 |
| Lone Star College Online (2012) 'Law Book' <http://www.txprofdev.org/apps/onlineteaching/legal/> |
I have a confession to make – I am addicted to Pretty Little Liars. It’s shameful, I know! Every Wednesday afternoon you will find me glued to my laptop screen waiting for another clue regarding the mysterious A’s identity.
There is a delay of fifteen episodes in Australia. Being the impatient Gen-Y-er that I am, I instinctively turn to the Internet to satisfy my PLL cravings.
Streaming television shows online is becoming so commonplace that very few people question the legality of their actions. In America, 23.9 million people use the service Netflix to access huge amounts on online content.
However, streaming shows yet to be released in Australia does constitute an offence: intellectual property theft.
However, streaming shows yet to be released in Australia does constitute an offence: intellectual property theft.
Over the next few weeks I will investigate how international licensing agreements work to answer two big questions:
- As a matter of law, why can’t I access Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services in Australia?
and
- If these services were to move to Australia, how could they legally enforce their rights to stream movies and television shows exclusively?
Great angle! If the legal restrictions which have been preventing them from being accessed here in Australia change, how they get around them will emphasis why our investigation into this issue is important. Is it or is it not a real threat to the Broadcast Industry?
ReplyDelete