Australian Gov't To Streamline Anti-Piracy Lawsuit Process

daria42 writes "Remember how the mass piracy lawsuits common in the U.S. are now coming to Australia? Of course you do. Well, now Australia's Government has come out backing the legal process which makes them possible — and is even promising to streamline it. Anti-piracy organisations will be jumping for joy — but I'm not sure how popular the move will be with the rest of the population."

Comments

Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Suddenly I have something to protest about in the occupy wall street movement's local activities...

For a few dollars a month

[qxcv]

I can buy a seedbox to bypass all of this nonsense. Even better, I can open up my WiFi for some plausible deniability. Eat your heart out AFACT.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Richard Dick Head]

Don't mean to be impolite...but, you could start...paying for things. You know, start small, like an MP3, and go from there.

(God, take away the free shit and the Joos pitch a bitch don't they!?)

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Pseudonym Authority]

No, unacceptable. That only encourages their behavior. Defiant to the end.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[flimflammer]

It's not that I don't agree with what you've said, but the problem is that this behavior encompasses far more than just people committing copyright infringement.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[SuricouRaven]

It's become ideological now. A lot of people got into piracy for the free stuff, but then it became a moral issue - they either object to the business practices often associated with the larger copyright industries, or believe that the benefits of copyright are outweighed by the draconian measures required to enforce it in the age of the personal computer.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[cheekyjohnson]

the evil pirates

Evil by whose standards?

The problem is that for 99.99% of the fucks out there, they just want free shit

Interesting. How do you know the motivations of 99.99% of all pirates?

steal

I'd just say "copy."

Re:For a few dollars a month

[htnprm]

On your second point re: leaving your wifi open, you'll probably find your end legislation looks similar to what we've had put in in NZ, where you, as the 'account holder' are responsible for all activity under your account, so "My wifi was open. It was someone else", won't work.

The seedbox though, yes.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[jonwil]

Hey mr content producer, you start selling the content I want here in Australia (on DVD preferably) and I will stop pirating your content from YouTube and BitTorrent and start paying for it.

I cant find ANY of the Yahoo Serious films on DVD in any local store for example. Nor can I find any seasons of The Real Ghostbusters past season 1. Nor can I find many of the cool documentaries (both film and TV) that I want to buy on DVD (such as those from the History Channel).

Re:For a few dollars a month

[jamstar7]

If people aren't paying for their products AND they're not consuming it, only then will we see the end to these lawsuits and see some real change.

Two words for that - 'bailout legislation'. You honestly think the media companies don't pay enough bribes^Rcampaign contributions to make sure the public doesn't cough up every last dime possible by making sure copyright never dies? Remember what happened when GM went crying to Washington that not enough people were buying their cars and too many were defaulting on those GMAC loans? Remember when the banks went crying to Washington about all those Fannie Mae loans and bad South American debt burned them so bad they couldn't make their dividend checks OR their top tier bonus checks? You really think the so-called national health care here in the States is about keeping the US healthy and not more of the same for the healthcare insurance companies? What makes you sure RIAA et al won't go bitching for a 'bailout'? They paid their campaign contributions, it's their right to get a bail out.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[TheRaven64]

Don't mean to be impolite...but, you could start...paying for things

Actually, you often can't. The content industry has pushed for region coding, meaning that you can't import US DVDs and watch them in Australia. Australia is Region 4 - most DVDs get a Region 1 release, then a Region 2 release a bit later, and maybe a Region 4 release if the content producers can be bothered.

One of the changes that I would love to see made to copyright law is a refusal to distribute count made a valid affirmative defence for non-commercial copyright infringement. Copyright is a bargain between society and the creators giving them exclusive distribution rights (for a limited time) in exchange for publishing their work. If they refuse to publish it, then they should not be given the protection of copyright. This would give the content industry a very strong incentive to start making worldwide downloads available as soon as their work is ready, rather than releasing DVDs in the USA 6 months after a film shows, in Europe a year after, and in Australia eventually (maybe).

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the changes that I would love to see made to copyright law is a refusal to distribute count made a valid affirmative defence for non-commercial copyright infringement.

To make this fully effective, you need to make the legislation quite complex, or there will be loopholes. If it applies only when they fail to distribute it in your region, they'll just release it on Betamax. If they have to release it in a common format, they'll release it on DVD, but crippled somehow: unskippable 30-minute intro, Swahili-language-only, etc.

