A-G's dept redacts copyright safe harbour consultation paper

摘要

The Attorney General's Department last week issued a consultation paper on 'safe harbour' provisions of the Copyright Act that canvassed giving the courts power to order an ISP to provide the details of a particular subscriber to a copyright owner, but then with no explanation removed this paper from its web site and Issued one with no mention of this possibility. The AG's web page announcing release of the consultation paper says: "The safe harbour scheme aims to provide legal incentives for Internet Service Providers to cooperate with copyright owners in deterring infringement of copyright. It limits the remedies a court may grant for authorisation of infringement where an ISP has met the requirements of the scheme. "Amending the safe harbour scheme would provide greater certainty for many entities dealing with copyright materials online. Generally speaking, the current definition does not oover providers of network access such as educational institutions, work places, or online services such as search engines. The Government has received submissions on the merits of addressing this issue during two previous consultations."