You may not know this, but you may be inadvertently breaking the law – according to a brand new video by a group called the Creationistas. Your funny meme that you have created to share with your friends, making a cosplay costume of your favourite character, and even creating a search engine. All of these things are breaking copyright law.
And to see how crazy Australian copyright laws are – you cannot transfer a DVD movie to your tablet, you can do that for any videotape.
The video, created by Dan Ilic (which explains the Hungry Beast vibe of the video) and fronted by DJ Sampology, breaks down the problem with Australian copyright law – it is outdated in a world in a world with Google and where everyone is a creator now.
One of the highlights is that Australia does not have a fair use provision – where you can use and adapt copyright material as long it is ‘fair’. Australia has a fair dealing provision, which specifies in law what you can and cannot do. That’s why copyright law has that weird discrepancy between DVD and VHS/Betamax.
And the Creationistas want to change that.
“This is not about piracy, this is about culture. Piracy is about stealing, culture is about creation,” DJ Sampology explains in the video. “Creativity is no longer something that’s packaged, sold and thrown away. Digital places breed ferocious creativity and encourage the collision of ideas that create many works of culture that aren’t made for commercial purposes but made by amateurs for the love of it.”
Australian copyright laws are up for review, and with rumblings that we could see more restrictive copyright laws, it’s time to have your say. You can go to the Creationistas website to find out more information.