Two simpler alternative changes to copyright law that accomplish the same goal:

  * Allow commercial format-shifting. So someone can start a business buying US DVDs, ripping and re-burning them as region-free, destroying the originals, and exporting them to Australia. For extra credit, allow modification, so the business can remove unskippable intro sequences, etc.

  * Compulsory licensing. Anyone can start a business selling DVDs of a movie, provided that they give 50% of their revenue to the copyright holder. Album covers already work much like this.

Either of these allow new businesses to bring copyrighted works to untapped markets (which ensures that someone will do it), while still giving the content creators a cut.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Dan541]

It's common decency to share what you have with other people. Especially when you can do it so cheaply.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[shoehornjob]

Defiant to the end

So what part of disobeying the government rule and doing what this law forbids is NOT defiant? Eventually the government will learn to stop F$%# ing with its' people and stop this stupid crap.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[PopeRatzo]

It's not that I don't agree with what you've said, but the problem is that this behavior encompasses far more than just people committing copyright infringement.

Please explain, Sifu.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[TheRaven64]

The law wouldn't have to be very complex, it could just specify 'a bona fide effort to distribute in a common format playable on all devices reasonably expected to be able to play media of this form' and leave it up to the courts. Currently, the definition of fair use is pretty fuzzy and there's a lot of leeway for the courts to interpret it. That phrasing would also have the nice side effect that anything that was distributed in a format where DRM blocked format shifting would not count.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[phantomfive]

Allow commercial format-shifting. So someone can start a business buying US DVDs, ripping and re-burning them as region-free, destroying the originals, and exporting them to Australia

You'd be amazed at how many people, even Slashdotters, are opposed to this sort of thing. When this story came up, there was a a lot of support for the director to do exactly what he/she wants with the movie.

And that is why so many people in the general public support copyright: they believe the creator ought to be able to control his creation.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

No, unacceptable. That only encourages their behavior. One who lives upon others; a pertinacious and indolent dependent; a parasite; a sponger to the end.

FTFY. The honourable action to take is to boycott them, but that would require you to have a sense of honour and some self-control.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

It's common decency to share what you have with other people.

It's also common decency to leave others' stuff alone.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

... they believe the creator ought to be able to control his creation.

I agree with them. However, as long as I'm not ripping their creation and burning copies that would interfere with that creator's future sales, the creator's control of his/her creation ends once money's changed hands in a legal sale. That creator's got no moral or ethical right to tell us what we can do with what was purchased legally.

If the law says otherwise, the law's an ass, and I will happily ignore it.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

Andrew Ryan, didn't I put a golf club through your head?

Who the f*** is Andrew Ryan, and why should I care?

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Dan541]

It's common decency to share what you have with other people.

It's also common decency to leave others' stuff alone.

Yes, no one is disputing that.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

Don't mean to be impolite...but, you could start...paying for things

Actually, you often can't. The content industry has pushed for region coding, meaning that you can't import US DVDs and watch them in Australia.

Really? I get DVDs sent to me from friends in Europe all the time as gifts. I've no trouble playing them. On my Linux box, of course. They, of course, won't play in my DVD player box, but Linux/FLOSS doesn't give a rat's ass about Region Encoding garbage.

Don't use a Broken By Design operating system on your computer, and you can too. We Linux fanbois have been screaming this at you for close to two decades!

[Methinks you really ought to change your .sig now too.]

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Pseudonym Authority]

That would be the Randtard antagonist in the game Bioshock, of whom you sound like you are quoting. Still, you are putting words in my mouth. My argument could just as easily be interpreted as advocating a boycott, given that I did not mention piracy at all, only that buying from them was rewarding their extortionistic use of the legal system. You could have understood that perhaps, if you were less confrontational and rude.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

That would be the Randtard antagonist in the game Bioshock, of whom you sound like you are quoting.

That's kind of funny, considering I am a bit of a Randroid. I'm not a gamer at all, but thanks for steering me away from bioshock anyway. 'Sounds abysmal.

Still, you are putting words in my mouth. My argument could just as easily be interpreted as advocating a boycott, given that I did not mention piracy at all, only that buying from them was rewarding their extortionistic use of the legal system. You could have understood that perhaps, if you were less confrontational and rude.

