Parallel imports are actually dead in about four weeks.
Apparently our government caved during the Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Virtually all Intellectual Property Rights law changes to US law come 1 Jan 2004.
We even get the Digital Millenum Copyright Act - believe it or not.
Australia Post launched a product several years ago called Keypost aimed at individuals.
The company I worked for at the time (a large Australian provider of e-mail services) was looking into it as a solution to spam, and as a boost to e-commerce dealings. We probably had the clout to really put the product into the market, and we thought it what our customers were yearning for.
But, dealing with Australia Post was so incredibly difficult we gave up.
Besides obstinate and inflexible product people on their end, the product had some key flaws:
For instance, Keypost certificates were supposed to be issued the same way as passports, but for some reason required more ID (or more stupid ID rules) than a passport application did. (if you know anything about the Aussies, they hate over-burdensome ID rules).
Also, only a very limited number of Post shops were willing to run with Keypost.
As well (if not most importantly), the cost of Keypost was around 10 times an Australian Passport (at the time it was Keypost $99/annum vs around $100/ten years for a Aussie passport).
NOIE (The National Office of the Information Economy - an Australian govt office) runs gabfeests on the issue every so often, but nothing eventuates.
There is obviously demand: The Australian Tax Office gave up waiting for a public key infrastructure and set up it's own a couple of years ago, which most of the users (mostly small to medium size businesses) are very happy with. But it's only used to talk to and fro the tax office.
IMHO, demand's there, someone just has to force Post to get itself organised that's all. I think we'll all benefit.
My first month with Optus (an Australian mobile phone carrier) set me back (just for the GPRS part of the bill) A$126 for 6 megabytes. Yes, that's right, six (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) megabytes cost me A$126 (about US$70-80). You practically got your data for free if that's all your paying! They also charge in both directions!:-)
Mind you, having an always-on Internet connection from where you are anywhere on Earth is a great concept, I find so convenient to grab and send e-mails whenever, but spams freak me out, and big e-mails freak me out (but my phone checks with me first before she downloads 'em).
But, with GPRS if you go easy on it, it's great! From the taxi, from the ski-fields, from the beach, I can send an SMS for A$0.25c (160 characters) but for same cost I can send a much longer (say, 1000 characters) e-mail to multiple recipients.
The prices in Oz won't drop anytime soon, phone companies are probably worried about canabalising their voice market (if the GPRS data rate drops by a little over half, then you have an incentive to develop software that will run voice over the GPRS network). Phone companies aren't evil, they're just not stupid!
I'm not even Canadian......but it always intrigues me the number of Americans who love bagging out 'their govt' like it's a weird-god-like-outer-body-experience-type-entity or something...
Intriguing.
I reckon America's tops. I also live in a democracy (Australia). In a democracy, the people are the govt.
Sure, I don't always agree with the Aussie Govt of the day on heaps of issues, but on the whole, I reckon they do a top job. Australia has been built up over 100 years to be a top place to live! And, every two-four years, I get to give our govt their performance appraisal. Pollies are just like us.
They're tops. The system's tops. And if I don't like it, I got the right of protest, so I can change it, or I can move somewhere else if it's really **THAT** bad, which is isn't. It's tops.
Don't be so hard on your country mate, it's a top place.
This Canadian comment in the report is just some temporary pettiness between long term mates. Mates sometimes fight, don't worry. You guys will kiss and make up.
Yea, it's expensive over here in Australia... movie transfer doesn't seem very realistic for home users, here's why:
On my plan (A Telstra Broadband ADSL 1000MB) - (Note: A Telstra GB=1000MB)
(All figures converted to US$)
Monthly charge for 1000MB = US$44 (approx)
Each additional MB: 8.6c (US)
So, if you have a whole movie converted to something like VCD quality, it would use almost your whole monthly allowance, costing you your entire US$44. (or if you're over your allowance it would cost you US$86.42).
Now, you can buy the full DVD from the video shop for around US$10-US$20. It's higher quality, and costs less than the data cost!
For higher volume users (and business users), the prices come down marginally, but still its much cheaper, and more convenient to actually buy the fully featured, fully legit DVD movie...
If people are transferring movies in Australia they haven't used their calculator yet...
M.
Slashdot Mirror
Woops: URL Should be: Patently yours - Sydney Morning Herald
Parallel imports are actually dead in about four weeks.
e ntly-yours/2 004/11/25/1101219671693.html?from=storylhs
:-)
Apparently our government caved during the Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Virtually all Intellectual Property Rights law changes to US law come 1 Jan 2004.
