[LINK] Brandis loves companies, hates people

Fri Feb 14 17:35:06 AEDT 2014

Give him a break .... he's gotta think about his life after politics, not the electorate that voted him in, not the general public, and definitely not the good of the country.

He's sold his (probably non-existent) soul to the content industry, come down on the side of people who buy (not create) IP, and is dedicated to increasing their hold on that IP even more. These rent seekers are his natural constituency.

'Fair Use?' Pshaw! Consumers, the electorate, the people who voted him and his confederates in ... only deserve the ever decreasing rights over the copyright that the industry and government see fit to leave them. Authors, songwriters , musicians and those communist creative types rightly assign that copyright to his constituency for a pittance to these greys suited middle men ... who now control said copyright for 70, 80 even 100 years if Andrew Robb gets to sign off on the TPP 'free trade' treaty.

Copyright? The fruits of creativity. The right to innovate and build on past works and inventions (which in the final analysis is how human progress has been defined for the last few thousand generations) ... Much, much too good for the peasantry ... could even be dangerous ... we need to stop all that now. Better to concentrate it in the hands of the few, and ensure that the few earn an inordinately good living off it for time immemorial. 

'What about the public?', you say? Hell ... we only need to worry about them every three years or so.

What we want is a nice pliant little population of consumers of copyright and IP, bought from actual creative people, who don't rock the boat and expect society to advance or develop in any way. 

Got news for you, George .... our so called elites don't control the information flow anymore and the Australian public is getting really restive with a political elite that increasingly represents global business rather than our interests. It's been happening for 25-30 years, and both sides of politic are on the nose, but over the last 5-10 years people have been tuning out from mainstream media and the channels you use to pontificate from on high, and have been exploring divergent non-mainstream opinion and ideas, content and culture.

I doubt he's even conscious of this shift ... and still thinks its all under control.

I'm thinking that Brandis lives about 20 years in the past, and has no idea how the world is changing.

And as for corporations being persons rather than entities ... the US Supreme Court has a lot to answer for with respect to that. It was a recent decision ... last year from memory. But our Australian politicians (no matter what their political leanings) have been in the pockets of big corporations since the late 60's and probably before that.

It's one of the reasons we love them so much.             :)

And as I said ... Brandis will need other income sources when he retires from politics (what good politician doesn't ... aside from Ted Mack that is) ... so what harm if he begins feathering his nest now?

I mean. I mean .... he's 'entitled' (to the most expensive bookshelf and office renovations in the land, to all those superannuation and other niceness, to those oodles of privileges, cards, expense reimbursements, travel and all the other stuff our political elite has fought so hard for over the last one hundred and fourteen years).

Just my 2 cents worth ...
---
On 14 Feb 2014, at 4:13 pm, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:

> [Even worse than merely increasing corporate welfare, the Govt has:
> -   adopted the industry's blatantly illogical 'theft' and 'piracy'
>     rhetoric in relation to copyright infringement, and
> -   proposes to impose police functions on ISPs.
> 
> [The one piece of good news is that there's a chance this could 
> involve court-issued injunctions, which would force corporations to 
> produce evidence, and should therefore filter out large numbers of 
> spurious take-down notices.]
> 
> 
> Brandis to tak hard line on Internet piracy through copyright law
> Mitchell Bingemann
> The Australian
> 14 February 2014
> <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/brandis-to-take-hard-line-on-internet-piracy-through-copyright-law/story-e6frg8zx-1226827168539>http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/brandis-to-take-hard-line-on-internet-piracy-through-copyright-law/story-e6frg8zx-1226827168539
> 
> THE Attorney-General has flagged a rewrite of the Copyright Act that 
> could force the nation's internet service providers to crack down on 
> pirates who illegally download TV shows and movies.
> 
> Speaking at the Australian Digital Alliance forum in Canberra this 
> morning Attorney-General George Brandis said he was considering a 
> number of proposals to protect the rights of content owners, 
> describing the act of illegally downloading copyrighted material as 
> "theft".
> 
> "The illegal downloading of Australian films online is a form of 
> theft. I say Australian films, but of course the illegal downloading 
> of any protected content is a form of theft," he said.
> 
> Senator Brandis, who is also who is also the minister for the arts, 
> highlighted section 101 of the Copyright Act as one potential area 
> for reform that could be used to battle online copyright infringers. 
> Section 101 states that an entity which authorises the infringement 
> of copyright without the copyright owner's permission is liable for 
> that infringement. He said he would also consider reforms to require 
> internet providers, like Telstra and Optus, to block websites that 
> host copyrighted material.
> 
> "The government will be considering possible mechanisms to provide a 
> 'legal incentive' for an internet service provider to cooperate with 
> copyright owners in preventing infringement on their systems and 
> networks," he said.
> 
> "This may include looking carefully at the merits of a scheme whereby 
> ISPs are required to issue graduated warnings to consumers who are 
> using websites to facilitate piracy."
> 
> Such a scheme would resuscitate an abandoned trial to have ISPs pass 
> on notices of alleged online copyright infringement to their 
> customers. That trial - which was devised in consultation with 
> Australia's three largest telcos and Hollywood's top movie studios - 
> was abandoned in May last year after iiNet withdrew.
> 
> Copyright holders represented by anti-piracy group the Australian 
> Federation Against Copyright Theft maintain the trial can still be 
> implemented, but telcos have shown little support for the scheme 
> because it requires them to fund the costs of the program.
> 
> Senator Brandis however said such changes would not put Australian 
> ISPs at a disadvantage with their international counterparts.
> 
> "Many overseas jurisdictions have the concept of authorisation 
> liability, secondary liability or similar, which are intended to 
> capture ISPs," he said.
> 
> Senator Brandis said the government would also consider stringent new 
> plans that could involve the blocking of websites that host copyright 
> material.
> 
> The Australian reported in October that the government was exploring 
> tough new measures to curb the illegal downloading of copyright 
> material, including a scheme to allow movie studios to seek 
> injunctions to block websites distributing pirated material.
> 
> "Another option that some stakeholders have raised with me is to 
> provide the Federal Court with explicit powers to provide for 
> third-party injunctions against ISPs, which will ultimately require 
> ISPs to 'take down' websites hosting infringing content," Senator 
> Brandis said.
> 
> Senator Brandis's comments follow yesterday's release of the 
> Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) report into copyright 
> reform for the digital age. The report has recommended changes to the 
> Copyright Act to introduce a "fair use" regime that aims to be 
> technology-neutral.
> 
> In its report the ALRC said Australia should include a "fair use" 
> defence in the Copyright Act, similar to that available in the United 
> States, which would allow people to use copyright material for the 
> purpose of research, criticism or review, parody or satire, news 
> reporting, quotation, education and other select means.
> 
> Senator Brandis however said he was unconvinced that a flexible fair 
> use model would be feasible.
> 
> "I remain to be persuaded that this is the best direction for 
> Australian law, but nevertheless I will bring an open and inquiring 
> mind to the debate. I am convinced that we can do much to improve how 
> copyright works in this country," he said.
> 
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
> 			            
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
> Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
> 
> Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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