been going nuts here in the US with its propaganda like we have never seen before. We have a lot of our own issues to deal with and what I see sometimes here is some projection when people from the US ask, "Hey what is going on with and your right wing wacos?!"

Love the last sentance of that wiki link

[mjwx]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia

it is now virtually impossible for the filtering scheme to pass through the Senate.

The Filter is dead, long live the filter (I'm sure many angry ./ers wont let it die). At least I can still give the finger to an AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services) official at the international airport and not disappear into an interrogation room for 3 days.

As far as overreaching border controls go, we did not get the short end of the stick.

Also, customs are only searching for illegal porn (so that video of you and your monkey wife doing is legal, tasteless but legal) you just have to declare that you've got it, the same as prescription medication. After all, it's not like customs will hand back you porn if you so much as threaten to sue them, no wait... they did.

Besides, asking "Do you have any pornographic material" is slightly less absurd then "Do you intend to overthrow the government of the United States" as far as arrival questions go.

So dear Americans, dont Visit Australia because you'll have a harder time trying to get back into your own country (and you're not staying here forever).

Re:Love the last sentance of that wiki link

[mjwx]

Are you trying to be obtuse here?

Are you trying to be retarded here? What I posted should be clear enough. The law has been challenged, AQIS cannot abuse it.

I don't think it's the government's business what my wife and I do in our bedroom even if we photograph or video tape it.

It is the governments business what you bring into and out of this nation. It's their business because it's my business. There are a whole host of things (pests, diseases, dangerous items) I dont want you bringing in here. If you dont want the government to watch you and Mrs simian going at it then dont bring it, simple.

Customs laws apply to Customs zones only, which are at points of entry and exit of this country. Unless you've built your bedroom inside a customs zone your point is irrelevant.

Unlike the US, Australian Customs Laws (Customs Act of 1901) protects me from unlawful seizure (I.E. a government employee cant simply run off with my laptop and do what they like with it without cause) as well as non-customs related questions (are you gay, did you have sex with any prostitutes, do you believe in Mohammed and so forth). It limits their abilities to search and gives me recourse if they act outside the bounds of the customs act (as in the link I posted). But it also gives me an obligation to declare anything I bring in. Everything that gets taken off you requires the Customs agents to issue you with a seizure receipt, failure to do so is a federal crime. Further more if you believe this seizure to be unfair you can challenge it in court (this has been done before, successfully).

So I hate to interrupt you knee jerk "buh-buh-buh-mah-freedoms" reaction but I still have a lot more freedom getting into and out of this country then I do in the United states, didn't they suspend your entire constitution in customs zones.

Generic dongle?

[SharpFang]

AFAIK, the modchip is a generic microcontroller ( ATmega164PA ) in a simple USB-pluggable board, and the actual jailbreak code is in the wild.

It could be easily done that the microcontroller board is given some minor extras and some legal, common, generic functionality, say, a USB-RS232 converter. Then the customer can buy the dongle, and turn it into a modchip using a PC and a simple package downloaded from torrents.

If you really want to go against it

[Joakal]

Political party Pirate Party Australia

We would really appreciate volunteers! Ask in the forum how to help. You can also help by advocacy. Get people to think and talk PPAU when angry about copyright/patents/internet/etc.

Note: PPAU were not in the recent federal elections because registration wasn't complete by the time the election was called.

Hung Parliment == VERY Good

[FriendlyLurker]

Your right, Aussie were getting pretty sick of it and, and like the English, have sent a clear message through: neither of the two major parties deserved to be a majority. Now rather than run Aussies off to another war, filter their internet, "reform" their labor laws without even so much as a serious debate, they'll have to run it through thinking third parties like the greens that don't just toe the party line. If you listen to some (most?) of the press you'd get the impression that hung parliaments were a bad thing... but in reality it is just bad for the status quo - here's to hoping that the future of Aussie/UK politics will see more hung parliaments than ever.

America has got no chance of being fortunate enough to get a "hung congress", unfortunately.

Answer: no, they don't, and Australia is generally getting pretty sick of it.... ...recent elections resulted in a hung parliament where neither of the two major parties could form a majority.