I could have interpreted it to be a Caeser salad, but it might have been simpler for us both for you say what you meant instead of hoping I'd just muddle through and get it inspite of that.

I do advocate boycotting them, though I know it'll make little difference, and I agree with your "extortionate use of the legal system" bit. The *AAs are the real pirates, using our democracies' politicians and legal systems against us in order to line their pockets while refusing to accept changing market conditions, all the while blaming their failures on others.

I don't think I was at all rude. If you do, maybe you should complain to Webster's Dictionary, which is what I quoted ("dict sponge" on a Linux box). On the other hand, "Randtard" sounds pretty rude, and not a little childish.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Pseudonym Authority]

I'm not a gamer at all, but thanks for steering me away from bioshock anyway. 'Sounds abysmal.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Son. This shit isn't going to fly. I won't read anything else you say until you take that back.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

I'm not a gamer at all, but thanks for steering me away from bioshock anyway. 'Sounds abysmal.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Son. This shit isn't going to fly. I won't read anything else you say until you take that back.

Sorry pal. My computer game is *nix; way the f*** more interesting to me. You're welcome to gaming, but I won't go there. I classify it as fritterware; it lets you to fritter your life away. I do like "Go", though. [That reminds me, "apt-get install cgoban". :-)]

Besides, I'm still in mourning for dmr, so get off my case, er, lawn.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[Pseudonym Authority]

You're welcome to gaming, but I won't go there.

Should you ever change your mind, I do recommend Bioshock, if only for the somewhat philosophical and artist aspects to it.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[purpledinoz]

I would bet if people stopped pirating and also stopped buying, the MPAA would try to pass legislation to force consumers to buy one movie a month. These companies just want easy money, and they're fighting hard for it.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[smash]

technically, what you are doing is just as illegal as torrenting the movie.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[tqk]

Don't mean to be impolite...but, you could start...paying for things

Actually, you often can't. The content industry has pushed for region coding, meaning that you can't import US DVDs and watch them in Australia.

Really? I get DVDs sent to me from friends in Europe all the time as gifts. I've no trouble playing them. On my Linux box, of course. They, of course, won't play in my DVD player box, but Linux/FLOSS doesn't give a rat's ass about Region Encoding garbage.

Don't use a Broken By Design operating system on your computer, and you can too. We Linux fanbois have been screaming this at you for close to two decades!

technically, what you are doing is just as illegal as torrenting the movie.

Then the law's an ass, and I can't help with that. The DVDs were legally purchased. I'm not pirating. The person who sent them to me didn't pirate them. I'm just finding a way to play stuff that was sent to me as gifts. If that's infringing or illegal, that's insane.

The producers are stupidly asserting rights they've no moral or ethical right to assert. Why should anyone give a flying !@#$ about them and their insane rules if that's the way they think it ought to work? They're clearly attempting to rewrite reality for some bizarre reason known only to themselves. They need to evolve and learn how the 21st Century works, not insist we stay within their obsolete world view.

Damn, this sounds like the Vatican vs. Galileo problem, all over again. Sick.

Re:For a few dollars a month

[bane2571]

and to top it off could you please stop charging the same price on imports as you did when our dollar was half the value?

I'm sure the US side games will be surprised that it will cost me $90 - $120 (US dolalrs too) to buy a new release, non Collector's edition game.

And don't even get me started on the retail prices of some DVDs.

Who do the AU government represent

[Kuruk]

It is not me. I'm just the fool paying tax for the last few decades.

How do I get Aussies to riot. It seem we will put up with anything like whipped dogs.

We are so whipped people will agrue with me.

Re:Who do the AU government represent

[DarwinSurvivor]

How do I get Aussies to riot.

Replace all their beer with Coors.

Re:Who do the AU government represent

[cbope]

That would be really low, maybe even borders on cruel and unusual punishment and probably violates more than a few human rights laws in several countries. Don't do it.

Re:Who do the AU government represent

[turing_m]

How do I get Aussies to riot. It seem we will put up with anything like whipped dogs.

The same way you get anyone else to riot. Wait until they have to have nothing else to lose.

Re:Who do the AU government represent

[jamstar7]

How do I get Aussies to riot.

Replace all their beer with Coors.

We want them to riot not start World War 3!!!

