Creating Memes is Illegal in Australia! I have no face when...

Linky

Well, that's just groovy.



That would be a crime in Australia punishable by up to 5 years in prison or $93,500 smackers.

And while it's not actually something we hear about, it is something that is actually on the books here. One more reason why the absurd copyright laws are nothing but archaic concepts designed to protect those who would steal someone's work and sell it as their own, and nothing at all to do with protecting creative freedom or rights of artists.

DO you know that sharing a meme in this country makes you a criminal?

That's right. Condescending Wonka, Li'll Bub and Ryan Gosling's hey girl are all crimes under Australian copyright law.

In fact by sharing a YouTube video you could face five years in jail and a fine of $93,500.

According to section 132A part 2 of the Copyright Act, "distributing an infringing article that prejudicially affects the copyright owner" is against the law.

So that pretty much makes everything you do on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube completely illegal.

Even sharing a photo of yourself from the social pages of the newspaper is illegal.

What a joke, lol... I almost put this in rant, but I'm beyond that.



Oo

reply to post by winofiend


I'm pretty sure no one is being prosecuted for this though. It's quite similar to how recording television was for a short while I imagine?

The outcome if someone was taken to court over using a wonka meme or something likely wouldn't be a fine or any jail time at all, especially since I don't think the owners of the original content have put much effort in to try and stop the spread of the meme.

I don't know, I get the idea the Herald Sun has been having a slow news week.

reply to post by winofiend


I hereby give you, winofiend, permission to use any photo of me to make a stupid internet meme for use in Australia......well except for that one that you promised is under lock and key- I don't think you want to risk a beat down from a granny!

reply to post by winofiend

The impression I get from the report is that casual use has been technically illegal for years, but the technicality isn't enforced in practice.
Now a campaigning group who DON'T want the practice to be illegal are drawing attention to the technicality for the sole purpose of getting the law changed to make the practice legal.

In other words, they want to change the situation from "Nobody gets punished because the technicality isn't enforced" to "nobody gets punished because the practice is no longer illegal even technically".
Isn't there a danger that the end-result will actually be "people start getting punished because attention has been drawn to the matter"?

When the internet was invented by the Great Al Gore, there was a serious deficiency of LULZ worldwide. This was mostly due to A&E not airing reruns of Night at the Improv any more.

Since The Great One, Al Gore saw fit to bestow upon us the wonders of 20th century computing, LULZ have once again found their way into the world market, creating their own burgeoning Meme Market. I hear that you can actually invest in the Meme Market for the low price of 1 internet (or .58 internetz Canadian).

It's a shame Australia seems a great place to live but the issues with censorship and copyright are shocking surprise people havent gotten more worked up