Why Civil Liberty And Consumer Groups Are Concerned About Australia's New Anti-Piracy Law -
Max Chalmers
Ostensibly designed to stop you illegally downloading new episodes of Game of Thrones, they may have far broader implications for online freedoms. Max Chalmers explains.
On Monday afternoon, Labor and Coalition senators voted together to wave through legislation rolling out a new Australian internet filter.
The law is intended to stop the circumvention of copyright online - i.e. crack down on the pirating of films, TV shows, music and other content.
But the way it will do this has made advocates of online freedoms and opponents of censorship decidedly nervous.
Instead of focusing on individuals who download copyright material, the laws allow the Federal Court to issue an injunction, blocking anyone in Australia accessing a website where the “primary purpose of the online location is to infringe, or to facilitate the infringement of, copyright”. The new law only applies to overseas sites.
The problem is that this is an extension of internet censorship – the big question is whether checks in the legislation will be enough to ensure that the power is not abused by government.
CONTINUE READING-- https://newmatilda.com/2015/06/24/why-civil-liberty-and-consumer-groups-are-concerned-about-australia%E2%80%99s-new-anti-piracy#sthash.DAKU6FYH.dpuf
On Monday afternoon, Labor and Coalition senators voted together to wave through legislation rolling out a new Australian internet filter.
The law is intended to stop the circumvention of copyright online - i.e. crack down on the pirating of films, TV shows, music and other content.
But the way it will do this has made advocates of online freedoms and opponents of censorship decidedly nervous.
Instead of focusing on individuals who download copyright material, the laws allow the Federal Court to issue an injunction, blocking anyone in Australia accessing a website where the “primary purpose of the online location is to infringe, or to facilitate the infringement of, copyright”. The new law only applies to overseas sites.
The problem is that this is an extension of internet censorship – the big question is whether checks in the legislation will be enough to ensure that the power is not abused by government.
- See more at: https://newmatilda.com/2015/06/24/why-civil-liberty-and-consumer-groups-are-concerned-about-australia%E2%80%99s-new-anti-piracy#sthash.DAKU6FYH.dpuf