The day has finally come when we're no longer potentially guilty simply for copying a legally-purchased non-copy-protected CD onto an iPod (of course, illegally downloaded music and movies are still illegal), or for time-shifting recordings - yep, the new copyright laws have officially passed Parliament.
After going through the ups and downs, at least the government came to their senses and removed many of the strict liability offences, i.e. you're guilty whether or not you knowingly committed the offence or not.
Not being a lawyer or at all interested in reading huge bills and legislation documents (Matt, how the hell do you do it), if you want the technical details explained in plain-English, and what's been happening throughout the rollercoaster ride, check out Kim Weatherall's blog at
http://weatherall.blogspot.com/. She's a Australian IP Law expert, plus a senior lecturer at University of Melbourne, so no doubt she'd be able to explain it way better than I can.
For those of you who simply want to know the implications, check out the FAQ posted on the Attorney General's website:
http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/MinisterRuddockHome.nsf/Page/RWPC7B0742318EF6A58CA25723B008145FCAnd also Kim's FAQs:
http://weatherall.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_weatherall_archive.html#116475515990485839It remains to be seen whether these laws are any good, but at least a couple of the things that we've all been doing are now actually legal. Since when did the copyright laws stopped us from doing anything anyway...
