Linking To A Site That Might Do Something Illegal Is Illegal In Australia?

from the that's-a-crime? dept

As various new laws come into place taking away users’ rights, it’s important to highlight the situations where this is causing problems. A perfect example is a case in Australia where the police have arrested and are prosecuting someone for linking to a website that may have offered illegal downloads. This is a criminal, not a civil procedure (he may still face a civil suit as well) — and it’s not at all clear why this kid is in trouble. He had nothing to do with the site in question. In fact, it’s not even clear if the website in question actually was doing anything illegal. All this kid did was link to the site — and his house was raided by the police. When they found some CD-R’s (evidence!) he was arrested. Doesn’t it seem like the police could be involved in things that actually involve public safety rather than raiding homes and arresting kids for pointing to websites that offered music they liked?


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