Who is this government?

[thegarbz]

Really who is this government? Not the one we voted for that's for sure. We voted for the Labor party not the Coalition, not the party that supports corporations, not the party that supported bigger governments, and best of all the party that said quite plainly there will never be a carbon tax.

Why is it not possible to fire a government that has flat out lied on every question posed to them in their job interview?

Re:Who is this government?

[rowanparker]

It is. You walk into the polling place and vote for someone else.

Re:Who is this government?

[Anonymous Coward]

You might want to read up on Australian political history and how the system works.

The current Labor government having support of the Greens and the Independents to govern is perfectly legitimate. Add up the primary vote for Labor, the Greens, and the 3 Independents and you'll find it totals to over 50%. The Labor party generally supports bigger government than the Liberal Nationals. And finally, the alleged "carbon tax" that is coming in is actually an Emissions Trading Scheme. Which Labor has had a policy for all along.

Completely agreed on the supporting corporations bit, but then, I don't think the Liberals are any better.

Re:Who is this government?

[Internetuser1248]

I have always supported the idea of perjury for politicians. Make everything they say during campaign advertising and debate under oath. It won't mean that they actually do the things that they are claiming they will do now, it means they will tone down their claims. That is still a plus though, legally mandating a bit of honesty would go a long way.

Re:Who is this government?

[dbIII]

Welcome to America!

You are actually right - one of the conditions of the mostly one sided "free trade" agreement with the USA was to let some of the broken US copyright laws in.
I don't hate the USA, I just hate that Australian IP disputes are now subject to what happens in East Texas.

Re:Who is this government?

[Ihmhi]

It is possible to fire a government, usually. You'd have recall elections, petitions, etc. if anyone would get off their asses.

Alternatively, you could fire at your government, but considering it's Australia that would consist of slingshots and crossbows (if they haven't been banned yet).

Re:Who is this government?

[jamstar7]

I've always supported the 'two term' theory of politics: 1 term in office, 1 in jail.

Re:Who is this government?

[Dan541]

Labor - the ones who are building the great firewall.

Re:Who is this government?

[drsmithy]

Make everything they say during campaign advertising and debate under oath.

Uh huh. And how are you going to account for the situations like the one we have now, where the lack of a majority can require a compromise implying someone has "lied" ?

Apparently Australians have gotten so used to be ruled by a single party, they get confused and scared when it's not the case.

Re:Who is this government?

[thegarbz]

The problem is that there is no compromise. There is only bargaining between a few key independents. We have mostly the greens to thank for things like the carbon tax. Thanks to our two party preferred system the independents had to side with one of the major parties. Julia Gillard basically bent over backwards to accommodate their wishes so that she could retain the top job of PM.

Labor is not the party in power, the independents and greens are, and to accommodate them lots of questionable legislation is being passed with *token* debates. There was no need for instance to drag the carbon tax out for so long. Who needs a debate when a bunch of stubborn people in the room won't change their minds to vote, (or in case of the Labor party are forced to vote along party lines anyway) and the key people who had the power to decide if it passes are the ones who wanted the legislation in the first place.

I almost wish that a hung parliament would result in a freeze of any major legislation or every piece of legislation is taken to a plebiscite.

Re:Who is this government?

[thegarbz]

That's very last year thinking. With key independents and the greens against the idea, and an opposition who wouldn't be caught dead voting for an idea raised by the governing party there's no chance in hell they're going to build their great firewall.

Right now its at the point of voluntary filtering by two ISPs who quite frankly offer the least competitive products on the market anyway.

Re:Who is this government?

[sconeu]

Isn't being a con a point of pride in Oz?

Re:Who is this government?

[TapeCutter]

Apparently Australians have gotten so used to be ruled by a single party, they get confused and scared when it's not the case.

No, they just forget that liberal party governments are actually a coalition government between the libs and nationals.

Re:Who is this government?

[quenda]

It is possible to fire a government, usually. You'd have recall elections, petitions, etc.

Governments can be fired by the head of state, or by the elected parliament. A "recall election" makes no sense as governments are not directly elected.
Yes, slingshots and crossbows are somewhat banned. Gun ownership is still high outside the cities, but here we prefer to use them for sport than for killing people.

Re:Who is this government?

