Greens welcome CHOICE campaign for Fair Use copyright reforms
The Greens welcome the start today of CHOICE magazine's campaign for Fair Use in Australian copyright law.
The Greens communications spokesperson, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, currently has legislation before a Senate Committee on comprehensive reforms of Australian copyright law - including a fair use provision - and welcomed the support from one of Australia's leading consumer watchdogs.
"CHOICE's message is simple but on target - ‘Australian copyright law is broken and Fair Use will fix it'. They are asking people to 'pledge' their support for Fair Use.
"The Greens have moved to bring common sense and fairness to copyright law with the introduction of the Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Go for Fair Use) Bill. Our ‘fair use' provision will provide for fair access to archives and other information stores of public interest.
"Under the current arcane and archaic copyright laws; schools, universities and ISPs can face legal sanctions if end users infringe copyright law while using their services. Our Bill puts an end to this sledgehammer approach which drags innocent organisations into trouble," said Senator Ludlam.
The CHOICE campaign is available at www.choice.com.au/makeitfair The campaign is using #makeitfair on social media.
The Greens Bill also removes obstacles for blind and visually impaired Australians accessing published works in formats such as Braille, large print text and audio books - harmonising Australian law with The Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities.
"Many Australians are furious about paying up to 70% more than overseas consumers for music, films, software and hardware. Our legislation will remove ‘geocodes' - a big step towards fixing this anomaly," said Senator Ludlam.
The Bill has been referred to the Environment and Communications Committee reporting 3 October 2013. Senator Ludlam urged the public to make their voices heard on the issue of copyright reform: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committee...