Re: [Linux-aus] Article in todays SMH

[Bret Busby <bret@busby.net>]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005, Craig Warner wrote:

> I'm a little confused, there was an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald 
> titled "Copyright laws under review"
> By Julian Lee, Marketing Reporter
>
> http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/14/110822936338.html
>
> In the article, Julian writes
> "Tough new laws will be introduced by 2007 as part of the US-Australia 
> free-trade agreement. Anyone found guilty of unlocking an encrypted code that 
> prevents multiple copies of a CD being made faces a two-year jail sentence."
>
> Does this sound like Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
>
> The reason I ask, is that I have a letter from Senate Sandy Macdonald, (you 
> known him as the Minister for Overseas Postings), quoting "However, this does 
> not mean that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or other U.S. laws will be 
> introduced into Australia."
>
> Craig

What makes that even more confusing, is that I have heard within, I 
believe, the last week, that the feral government is supposed to be 
intending to modify the copyright act, to incorporate a "fair use" 
provision, whereby it will become legal for a person to make copies of 
television programs and music tracks, providing they are for the 
person's own use.

There appears to be a conflict in information, here.

The "multiple copies of a CD being made", in the context of a person 
doing it for the person's own use, would, I believe, enable a person to 
make at least a couple of copies, so that, if one copying attempt 
failed, another could be successful. That is just one possibility that 
is applicable, where the "fair use provision" would conflict with the 
above scenario.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................