[Ihmhi]

Nearly every "civilized" society has resorted to violent revolution at one point or another in their past, usually because the government was either oppressing them, not providing for them, or was outright ineffective. We're getting closer to the point where the American government fucks up and/or abuses us so badly that we start getting violent every day.

No need to reply to me and use up some more of your 25 MB data cap.

Re:Who is this government?

[Ihmhi]

Is a government not the politicians and government employees?

Citizens don't have much in the way of direct control over anything other than their congressional senators and representatives. If they don't do what we want them to do, if they can't solve the problems we need them to solve, then it's entirely possible to recall most or all of them. The Heart of the American government is still ultimately Congress (which makes the laws). Replace enough of Congress and you can get something done.

Honestly, if we even recalled 5% of senators and/or representatives, it would bring politicians in-line a lot. Hell, we've only recalled two or three State Governors, and that was because they really fucked up. I don't foresee it happening, although I wish it would.

Re:Who is this government?

[quenda]

Is a government not the politicians and government employees?

No, the government does not include opposition politicians or public servants who remain in place with a change of government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government

Replace enough of Congress and you can get something done.

But you replaced the whole federal executive in your last election, and almost nothing changed.
Judging by the complete lack of prosecutions on Wall St, the same people still hold the real power.

I say this is great news!

[pablo_max]

Is it great news because I support the entertainment industry? No, of course not. It great news because things need to continue to get much worse before people will finally get off there collective asses to do something about it.
You can already see more and more common folks starting to make noise. What we need is that extra push to get the common man to say, "OK, enough is enough" and actually stand up.
The western governments are out of control in general and they need to be taken back. News like this just brings the day closer....I hope.

Re:I say this is great news!

[DarwinSurvivor]

More and more? I've seen that opposite trend in the last 10 years. Industries long ago learned that you can do pretty much anything you want, as long as you introduce it one piece at a time. It's absolutely astounding how much crap the general population will put up with as long as it's spoon fed to them one bite at a time.

Re:I say this is great news!

[Kjella]

It great news because things need to continue to get much worse before people will finally get off there collective asses to do something about it. You can already see more and more common folks starting to make noise.

Judging from every third world country that's suffering from really massive and direct corruption, I don't think so. It's a catch 22 where people support the system because it works and the system works because people support it. If the people at the top are just lining their own pockets then that'll spread downwards and once the system becomes so dirty that corruption is the norm rather than the exception then it's extremely hard to scourge. Everybody is looking to screw the system because the system is obviously screwed by everybody else, the black economy is rampant and the clean people held for fools or even eliminated if they get bothersome. It's like making a shirt extremely dirty to force a washing, only to find the stains don't go out. Once you're there it's extremely hard to get back to civilized society, it's a lot of the reason why the third world stays the third world.

Re:I say this is great news!

[jamstar7]

You can already see more and more common folks starting to make noise. What we need is that extra push to get the common man to say, "OK, enough is enough" and actually stand up.
The western governments are out of control in general and they need to be taken back. News like this just brings the day closer....I hope.

Not gonna happen that way. The only way I can see to clean things up ain't gonna happen either: do away with all campaign contributions and replace them with Federal/state funds you qualify for by applying for the office you're running for. Show a petition for, say, 20,000 verifiable signatures for president of the US and you qualify for Federal campaign funding to run for president. Pay for it the way we do now, only, instead of a check mark on your W-4, the government earmarks 2 bucks taken from what you're stuck paying anyways instead of the optional 1 for the fund. And no sharing your funding with other candidates, AND the IRS audits your campaign yearly, so keep those reciepts!

Oh, and once you're in, it'd be illegal to take funding from a lobbyist. Might as well kill 2 birds while we're at it. See why this will never work without a violent revolution? Too bad the government is busy trying to take away everybody's guns...

Re:I say this is great news!

[Ltap]

Exactly. The boiling frog effect is especially noticeable with DRM in games -- what was once CD checks is now full-blown rootkits which try to wrestle control of your OS away from you. The trouble is that, not only has the DRM become more restrictive, but it's also become more subtle -- the general person will actually be happier, because then they don't have to input a serial number or something similar. Most have no idea what some DRM does and, even if they do, they actually believe the company has a right to take over someone's OS without informing them (except under a vague reference to "data protection" or something similar). The rest are simply so apathetic they can't bring themselves to care.

the aus government...

