In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Sun, Jan 30, 2005 at 07:07:38AM +0800, John Taylor wrote: > Changing the law can't be that difficult. What about a political > campaign to press for a change in the copyright laws?
Copyright laws have been recently revised as part of federal legislation to "enable" the USAFTA (er..."Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, often abbreviated as thought it's AusFTA instead of A-USFTA). Various intellectual property laws came into effect on 1 Jan 2005, and I have been told that these impose *more* restrictions than existed before. Although these FTA conditions have been known for a long time, I seem to recall that the Australian media chose to marginalise the whole affair, then publicised it last year by focusing on sugar and drugs. I also recall a federal election last year which effectively endorsed the "free trade" agreement. The new government chose to enlarge intellectual property restrictions beyond even the FTA's requirements. Although some people hoped the FTA would introduce "fair use" or "personal use" provisions, I don't think any legislation of that type has been passed. If you have a time machine, you might like to start a political campaign about eighteen months ago.
