Australian Parliament recommends consumers be educated on circumventing geoblocking

[jl_carter]

Yesterday, the Australian House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications handed down its report into IT pricing in Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-lif...729-2qtxn.html

The report was prompted by the fact that Australians pay significantly higher amounts for electronically distributed goods, with Microsoft software and songs on iTunes costing 66% more in Australia than the US. Microsoft, Adobe and Apple were all witnesses before the committee and gave testimony on why they consider the price difference to be justified.

Australian Courts have consistently ruled that region coding and other similar geo-restrictions are not copyright protection devices, but market protection devices. The Standing Committee’s has built on that history by recommending greater consumer entitlement to circumvent geo-restrictions.

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_...ing/report.htm

Below are the recommendations of most interest (my paraphrasing, see the report for the full recommendations).

• The Copyright Act be amended to clarify right to circumvent technological protection measures that control geographic market segmentation.
  
• Australian consumers be educated as to the extent to which they may circumvent geoblocking mechanisms and the tools and techniques which they may use to do so.
  
• The Australian Government consider

- creating a ‘right of resale’ in relation to digitally distributed content
- clarifying ‘fair use’ rights
- restricting vendors’ ability to ‘lock’ digital content into a particular ecosystem.

• The Australian Government consider enacting a ban on geoblocking as an option of last resort.
  
• The Australian Government investigate amending the Competition and Consumer Act so that contracts which seek to enforce geoblocking are considered void.

JL

Related: Aussie regulator: E-book price fixing is not our problem

[image: Flickr]

[Lynx-lynx]

Yep, the Government has finally realised the pain caused by this unnecessary geo blocking by non-Aus companies because of it's own Microsoft software et al costs!!

What a hoot

Wonderful what changes can happen when the bureaucracy gets caught up in having to fork out exhorbitantly for products that it consumes, eh

[franYo]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Yep, the Government has finally realised the pain caused by this unnecessary geo blocking by non-Aus companies because of it's own Microsoft software et al costs!!

What a hoot

Wonderful what changes can happen when the bureaucracy gets caught up in having to fork out exhorbitantly for products that it consumes, eh

Why would the government care about their own costs? It's you who's paying for it.

A great article though. Thanks to JL for posting. Let's hope this is the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a long campaign to end this geo blocking nonsense.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by franYo

Why would the government care about their own costs? It's you who's paying for it.

A great article though. Thanks to JL for posting. Let's hope this is the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a long campaign to end this geo blocking nonsense.

I don't know what country you're from Fran - but the costs come from the purchasing department's budget, and they're tightly funded and very tightly monitored.

Plenty of reasons for the gov't to be worried about the geo block over pricing. And as far as I'm concerned it's a blessing 'cos they'll help to (hopefully) shift along the processes required to effect the necessary changes.

Of course if you're employed by one of those foreign companies like Adobe or Microsoft etc then I suppose you'd take an oppositional stance at our expense, eh.

[Kumabjorn]

Once the Aussie government puts their "How to circumvent geoblocking" page online they may just have the same amount of hits as YouTube.

[auspex]

Woot! Given the chokehold the US market has on Canada, it'll probably be a cold day down below before anything like this happens here, but if such action elsewhere only helps to stymie our government's attempt to bring in legislation similar to DMCA, it'll be a win for us.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Once the Aussie government puts their "How to circumvent geoblocking" page online they may just have the same amount of hits as YouTube.

Woot woot

Here's hoping

[caleb72]

I think this is the only likely outcome:

Australians might resent geo-blocking, but they can't realistically expect politicians to declare war on Hollywood. Instead they'll need to continue to take matters into their own hands and hope the law looks the other way.

[auspex]

Originally Posted by caleb72

I think this is the only likely outcome:

Possibly, but I don't see why. How are Aus' politicians beholden to Hollywood? What can Hollywood do to them? Return Mel Gibson? Scary, but not fatal.

In Canada, we mostly do take matters into our own hands, and the law (that is, the judiciary) has not only looked the other way but often supported us. Australia, with its much lesser reliance on the US, and the EU are the places where geoblocking needs to be defeated politically.

[Rbneader]

Hm. On one hand, nice to see a judiciary talking about fair use and consumer rights.

On the other hand, I know for a fact that at least one video game company who *tried* to distribute their game world-wide was taken to court and forced to track people's IP, partially because of content restrictions. If Australia wants to have a legally-enforceable content rating system, that's imposing extra costs on companies and those costs will be passed on (that's just how companies roll).

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by auspex

Possibly, but I don't see why. How are Aus' politicians beholden to Hollywood? What can Hollywood do to them? Return Mel Gibson? Scary, but not fatal.

You joke about it but we're terrified of that possibility here.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by auspex

Possibly, but I don't see why. How are Aus' politicians beholden to Hollywood? What can Hollywood do to them? Return Mel Gibson? Scary, but not fatal.

Originally Posted by caleb72

You joke about it but we're terrified of that possibility here.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

If Australia wants to have a legally-enforceable content rating system, that's imposing extra costs on companies and those costs will be passed on (that's just how companies roll).

Of course, they should pass on extra costs imposed on them by local regulations. If people don't like to pay more, elect a government that gets rid of those regulations.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

Hm. On one hand, nice to see a judiciary talking about fair use and consumer rights.

On the other hand, I know for a fact that at least one video game company who *tried* to distribute their game world-wide was taken to court and forced to track people's IP, partially because of content restrictions. If Australia wants to have a legally-enforceable content rating system, that's imposing extra costs on companies and those costs will be passed on (that's just how companies roll).

Let the Aus gov't put the ratings on, prior to the release of the whatever ... all the company has to do is to give the Aus gov't the whatever in softcopy, Aus gov't then rates it, then tells the maker the rating standard and it's included on the whatever packaging.

Yep - it could cost an extra .01cent eh

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by auspex

Possibly, but I don't see why. How are Aus' politicians beholden to Hollywood? What can Hollywood do to them? Return Mel Gibson? Scary, but not fatal.

In Canada, we mostly do take matters into our own hands, and the law (that is, the judiciary) has not only looked the other way but often supported us. Australia, with its much lesser reliance on the US, and the EU are the places where geoblocking needs to be defeated politically.

Originally Posted by caleb72

You joke about it but we're terrified of that possibility here.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

As long as we don't get Rupert Murdoch back permanently ....