ISPs: Be careful what you say to media about copyright case
Online tech magazine IT News could have inadvertently lured ISPs into legal disaster with a recent article on copyright issues.
By publishing broadband provider comments about legal advice they may have obtained, the mag could have led them to waive the right to keep the details secret.
It’s vital for CSPs to understand the risk they may create if they publicly refer to legal advice they have received.
Peter Moon talks to corporate lawyers about Facebook
CSP Central’s Peter Moon today addressed the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association at Melbourne’s famous MCG stadium on the topic ‘The future of Facebook and lawyers’.
Cutting through the media hype, Peter carefully explained what Facebook really is, why it’s attracting users outside its original student constituency. He also discussed its limitations as a serious business tool, and when business is better to look for a different rapid deployment solution.
Get a copy of Peter’s speaker notes here.
ISP copyright infringement – victory in NZ? … maybe not
With copyright infringement and ISPs a hot issue at the moment, we were interested to hear some news from New Zealand on the topic.
Online civil liberty group, Electronic Frontiers Australia, reports on a ‘remarkable victory’ by ISPs in New Zealand in relation to what EFA calls ‘guilt upon accusation’ laws.
Sounds promising, we thought, as we followed the link in our RSS reader.
Problem is, when we got there, we couldn’t figure out what was particularly remarkable or victorious.
iiNet copyright trial booked in for October. ‘Can we talk about it ?’ asks iiNet.
In the Federal Court in Sydney this morning, Justice Cowdroy booked at least 14 court hearing days starting on 6 October 2009 for the full trial of the iiNet copyright case.
View today’s court orders.
Trial dates can be moved for a variety of reasons, but the judge has previously indicated an intention to get the case resolved promptly.
There will also be a Directions Hearing on 29 July to deal with any further matters that are required before trial.
In the meantime, iiNet has approached the copyright owners with a suggestion that they sit around a table with a mediator and attempt to negotiate an outcome. We’re not surprised that the company’s gung ho attitude to a court battle has softened. The copyright owners have said they’ll think about it, but won’t agree to anything that delays the formal trial.
More information and expert analysis to follow.
Australian ISPs receive vast numbers of copyright infringement notices headed ‘Commonwealth of Australia’. That is the official heading of the notices contained in Australia’s