[LINK] Some Quick Comments on Australia's Exposure Draft TPM Measures Bill

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060905104554107

>  Some Quick Comments on Australia's Exposure Draft TPM Measures Bill
> ~by Brendan Scott, Open Source Law
> inquiries at opensourcelaw.biz
>
> Introduction
>
> As a result of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA),  
> Australia is required to augment its existing DMCA style provisions  
> in the Australian Copyright Act. The AUSFTA requires that these  
> changes be in place by the end of 2006. Following a number of  
> reviews, draft legislation which aims at implementing the relevant  
> provisions of the AUSFTA (i.e. paragraph 17.4.7) has been released.
>
> Hurrah for the AGD!
>
> The first thing to note about the Exposure Draft is that the people  
> in the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) have clearly put a lot  
> of effort into trying to translate into a legal reality a scheme  
> which takes as its basis concepts which are so rarefied that only  
> well experienced copyright sophists are able to decipher them, let  
> alone tell you what one might smell like. The AGD has also clearly  
> done their homework on TPM schemes as a number of criticisms made  
> of the AUSFTA wording and of the existing legislation have been  
> anticipated by this draft. Having been given the thankless task to  
> implement a system which is increasingly being questioned by courts  
> and business in the US and Australia, and which was roundly  
> criticised by a committee report of the Parliament which they are  
> employed to serve, I find it difficult to believe that any of them  
> would have enjoyed the experience. I certainly don't envy them.  
> They have woven a very precarious, and somewhat clever, path  
> through the requirements of the AUSFTA and recent court decisions.


--
Kim Holburn
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