Category: Copyright

Copyright law and reform, both commercial and non-commercial

ALRC Copyright Review Draft Terms of Reference Critique

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Below is Pirate Party Australia’s response to the Attorney-General’s Draft Terms of Reference for the ALRC Copyright Review.

Introduction

Pirate Party Australia is part of an international political movement that promotes the reform of copyright, right to privacy, freedom of expression, and the need for increased governmental transparency, as well as civil and digital liberties in general. Currently there are Pirate Parties registered in twenty countries, including Canada, Germany, Sweden and Spain (as well as four US States), with estimates of up to twenty-four additional unregistered parties that have formed.

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Pirate Party Applauds iiNet High Court Trial Victory

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Pirate Party Australia applauds today’s High Court ruling to uphold the verdict that was handed down in favour of ISP iiNet early last year.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) initially sued the ISP over claims that the company had authorised copyright infringement by its subscribers. After losing their appeal to the Australia Federal Court, AFACT, who lead a party of 34 film studios against iiNet, appealed again to the High Court. Today the announcement was made that the second appeal was unsuccessful.

“I am sure it comes as no suprise to anyone that we welcome this ruling,” said Brendan Molloy, Secretary of Pirate Party Australia. “We reiterate that ISPs behave similarly to the postal service – they are the carriers of the message, and that message should remain private. It is not their business to police users, but merely to comply where necessary with authorities. ISPs are not, and should never be, responsible to anyone other than their subscribers and local law enforcement agencies.”

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Pirate Party Australia Webcast – Episode 1

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In our inaugural episode of the Pirate Party Australia Webcast, Sam begins a four-part series of readings from Rick Falkvinge’s “History of Copyright,” and speaks to Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia, about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Subscribe to the feed, or view past episodes.

A transcript of the webcast is available here.

Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement:
TPPA Negotiation Farce Must End: Pirate Party
Pirate Party Australia’s presentation to Trans Pacific Partnership Stakeholders Meeting in Melbourne
Electronic Frontier Foundation’s TPPA issues page
Australian Government’s TPPA website

History Of Copyright:
No Safe Harbour book
Rick Falkvinge’s Blog (links to the 7 original blog entries)

Quote:
“When artists and consumers themselves get involved in the debate, a remarkable thing tends to happen: Self-interest largely disappears from the picture. Great art is never created from self-interest. It can only be created when an artist is driven by their creative impulse, and applies discipline to develop their talents. ” – Renai Lemay, Editor of www.delimiter.com.au

Podcast (webcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:08 — 13.2MB)

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TPPA Negotiation Farce Must End: Pirate Party

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Pirate Party Australia are disgusted at reports that the United States plans to cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) stakeholder programme[1].

The Party gave a presentation at a stakeholder’s meeting in Melbourne last month, where they criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the TPPA negotiations, as well as the effect it would have on access to pharmaceuticals in developing nations[2].

“The stakeholders meeting in the Melbourne round was only possible thanks to leaks from concerned negotiators. It was still a puzzle to even know what exactly we were arguing against,” said Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia.

“This further attack on involvement of civil society exemplifies US belligerence against the citizens of the participating countries. All of the US negotiating positions are wet dreams of Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industry, and a handful of major US corporations who will be the only beneficiaries of this further move toward secrecy.”

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Pirate Party Australia’s Presentation to Trans-Pacific Partnership Stakeholders Meeting in Melbourne

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Here is the speech that was presented by Pirate Party Australia President David Campbell at 11.45am at the TPPA stakeholders meeting in Melbourne. Thanks to Simon Frew (Deputy President) for authoring the speech and Mozart Palmer (Media Relations) for his contributions.

Pirate Party Australia, like many other attendees at the intellectual property section of this Agreement negotiation, first became aware of the proposed intellectual property provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement when the United States negotiating position was leaked last year.[1]

Much of the content of the leak is a wish-list for old media corporations who refuse to adapt to the Internet and instead pay massive “donations” to their government in order to push their legislative agenda against the interests of modern society. This wish-list echoes that of the intellectual property segments of the Stop Online Piracy Act – known as SOPA – and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – known as ACTA. The US TPPA provisions have been nicknamed “the son of ACTA”. The proposed solutions to online file-sharing will fundamentally change the operation of the Internet, to its detriment.

The extreme position of the leaked United States’ Intellectual Property chapter is highlighted by the unprecedented request for the negotiating texts to remain secret for four years after the agreement is signed. This secrecy is a perversion of democracy. The public would not be given a chance to oppose such a draconian attack on both the Internet and the civil liberties of citizens in all of the signatory countries. All of this to protect the corporate interests of a small sector of one industry? What about the cost to our democratic rights?

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