No liquids or iPods | Web Directions

• In: Blog
• By:John
• August 1, 2008

Wired (and multiple other sites) is reporting that News​.com​.au is reporting that “Music fans might soon have their iPods searched by Customs officers at airport checks and face jail if a large amount of pirated music is found on them.”

Under a treaty — the Anti-​​Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — being negotiated by the Government, authorities would seize and destroy goods and equipment used to infringe intellectual property rights (IPR) and materials used to make them.

Details are however scarce, and while reference is made to “a leaked discussion paper”, there don’t appear to be any quotes at all from it available. I suspect it is a bit of a beat up really, and doubt anyone at all really thinks it’s feasible to verify the legality of music and other media on folks devices. Then again, we see some pretty bone headed decisions from the upper echelons of government and business repeatedly, so you never know. Encryption anyone?

The real scandal here is the amount of attention copyright infringement is increasingly getting at an inter governmental level. Dear luxury good makers and IP rights holders. People will copy your stuff. You can increasingly influence governments to criminalize that behavior. Or you can work out how to meet that demand in intelligent ways, before frankly, folks go elsewhere. Which they will.

Here’s a helpful hint. Read this as a starting point.

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