[ushere]

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. but they manage to stab each other in the back quite efficiently.

Retards

[labnet]

We the people don't want to 'steal', otherwise KMART would have uzis at the door instead of some bored chick.
Give the people an easy way to download everything at a reasonable price ($5 new release , $1 for back catalouge), and most of piracy will go away overnight.
Making war against the consumer of your product is not a long term business strategy.
Unfortunatley, most of the MPAxx's of the world seem to be run by retards.

Re:Retards

[MysteriousPreacher]

We the people don't want to 'steal', otherwise KMART would have uzis at the door instead of some bored chick.
Give the people an easy way to download everything at a reasonable price ($5 new release , $1 for back catalouge), and most of piracy will go away overnight.
Making war against the consumer of your product is not a long term business strategy.
Unfortunatley, most of the MPAxx's of the world seem to be run by retards.

The physical shop is a poor analogue for piracy. Most people know that stealing an object is wrong, and through good character or fear of consequences they don't steal. Downloading is different. I wouldn't dream of stealing from a shop, even if I knew I could get away clean; I do however occasionally grab a torrent.

Making stuff conveniently available and cheap (seriously, 10 euro for a 10 year old album?) will help but will not eliminate most piracy. The major downloaders I know have decent jobs, and could easily buy the shit cheaply in town or via iTunes; they just choose not to. These are otherwise ethical people who see no consequences or serious issues in downloading. Yes, record companies completely mismanaged to transition away from physical media. Through their refusal to make their goods available in formats their customers want, they have driven them to illegality. It's bullshit that the DVD I pay money for is deliberately designed to not be ripped and played on my Apple TV or my iPhone, when I could instead fine a free torrent that will be a far better product. If I have to go download a rip because my DVD is copy protected then is it any wonder that some people skip step 1?

Re:Retards

[icebraining]

Second hand works too, as long as it's not one of those games which require paid reactivation.

Re:Retards

[Dhalka226]

You're right, of course. There are some people who could easily buy things but still choose to pirate them, and there always will be. The proper response to those people is to ignore them. We just established that they will not be turned into customers, so the only other choice is to turn them into criminals -- which may feel good, but not only reflects badly but probably costs far more than it ever returns.

Rather, the people a company needs to reach are the ones who want to buy the product but can't, either because of some artificial limitation (region issues, as one example) or because of price. Region issues are easy to solve but still complicated, because it usually involves a situation such as where a company sells the rights to merchandise a particular product in a particular market. Short of stopping that, which has its own complications, the solution isn't obvious, at least to me.

Price, though, is relatively easy. I think we're very close on MP3 pricing. I'd say we're still just a touch high, and as evidence I would say that most places still offer a discount for buying a whole album versus buying each of the songs on an album, which says to me there's still a premium for not buying music you don't like. But in any event, it's damn close and it's doing pretty well. Movies, though, still feel expensive. They're very often similar or the same price as a physical copy. It's even worse with e-books. They tend to be the same price as a paperback, and yet without the benefits of one such as the ability to loan it to your friends and family. (Some companies graciously allow you to lend a book exactly one time -- thanks guys, that changes everything!) Games are on one extreme or another; there's the so-called AAA titles that are still extremely expensive, and then games like Magicka priced at impulse-buy levels, so there's lots of room at least on one side of the spectrum.

In other words, there is still a ton of room to turn pirates into customers. One will never get them all converted and shouldn't waste the effort on trying, but there's still a lot of room to play on that old price-demand curve for most products.

What else is the NBN for?

[mfearby]

What else is the NBN for other than using copious bandwidth for digital content? I sure as hell ain't gonna get a Telstra T-Box and be forced into watching movies and TV shows on their pathetic schedules, and most likely be forced to watch advertising without being able to skip through it. Or, what's worse, being forced to select from the paltry range of good TV shows from overseas and have to watch locally-produced content which is mostly rubbish. No thank you.

This government has got to go. Make no mistake!

Re:What else is the NBN for?

[SuricouRaven]

I suspect part of the NBNs political purpose is to make it easier to justify government-imposed filtering. It's much easier to argue that something needs to be tightly regulated if tax money is being spent on it.

