20 August 2012: The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has released the Issues Paper for their inquiry into Copyright and the Digital Economy.
The Issues Paper is the first formal publication of the Inquiry, intended to help frame discussion and encourage public consultation at an early stage. It provides background information about copyright in the digital environment, highlights the issues so far identified in preliminary research and consultations, and outlines the principles that will shape the ALRC’s proposals for reform. It asks more than 50 questions about how the current copyright framework is affecting both commercial and creative enterprise and how current exceptions and statutory licences are working in the digital environment.
Individuals and organisations are invited to make submissions in response to the questions contained in the Issues Paper, or to any of the background material and analysis. The deadline for submissions is Friday 16 November 2012.
You can read more and find the process for making submissions http://www.alrc.gov.au/news-media/2011-2012/copyright-e-news-issue-3-issues-paper-released
The Australian Copyright Council has further general analysis of the paper at http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/2144/
Cloud Computing News has done an analysis of the paper in the context of cloud computing at http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2012/aug/21/does-copyright-law-spell-trouble-cloud/