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Under the terms of this agreement, the Aussies will have better access to US markets for a wide range of products and services -- which is obviously a good thing.

However, there are always two sides to every coin and it appears that one of the "conditions" associated with the forging of the FTA was a defacto acceptance of some aspects of the US Digital Millennium Copyright law (DMCA).

As a result, if someone claims that the content on an Aussie website infringes their copyright, they can simply serve a notice on the ISP and have that material removed or the site pulled.

No arguments, no contest -- seemingly just the presumption of guilt and your site is history.

This was the tactic used by Scientologists not too long ago, in their attempt to force Google to pull links to sites critical of the religion and it's a quite draconian law which appears to have significant scope for abuse.

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If your competition seems to be getting too much mileage from their website, just file a notice under the DMCA claiming that some part of that site is infringing your copyright.

The ISP or company that hosts the site is then faced with something of a dilemma.

They'll either have to hire a lawyer to advise them on the veracity of your claims and the risks associated with non-compliance, simply ask the site-owner to pull the material, or pull it themselves.

Now, as a content producer and someone who's had their intellectual property stolen on quite a few occasions, I can see the positive side of such a law -- but I'm also very much aware of the potential for its abuse. In the end, I feel that I dislike any law that puts the burden of proof on the accused rather than the accuser.

One thing's for sure -- if NZ strikes an FTA with the USA, we'll also be forced to accept the USA's "over the top" attitude to copyright law and its enforcement.

I fear that such a deal will see the RIAA and MPAA will take over from Helen Clark as rulers of the nation and in that regards it might just be that the old saying "better the devil you know than the one you don't" will have a ring of truth about it.

CANSpam Put to the Test
At long last someone has finally filed a law suit under the CANSpam Act.

It would appear that spammers, although worried enough at first to start including such things as physical addresses and genuine headers, soon reverted to their old fraudulent ways. This behaviour was doubtless a result of the fact that the law simply wasn't being enforced.

Now that an ISP has filed the first suit, perhaps things will change.

Although it's only for a tiny sum (US$10,000), if the ISP prevails, it will fire a very useful warning shot in the direction of spammers and might just see a small but significant reduction in the spam-levels with which we are plagued.

Fingers crossed.

Aardvark Magazine
I'll be posting a note here when the roll-out starts very shortly.

New Forums!
Yes folks, good news. The grotty ezboard forums have been replaced with a new phpBBS-based system that won't assault you with a myriad of pop-ups and other flotsam.

A big thanks to Managed Internet Solutions for offering to provide this service.

You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

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