back to article Oz opposition backs the 'regulatory hallucinogen' of anti-piracy laws

It looks like Australia's proposed expansion to piracy-blocking will become law, with the opposition Labor party deciding to support the bill. Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus announced the Australian Labor party's support for the bill in the country's parliament yesterday, saying: “When last in government and over the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    "primary effect test"

    So... is Google in trouble now ?

    Because the primary reason I use Google is to search for torrents....

    1. FuzzyWuzzys

      Re: "primary effect test"

      And DuckDuckGo, they don't filter their results like Big G does....

      1. sabroni Silver badge

        Re: And DuckDuckGo, they don't filter their results like Big G does....

        I thought Duck Duck Go was just Google rebadged and proxied?

        1. Spazturtle Silver badge

          Re: And DuckDuckGo, they don't filter their results like Big G does....

          You are thinking of StartPage, DDG has it's own engine.

  2. Dave 15

    aw bless

    Finding excuses to control and censor the internet is a sure fire way of ensuring that democracy thrives. Wait until next month and they will be censoring for fake news as well just like us.

    You know what, perhaps it is time for a global revoluition and just shoot these people

  3. DropBear

    Duct tape on a sieve

    And just like that, by this time next year piracyinfringement on the copyrights of filthy rich asshats in Oz will have ceased to happen altogether. Not.

  4. Teiwaz

    Labor has been working to support sensible changes to our copyright laws to ensure that they remain fit for purpose in protecting our creative industries and our artists.”

    I thought the main traffic on piracy was (illogically*) the popular material - which due to high demand generally carried much lower costs.

    Or is Australian content more popular than I realise

    * And not obscure material publishers don't think it's worth their while relicensing for distribution.

  5. Nick Kew
    WTF?

    I thought better of the Aussies ...

    No, not aussie politicians: that ship has not merely sailed, it's reached Botany Bay. But I'm shocked to hear they use that americanised spelling of Labour.

    1. onefang

      Re: I thought better of the Aussies ...

      "But I'm shocked to hear they use that americanised spelling of Labour."

      We don't, the Labor Party does.

      1. JassMan

        Re: I thought better of the Aussies ...

        Does that mean that the Labor Party is trying to dissociate itself from its roots among the working people?

        Or maybe they are trying to promote a cuddly image by making people think their name is a contraction of Labrador. New slogan: Cute as a puppy but without the RADical bit.

        1. Gazman

          Re: I thought better of the Aussies ...

          It's a historical thing. When Labor (the party) was founded in Australia, the US was seen as a beacon of progress and social democratic values (as opposed to frumpy, conservative old Britain). The American spelling was adopted as shiny and modern accordingly (1912). Well that worked out just dandy, didn't it?

  6. Obesrver1
    Coffee/keyboard

    Simple blocking, blocks simple temptations.

    Jolly well tell them not to do it so there won't be naughty pirating any more !

    So what about VPN's and Tor. they can be used to visit countries where laws do not block pirates.

    If the intent is there then they will use the means to access pirated product.

    If the product was sold at reasonable price and not gouged with different prices for different countries around the world, save for exchange rates, there would be less of a motivation to access pirated software.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Simple blocking, blocks simple temptations.

      @ Obesrver1

      Do you realize that tor and VPNs gives our rapidly enlarging spook organizations target practice to support whatever dictatorship eventually gets elected ? Using any of these already makes you a target for federal coppers and spooks already. Quoting a spook official.

      So now you know why the current legislation will enable them to demand all encryption keys, passwords, user ID, computers, backup devices and tell them all. For our own good. That this enables any officially sanctioned hate target to be persecuted for the national or global good is irrelevant.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is courageous act of parliament

    What happens when the 4chaners start doxing the kids of every member of parliament because we know they all pirate.

  8. Oengus

    How long before

    How long before the political party in power finds a way to use this to block access to the opposition's website? Or better yet, How long before hackers workout a way to use the governing party's website to host infringing material... with a name like liberal wouldn't you expect them to be accepting...

  9. julian.smith

    It's a clever ruse

    The effect will be to increase the computer skills of the population.

    They will learn:

    - changing DNS

    - changing search engines eg. startpage.com

    - using encryption

    - using VPNs

    The result will be a Clever, Agile Country.

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