More On The Australian Court's Upside-Down Internet Ruling
from the what-were-they-thinking dept
On Monday, we had the story of Australia’s Supreme Court saying that it had jurisdiction over a story posted by an American news organization in America. That story has been getting a ton of press all week, and now Dan Gillmor has weighed in with his opinion on why this is a horrible and dangerous precedent, that will do tremendous harm to the internet and free speech. Saying that an internet post is the equivalent of actively publishing in every single country, each with their own (often bizarre) laws, makes it nearly impossible to put anything on the internet without risking being hauled off to some foreign country to face charges. Gillmor also makes the point that it’s not just Australia that’s doing this, and brings up examples of how the US is doing the exact same thing in cases like the one against Kazaa.
