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Re: <nettime> sharing e-mail banned by law - 5 years jail or$60,000 fines



>Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001 13:23:51 +0800
>To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
>From: Jacqueline McNally <jacqueline@decisions-and-designs.com.au>
>Subject: Re: <nettime> sharing e-mail banned by law - 5 years jail or
>$60,000 fines
>Sender: nettime-l-request@bbs.thing.net
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-To: Jacqueline McNally <jacqueline@decisions-and-designs.com.au>
>Status:
>
>At 03:30 AM 03/05/2001, you wrote:
>
>>[From: Eric Scheid <eric@ironclad.net.au>
>>To: "tbtf-irregulars" <tbtf-irregulars@world.std.com>]
>>
>>When will the madness end?
>>
>>An article in today's Sunday Telegraph (March 4, 2001), is the following
>>article, which I cannot find on their website :-(
>>
>>---------------------------------------------
>
>The same article appeared in the Sunday Times. The example that the
>journalist used is the key - it has nothing to do with copyright, but
>everything to do with selling a newspaper. The following news release puts
>the issue into perspective. I suspect the Sunday papers had trouble finding
>a newsworthy example.
>
>----------------
>
>http://www.law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/2001newsag/931_01.htm
>
>News Release
>Attorney-General
>The Hon. Daryl Williams AM QC MP
>
>4 March 2001
>
>E-MAIL AND COPYRIGHT LAW
>
>Contrary to alarmist media reports, sharing e-mail is not banned by law.
>
>Amendments to the Copyright Act that came into effect today do not outlaw
>the practice of forwarding personal e-mails to other people. That would be
>ridiculous.
>
>The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act updates copyright law to
>ensure it provides the same protections in an electronic environment as
>exist in a hard copy environment. For example, musicians whose music is
>distributed online without their permission will be able to take action to
>stop it, in the same way they can if pirate CDs are sold over the counter.
>
>Forwarding a personal e-mail is unlikely to breach copyright laws. A court
>would need to find that the contents of the e-mail were an "original
>literary work". For example, if the e-mail was simply a joke that everyone
>had been re-hashing for years, it is doubtful it would have the necessary
>originality to be protected by copyright. Similarly, a casual exchange of
>personal information or office gossip would probably not be original enough
>to have copyright in it.
>
>The Digital Agenda Act brings copyright law into the electronic age. It is
>an important reform that will further protect the rights of musicians,
>artists, writers, film makers and other creators of original works. It will
>also continue to allow users, especially libraries and educational
>institutions, reasonable access to copyright material through new
>communications technologies. It will not impose hefty penalties on everyday
>users of personal e-mail.
>-----------------------------
>
>More of a concern is:
>South Australia's Net Censorship Threat
>3rd March 2001
>
>An Internet censorship Bill was introduced into the South Australian
>Parliament on 8th November 2000 by the Attorney-General, Trevor Griffin.
>Among other things, the Bill criminalises making available content
>unsuitable for children online, even if the content is only made available
>to adults. EFA has issued an Action Alert suggesting ways of
>informing politicians about the dangers of this Bill.
>
>EFA alert
>www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/alert0301.html
>South Australia is about to criminalise provision to adults of material
>unsuitable for children on the Internet. It will be the first Australian
>State to do so. Contact South Australian Members of Parliament to express
>your  opposition to Internet Censorship. The S.A. Parliament is likely to
>vote on the legislation in the session commencing 13th March 2001. Please
>redistribute this alert in appropriate places but not after 16th March 2001.
>
>More information and Analysis of the Bill
>www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/sabill.html
>
>Other references:
>www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/17303.html
>Australia goes stark raving mad over Net censorship
>By: Kieren McCarthy
>Posted: 02/03/2001 at 13:18 GMT
>
>www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2690663,00.html
>Australia fights online obscenity
>By Juliana Gruenwald, Interactive Week
>February 26, 2001
>
>Regards
>Jacqueline
>
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