SEOSEM in OZ

Sudden Silence continues

The dearth of commentary on the new copyright laws continues in Australia.
For nearly a year, Kim Weatherall was filling her blog posts with important commentary on the subject, along with a number of other blogs and news outlets around the country, but suddenly - silence.
YouTube continues to be under fire, - It may be directed indirectly at Google since they own YouTube. - with a diminishing number of comments from any media. Considering the potential for public harm and expense from the Cooper decision, it is hard to believe that nothing has happened in over a month. I mean, this stuff even had Australians working and reading until late December. Even the Attorney-General wanted to go home in mid-November, but stuck around to deal with the crisis.
And now: nothing.

Just the Basics

When I conceived this blog a few weeks ago, it was intended to illustrate the special circumstances of search engine marketing and search engine optimization in Australia. I picked up a few books on SEM and waded through them, bookmarking handy sites and lists of sites, all along comparing them with the clients and their marketing goals.
It wasn't long before I had lists on lists all over Australia.

I planned to do a few test projects to get me started. Each site could be representative of small business in Australia.

Because Australia has taken to the Net so quickly, and with the advent of real broadband speeds, this project looked to be fun - a case study in globalization that might track well as other small countries move onto the Net.
I felt kinda lucky to have found them, since each plan appeared to apply to thousands of businesses.
The real surprise after doing the research across the country to prepare for these projects was the restrictions of the new copyright law in Australia, but nuff said about that for now.

Sudden Deafening Silence

It's as if a silent hand reached out across Australia. You can even mark the date: December 20th.
From all the sources listed on the right under "Australian Copyright Law", there was an intense debate examining the new law, then suddenly - silence.
As if someone said, "Enough", then, "Stop dissecting and criticizing Australian law. Write about the rest of the world." The Word was spoken, and The Word was heard.
The last comments from Kim Weatherall and LawFont were on 20 December. The Sydney Morning Herald is focusing on YouTube. The last critique on Boing Boing was 25 December. TechDirt's last article was 18 December.
The ITWire from 12 December quotes Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's amorphous reassurances:

"Everyday consumers shouldn't be treated like copyright pirates. Copyright pirates shouldn't be treated like everyday consumers," Ruddock said. "In fact, anyone who uses iPods, DVDs, CDs or records television programs will benefit from the changes."

"Tonight countless Australians will no longer be breaking the law," he said, even though the new law doesn't come into effect for two weeks.

On the 18th of December, the Cooper judgment was handed down by the High Court making Mr Ruddock's reassurances sound hollow.
Why the sudden silence? If there was some official or semi-official word that went out, why aren't Australian experts writing about it? If there was no word, then why the silence?
Or is this just the infamous aussie holiday break?

Well, here it comes

Here it comes
For a nation that is pushing people onto the Internet faster and faster with new programs being funded all around, there had to be a plan to recoup the generosity. New taxes in Canberra (ACT) will increase the costs for providers that will be passed on to consumers. It's not hard to see this is a pilot program that can easily be copied by other states and territories.
Still the biggest money maker looks to be fines and legal fees generated by the new Copyright Law.

Cooper was investigated secretly for over 2 years at the expense of MIPI and its deep-pockets clients. Then the court case took 18 months. As a penalty, Cooper and Comcen were ordered to pay MIPI's costs. Those costs haven't been determined yet, but they must have been significant.
Even the High Court didn't feel it fines were necessary as punishment. At $6600.00 a link, the fines would have never been paid.

From a few conversations, it's obvious to ordinary Australians that courts and laws are made in Australia to generate revenues for the government and fees for lawyers has not escaped the general public. The general public has no idea what to do about it though.
Any conversation along these lines brings out a couple of terms from Australians they truly despise: "hillbilly" and "banana republic".

Whole websites are being torn down. Some rebuilt with great care. From my continuing informal survey, many will just leave the site blank.
Companies wishing to have a web presence will have to factor in the costs of copyrighted images and new taxes, even before the website has a chance to prove it can pay for itself. It won't be long before all states and territories enact taxes following the lead of the ACT, and probably adding a few more just to prove their independence.

Given the cost of access in Australia for second-rate broadband services and the absolutely low cost of providing it, Telstra should be able to quarantine profits from these services for its upgrade and maintenance strategies.- Michael Harris, Tapping, WA (from comments published on Australian IT News)