Will the real pirates please stand up

[falconcy]

....and just how many Pirates to the expect to net over in Oz with this legislation? Will it really be any easier to prosecute them? Piracy is pretty well defined here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy Of particular interest is: Modern definitions of piracy include the following acts: Extortion That means extortion of any kind, including "legalised" extortion which this piece of cartel brought legislation attempts to enable, are acts of piracy. When will we have legislation to protect us from the real pirates?

What's happened to them?

[The Creator]

They used to be cool, but now it's like they'v been annexed by the fucking Nazis again.

Re:What's happened to them?

[tqk]

They used to be cool, but now it's like [they've] been annexed by the fucking Nazis again.

Jeebus. Cf. Anschluss and Australia

Do you always get that drunk this early, or is it only on Saturdays?

Re:I just hope they sue a pensioner.

[Gravis Zero]

Lets see them try to judge someone who lives on less than $35 a day for downloading copyrighted material instead of buying it.
Now that its going to be endorsed by a political party, all hell will break loose in the polling booths and maybe we can see a Pirate Party in power in Australia.
This will also endorse the behaviour of riots against American corporations, and could affect more than just sales of music or movies.
Thanks for shooting yourselves in the foot fellow majority political parties!

so... what planet do you live on?

It's the same no matter which party is in.

[csirac]

It is. You walk into the polling place and vote for someone else.

Excellent idea! But I think that's what people thought they were doing in 2007 when we ditched the coalition. I thought the two parties were pretty hard to distinguish in the last election; but I told myself I was just being cynical... now, it's plainly obvious that current politics involves this sick competition between the two parties to be as utterly, completely, and hopelessly exactly the same as each other.

I've never voted for either of the two major parties before (and yes, I fill out all 60-odd boxes so that labor & liberal go last in my preferences), having said that, I'm an extremely reluctant Greens voter. Most of their underlings seem incompetent, or are just as warped as any other career-politician, or they remind me of people I met at university who seem capable of instantly forming very loud, unshakable, annoying opinions on any subject regardless of their understanding, knowledge, and painfully obvious lack of research.

Then there's the state governments...

Anti-civilians laws

[Tei]

I doubt the people of australia want this type of laws. Probably hare bought by corportations. If that is true, the political system on australia need a huge change. The 1% has corrupted the system there too.

The Model is broken

[Stonefish]

The copyright model is broken and has been massaged by large corporations into a licence to print money. Copyright should only apply to individuals and for limited periods of time. Nothing created while my father has lived has ever gone into the public domain which was one of the key reasons why copyright was granted. How does 25 years for individuals and 5 years for companies sound? That way the price that they pay for copyright protection is and end date to protection, if the corporations don't like it they can use proprietary mechanisms and once they're broken they can't claim copyright. It would also force companies to licence copyright management from individuals rather than buying them outright.

Re:The Model is broken

[Anonymous Coward]

The model is indeed broken.

One discussion is about what a reasonable copyright term is. I think it should be obvious to anyone that the digital/Internet age brought the printing press and the record factory and the photo labs from big brick buildings in the industrial area right on everyone's desktop. This makes copyrights suddenly relevant to everyone, not just to a few shady characters operating an unlicensed vinyl pressing/cassette tape duplication/CD pressing plant. This also made the public domain relevant to everyone. That Aesop's Fables was public domain 40 years ago was hardly relevant to anyone as you still had to go out and buy a book to get access to them. Times have changed. Surprisingly, we have seen a trend of copyright term extension, at the cost of the Public Domain, rather than the term reduction one would expect (assuming widespread uncensored dissemination of art and other cultural heritage is a desirable goal).

Another discussion is: why should one respect copyrights? Just because it's "the law"? Because "the creator" is entitled to a revenue from his/her work? But what would that mean for out-of-print and 'deleted from catalogue' items? Just go without them, or pay sometime heavily inflated prices on the used goods market - not a penny of which goes to the creator? Then there's just the plain abandonware and orphaned works. If it's a book, assume some "publisher's association" owns it, and they will hand some of the money to current authors who had nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of that work - and again not a penny goes to the actual creator? Why respect a copyright of a new work if you know that you won't outlive the copyright on it, and neither will any of your children? If you now know you aren't allowed to make a copy 40 years from now, what will stop you from doing it right away, as it makes no difference?

