Month: August 2014

Roadshow Films vs iiNet

by rachelfisher-white

The 4th of February saw the victory of iiNet against Roadshow Films and others, for a trial in the Federal and High Courts of Australia. A body of 34 companies unsuccessfully claimed that iiNet authorised primary copyright infringement by failing to take reasonable steps to stop its customers from downloading and sharing infringing copies of films and television programs using BitTorrent.

AFACT (who spoke on behalf of the 34 companies) claimed that iiNet “had ignored requests from the companies to discipline its customers for breaking copyright laws.“[7] The managing director of iiNet, Michael Malone, claimed that “iiNet cannot disconnect a customer’s phone line based on an allegation. The alleged offence needs to be pursued by the police and proven in the courts. iiNet would then be able to disconnect the service as it had been proven that the customer had breached our Customer Relations Agreement.”

The trial judge, Justice Cowdroy of the Federal Court, found in favour of iiNet he stated that while iiNet users did infringe, this was not the responsibility of iiNet to deal with. “iiNet is not responsible if an iiNet user uses that system to bring about copyright infringement … the law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another.”

While i’m all for easy access to television shows, and films and music downloads and what not.. if companies like iinet don’t stand to protect the copyright of another- who will? It seems highly unlikely that the creator of such works could spend all their time searching to see if someone has made illegal copies of their work for free use, just saying.

Facts Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadshow_Films_v_iiNet
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/iinet-slays-hollywood-in-landmark-piracy-case-20100204-ndwr.html

Satisfaction?

by rachelfisher-white

In week 2’s Symposium Adrain discussed how satisfaction from an ending was naive.

In a sense he argued that if you were truly satisfied then you wouldn’t need to do other things, because you no longer needed satisfaction.. you wouldn’t read another book, or watch a full season of another tv show.. you’d be content because the ending of this book was fully satisfying.
As we all know, this isn’t the case. I don’t know about you but i’ve definitely read more than one book, and i sure as hell have watch more than one television series.

I don’t agree that it is naive to gain satisfaction from the ending of a book. I think that people read more books because they need to fill in time, they like books and they want to find more satisfaction, why wouldn’t readers look for more satisfaction? Just because people continue to read and indulge in things doesn’t mean they weren’t satisfied before hand, a temporal satisfaction is still satisfaction worth having and worth aiming for.

Week 2 Symposium.

by rachelfisher-white

Your life is not a story.

Adrian talked about how our lives are not stories, this set me back. I’d always considered my life as a story, never giving it much thought…

“Change your story, change your life.”… “In the end our lives are just stories, make sure yours is worth reading.”… “The tale of someone’s life begins before they are born.”

but as Adrian pointed out, nothing in a story is accidental, everything is cause and effect.. unlike life. Things happen accidentally, and sometimes for no reason. As a dreamer i’ve always wanted my life to be like a book, or movie, perhaps i’d rather if someone else was in control of my life, less responsibility that way. The truth is though, i’m in control and unfortunately I can’t write down what i want to happen and watch as it unfolds.
Reason controls nothing.