Australia’s Copyright Laws

Australia’s Copyright Laws have always been a bit of a mystery to the Australian public, as in what is or isn’t allowed to be done legally by Joe/Josephine Public. For instance hardly anyone knew that prior to 2006 it was illegal to use your VCR (or Betamax for those older) to record shows off your TV, even though the main purpose those items were sold for was the working record button that was easy to see because of its red colouring (which did not stand for stop lol).

In their esteemed wisdom/madness Choice ventured down a road many fear to tread, the corridors of government and lobbyists, armed with a campaign titled bravely “Make It Fair”. The year was 2013 (give or take) and from memory they were cheered on/assisted by the Law Reform Commission. Their lofty goal was to enable a “Fair Use” system in Australia that is similar to that in the USA.

Did any of our heroic Freedom Fighters return from their Bath in the Bubble (the ScoMoLand Themepark as it’s better known)? If they did return what was the outcome of their journey, for sadly my memory fails me. If they did not return has Choice sent out any scouting parties to ScoMoLand in search of these lost Consumer Warriors? Is this a battle not yet won or has victory been declared and everyone can put down their remotes/tablets/mice?

The discussion has raised its head again here in Tamworth as some older bowlers down the club claim their wives want to watch The Block at a time that suits them (we know it’s the guys though), but can’t access 9Now due to regional geo-blocking. They’ve voiced concerns about recording the show to watch it using a portable hard drive plugged into the tv (which is legal anyway post 2006), but it did remind me of the past campaign and device shifting. Are there any heads around whose memory serves better than mine?

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I wonder why this is occurring. WIN took Nine went to court to try and stop Nine streaming into WIN areas, but the case was thrown out. I can’t find any information that Nine is blocking 9Now in regional areas. There are a number of regional users of 9Now which have posted reports of intermittent ‘geo-blocking’ problems with 9Now.

I wonder if the location setting on the device being used for streaming 9Now is set to a country other than Australia, if a VPN is being used which might indicate a location other than Australia or whether 9Now is reading some Australian IPs as being foreign.

If it is the later (no VPN used and device location setting set to Australia), it may be worth trying this on the 9Now webpage, or it this fails to resolve the issue, to contact 9Now with the device’s IP address to see if the IP address can be added to the 9Now geo-location whitelist.

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Great points @phb. Another consideration is that the ISP (if not on NBN) can show up as a completely different part of Australia to the user. In our case we are in SE Qld, and we appear as being in Sydney when using some devices. Don’t know if that could cause geo-blocking or not.

Edit: we appeared to be in Brisbane yesterday!

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Sydney has to be special. We are in NE Melbourne and since signing up w/AussieBB we started our lives 100% located in suburban Perth.

ABB’s response to my complaints was that would have been where the IP was previously assigned, and over time the variability would go away as I use the net more and more and fill in where I am located in ‘googles world’ and the internet is a self learning machine. After 8 months my location varies from cross town Melbourne to Sydney, the occasional Perth, and sometimes where ABB’s service node is located, as well as a slowly building return of where I actually am located. So slowly!

ABB claimed there was no way for mere mortals or anyone else to just correct their location in a table and have it propagated. True or not, it gives great confidence in a future where technology rules everything and we are but slaves to it. No need to comment further…

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Hahahaha…

We have had a fixed IP for maybe seven years and we are still appearing all over the place.

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I was afraid that would be the case. Some day I might find a way to get back for your breaking my happy delusion this would eventually fix itself. :laughing:

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None of these is the issue, and after contacting Channel 9 and Freeview directly there is some conflicting information coming from both of them.

Freeview states that only SBS and the ABC have made all their channels and programming available to regional viewers, and that it’s up to each channel individually to provide access via web or apps for different tv models.

Channel 9 states that it’s individual shows/production companies that decide which of their shows are available to different viewing areas. In the case of The Block they told me that the producers told 9 to only allow access through their 9Now web app and not through any browser, to stop piracy.

When I tried to download the 9Now app on my Hisense TV (2018 model) it stated that the app was already installed. When I contacted Hisense they confirmed this and informed me that they have received numerous calls from people in regional areas with the same problem. With web enabled apps that are provided by broadcasters the broadcaster can disable the app remotely- which is why it does not show on my tv or the others that have contacted Hisense. As the broadcaster owns the app they can do with it what they wish, and it seems they do not want it working on tv’s in regional areas (I’m the only one with a Hisense at the club lol).

It does not affect my wife watching on the Ipad, but then again the Ipad always reports that it is based in Sydney, not Tamworth (always defaults to Sydney weather when opening the app or visiting BOM).

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