Why do we see all these copyright extensions popping up everywhere, do you really believe that is because of the Beatles and some other high-profile bands' catalogue? That's just an extra. For every 60's/70's album that is currently commercially viable, there are a thousand that are not, but remain even more locked away as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as you simply can not buy them anymore.

The main reason the Big Labels have is that we are to be denied a strong public domain for sound recordings, e.g. a "Project Edison". Once this exists, a large audience will become aware that copyrights actually expire and what the "public domain" is, and will start questioning the length of copyright terms especially for works that have not sold a single copy since before they were born.

Instead of continuing the "fight against excessive copyright" perhaps it would help to fight "in favour of a strong public domain". This sounds positive, and the goal of making art available to everyone is hardly anything a politician could object to. It also puts the public's interests first, and creators' rights are the exception that will have to be properly justified.

Re:I'll just leave this here

[Dan541]

An unofficial "Political" Party that can't run in elections. PPAU has unfortunately become little more than a blog of media releases.

Waah!

[PopeRatzo]

Anti-piracy organisations will be jumping for joy â" but I'm not sure how popular the move will be with the rest of the population

What does it matter what the "rest of the population" wants? It's the anti-piracy organizations that are the "job creators" and they're the ones that are putting dollars in the pockets of our politicians instead of paying taxes and they're the ones who are THE BOSS OF YOU so shut the fuck up you whiny-ass titty baby. Get with the program AND GET ON YOUR KNEES, AUSTRALIA.

-This message has been brought to you by the International Star Chamber of Commerce.

the rest of the population....

[nurb432]

Since when do their needs or opinions matter? Your opinion only counts if you can pay.

Re:Prison Colony

[tqk]

It appears that Austria is going back to it's roots.

I was unaware that Austria had ever been a prison colony. Thx.

Re:Prison Colony

[tqk]

My grandfather survived Aufsbourne.

Did you mean Anschluss?

Re:Nobody will notice

[tqk]

I'm Australian. The two things that make the news at the moment are this new Carbon Tax and illegal immigration by sea.

As much as I'd like to see this make the news, it won't.

Consider writing some emails? Newspapers, radio & tv stations, your elected reps, the loyal opposition, the local uni student's union, EFF Australia (if it exists?), & etc?

Re:So who can help us?

[tqk]

Kill someone. ... Make them fear for their lives and the lives of their families, 24/7, and you will make a difference. If you're not prepared to kill in order to preserve internet freedom, then you do not deserve it.

You first. Holy hyperbole, Batman! Premeditated murder to protect your right to be a leech? That's your answer?!?

[WRT your .sig: I'd consider it an honour to be given the chance to beat the crap out of the likes of you.]

Malicious copyright groups

[goonerw]

What I don't understand is why these copyright failures don't use what is already in place. All they need to do is file an Order 15A for discovery with the court and the ISP will happily hand over the information required. Since this whole fiasco with iiNET had started, there had been exactly zero Order15A's applied for by AFACT. iiNET even told them exactly how to do it but were then painted as pirate-harborers and sympathisers. This entire argument by the industry is malicious at best. We have a judicial system here for a reason. A plaintiff just can't order a defendant around with "evidence" without that "evidence" being validated by a judge/magistrate with a court order. Here's one comment from 3 years ago that still holds true today: http://whrl.pl/RbBoKk and his followup for more detail http://whrl.pl/RbBoMh

Re:I'll just leave this here

[CanEHdian]

According to Wikipedia, they couldn't run due to registration requirements. It turns out they tried to register but this wasn't completed when the election was called.

According to Pirate Party Australia's website joining the party is free of charge at the moment, so if you agree with their constitution, by all means, do sign up and even better: become an active member. As far as I know Australia doesn't have the undemocratic "first past the post" system so, just like in Berlin, you actually have a change to score some seats. Provided, of course, that you get your message out, in particular to the younger voter and that you can actually get them to go out and cast their ballot. Again, it worked in Berlin (8.9% of the votes).

Help me out here..

[The Creator]

Is it Das, der oder die whooshen?

Copy

[viking80]

The internet is basically a copy machine. I realized this writing an IP stack. It might as well be called the interCopy or the big copy. This word may also make it clear for the distributor that if you put your stuff in the interCopy, it will be copied. That is what the interCopy does. If you do not want your stuff copied, just don't put it in the interCopy.