We even get the Digital Millenum Copyright Act - believe it or not.
Check (Registration Required):
http://smh.com.au/news/Technology/Pat
I hope you know the words to the American Anthem!
Australia Post launched a product several years ago called Keypost aimed at individuals.
The company I worked for at the time (a large Australian provider of e-mail services) was looking into it as a solution to spam, and as a boost to e-commerce dealings. We probably had the clout to really put the product into the market, and we thought it what our customers were yearning for.
But, dealing with Australia Post was so incredibly difficult we gave up.
Besides obstinate and inflexible product people on their end, the product had some key flaws:
For instance, Keypost certificates were supposed to be issued the same way as passports, but for some reason required more ID (or more stupid ID rules) than a passport application did. (if you know anything about the Aussies, they hate over-burdensome ID rules).
Also, only a very limited number of Post shops were willing to run with Keypost.
As well (if not most importantly), the cost of Keypost was around 10 times an Australian Passport (at the time it was Keypost $99/annum vs around $100/ten years for a Aussie passport).
NOIE (The National Office of the Information Economy - an Australian govt office) runs gabfeests on the issue every so often, but nothing eventuates.
There is obviously demand: The Australian Tax Office gave up waiting for a public key infrastructure and set up it's own a couple of years ago, which most of the users (mostly small to medium size businesses) are very happy with. But it's only used to talk to and fro the tax office.
IMHO, demand's there, someone just has to force Post to get itself organised that's all. I think we'll all benefit.
M.
Wow, that's cheap!
:-)
My first month with Optus (an Australian mobile phone carrier) set me back (just for the GPRS part of the bill) A$126 for 6 megabytes. Yes, that's right, six (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) megabytes cost me A$126 (about US$70-80). You practically got your data for free if that's all your paying! They also charge in both directions!
Mind you, having an always-on Internet connection from where you are anywhere on Earth is a great concept, I find so convenient to grab and send e-mails whenever, but spams freak me out, and big e-mails freak me out (but my phone checks with me first before she downloads 'em).
But, with GPRS if you go easy on it, it's great! From the taxi, from the ski-fields, from the beach, I can send an SMS for A$0.25c (160 characters) but for same cost I can send a much longer (say, 1000 characters) e-mail to multiple recipients.
The prices in Oz won't drop anytime soon, phone companies are probably worried about canabalising their voice market (if the GPRS data rate drops by a little over half, then you have an incentive to develop software that will run voice over the GPRS network). Phone companies aren't evil, they're just not stupid!
Cya!
M.
I'm not an American...
...but it always intrigues me the number of Americans who love bagging out 'their govt' like it's a weird-god-like-outer-body-experience-type-entity or something...
I'm not even Canadian...
Intriguing.
I reckon America's tops. I also live in a democracy (Australia). In a democracy, the people are the govt.
Sure, I don't always agree with the Aussie Govt of the day on heaps of issues, but on the whole, I reckon they do a top job. Australia has been built up over 100 years to be a top place to live! And, every two-four years, I get to give our govt their performance appraisal. Pollies are just like us.
They're tops. The system's tops. And if I don't like it, I got the right of protest, so I can change it, or I can move somewhere else if it's really **THAT** bad, which is isn't. It's tops.
Don't be so hard on your country mate, it's a top place.
This Canadian comment in the report is just some temporary pettiness between long term mates. Mates sometimes fight, don't worry. You guys will kiss and make up.
Enjoy your day!
M.
The Australian government news service, the ABC (similiar to the British BBC) has these links on this story:
e tact-19 jan2003-11.htm
a ctfires/pag es/default.htm
Mt Stomlo observatory severely damaged in fires
http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/act/m
Photos from Canberra:
http://abc.net.au/news/galleries/2003/
Yea, it's expensive over here in Australia... movie transfer doesn't seem very realistic for home users, here's why: On my plan (A Telstra Broadband ADSL 1000MB) - (Note: A Telstra GB=1000MB) (All figures converted to US$) Monthly charge for 1000MB = US$44 (approx) Each additional MB: 8.6c (US) So, if you have a whole movie converted to something like VCD quality, it would use almost your whole monthly allowance, costing you your entire US$44. (or if you're over your allowance it would cost you US$86.42). Now, you can buy the full DVD from the video shop for around US$10-US$20. It's higher quality, and costs less than the data cost! For higher volume users (and business users), the prices come down marginally, but still its much cheaper, and more convenient to actually buy the fully featured, fully legit DVD movie... If people are transferring movies in Australia they haven't used their calculator yet... M.