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Abstract:
Between March and September 2006, researchers at the Centre for Media and Communications Law (CMCL) interviewed 38 Australian television industry figures about their attitudes and experiences with regard to content control technologies for digital broadcasting. The interviews formed part of a three year research project into legal and technological mechanisms for controlling digital television content, which is funded by the Australian Research Council and encompasses questions in the fields of copyright law, media law and media policy.

The interviews explored issues such as content control for digital television broadcasts; viewer reuse of broadcast content; the interaction of technical and regulatory controls; and more general matters about the future of television in Australia. The aim was to gather a range of views from across the industry, including individuals employed within commercial, national, subscription and community broadcasting, external legal advisors, the production sector, industry organisations and regulators. Interviewees were asked for their individual, anonymous views and they appeared to provide frank responses. Interviewees certainly had a great deal of experience in the industry on which to draw: the median time they had spent working in the field was 15 years and the mean was more than 16 years.

This brief report outlines two related areas where information has been collected from the interviews: attitudes to content control technologies and viewer reuse of digital audiovisual content. Overall, the observations distilled here from industry professionals are largely consistent with points raised earlier in this project, such as the existence of varied industry attitudes to whether time-shifting for personal use should be allowed under Australian copyright law. But the snapshot from industry set out here will also provide a useful reference in more detailed future analysis of legal and policy issues concerned with digital television and content control in Australia.

digital television, Australia, industry, content control, reuse

Abstract:
Comments on the Australian Full Federal Court judgment in Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v. Cooper on whether a website proprietor committed secondary copyright infringement by authorizing infringement, if the website contained hyper-links to copyright recorded music, which the website users downloaded without the copyright proprietor's consent. Discusses whether the website proprietor had the power to prevent copyright infringement. Considers whether the website was designed specifically to facilitate the unlawful downloading of music.

hyperlink, copyright, music, Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v. Cooper

Abstract:
Many areas of digital communication, including digital television, raise concerns about unauthorised reuse of content. Proposals exist in the United States and Europe for applying content control technologies to free-to-air digital television to limit the reuse of broadcast content. These proposals have implications for regulatory options, and for the social and cultural position of television in countries such as Australia. Each proposal also demonstrates the importance of current issues in copyright reform for questions of media law and policy. By examining the history and current status of the broadcast flag in the United States and the Content Protection and Copy Management standard being developed in Europe, this article suggests that Australian regulators are likely to face similar calls for action on digital broadcast content and explains some of the possible regulatory choices regarding the transmission and the reception of digital free-to-air content. As with the United States' and European plans, the choices made in relation to television may have wider implications for digital networked communications and the evolution of a diverse media environment.

digital tv, free-to-air, content control, policy, law, media