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How exactly does a country get off making a law about what the businesses in another country are able to do over the internet? I’m sure there are countries that

How exactly does a country get off making a law about what the businesses in another country are able to do over the internet? I’m sure there are countries that would like to get rid of free speech and prosecute homosexuality or speaking against a state religion perhaps? Why should we ignore them while listening to Australia’s ridiculous demands for linking to sites available via public DNS?

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
If you want to do business, collect money, or have offices or employees in a sovereign country, you have to follow their laws. If you don't like it, you can leave. It's that straightforward.
- suifbwish 6y ago
  Sorry. Linking to (not even requesting) a public domain does not give any sovereign nation the right to demand funds. No one who is having funds demanded of them is visiting said country or said site, so no leaving is necessary. It’s frivolous money grabs like this that rob credibility from legitimate intellectual property
  - fogetti 6y ago
    Or conversely having a public domain does not give the right to any private enterprise to do business in a sovereign country. I guess that's a pretty solid argument and that's what most people argue for.
  - gregoryl 6y ago
    Google has offices, employees, multiple registered businesses of various types, and a bunch of physical hardware. They very much are subject to Australian law if they want to stay here. (That said, the law is insane, and neatly demonstrates how badly our politicians are beholden to Murdoch).
offby37years 6y ago
No difference to EU dictating GDPR laws.
- oneplane 6y ago
  That is how law tends to work; it dictates what is lawful within the area it controls.
- Silhouette 6y ago
  The EU's attempts to force extra-territorial enforcement of the GDPR are hardly uncontroversial. It remains to be seen what will happen if and when it comes up against another big fish that is willing to take that fight. As probably the most obvious example, looking at the relative development of the tech sector in the US compared to the EU, particularly now the UK has left, I don't think it takes a genius to work out who loses if the EU really tries to cut off US tech for not playing nicely with EU rules (GDPR or otherwise) and the US government retaliates.
  - dheera 6y ago
    It's laughable how preferentially they try to enforce GDPR on the US vs. other countries. For example, Tencent has a lot of WeChat users in the EU but the EU haven't done a thing about their gross privacy violations that don't align with GDPR. Or Xiaomi Roborock vacuum cleaners, which are sold in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, but send Wi-Fi SSIDs, passwords, GPS, and floor maps back to their server with no option to disable that behavior and no option to request deletion of user data. They mostly target Silicon Valley companies and don't seem to particularly care if other countries' companies violate GDPR.
    - andromeduck 6y ago
      It's just thinly veiled protectionism - not uncommon for "consumer protection" schemes sadly.
      - Hallucinaut 6y ago
threatofrain 6y ago
A country rules by the prerogative of power.
stolen_biscuit 6y ago
Google also do business in Australia, which means they are subject to Australian laws for the services they provide in Australia...
dheera 6y ago
I agree Australia doesn't get to dictate what people do over the internet from remotely. Neither does the EU. Neither does China. If you violate China's laws with your website, they block you. They don't need you to change your website. It's very simple. If you violate GDPR, the EU is welcome to block you. If you violate weird Australian laws, Australia is welcome to block you. No different. Just that (hee hee) we know the EU and Australia won't dare set up national firewalls. But from the perspective of the website owner, they're welcome to set up a firewall if they don't like the website. But the website isn't going anywhere.
- asymptosis 6y ago
  > Australia won't dare set up national firewalls I wouldn't be so sure about that. Australian govt is pretty open to implementing draconian laws. We've already got mandatory ISP metadata retention; we don't have a bill of rights like USA, we're basically a cryptotheocracy with the head of the Anglican Church as our head of state.
  - senectus1 6y ago
    I doubt the Aust Gov could competently setup a national firewall. Especially not a Liberal one.
  - suifbwish 6y ago
    Who exactly would this firewall be protecting? Bitbucket, Jira and other competing Australian tech products would be dumped by anyone Australia firewalls off and there would be a dozen Silicon Valley startups to take their place over night.
    - dheera 6y ago
      Presumably they only need to filter out selective websites from being displayed inside Australia and not prevent Australian products from working outside of Australia.
  - dash2 6y ago

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

If you want to do business, collect money, or have offices or employees in a sovereign country, you have to follow their laws. If you don't like it, you can leave. It's that straightforward.

suifbwish 6y ago
Sorry. Linking to (not even requesting) a public domain does not give any sovereign nation the right to demand funds. No one who is having funds demanded of them is visiting said country or said site, so no leaving is necessary. It’s frivolous money grabs like this that rob credibility from legitimate intellectual property
- fogetti 6y ago
  Or conversely having a public domain does not give the right to any private enterprise to do business in a sovereign country. I guess that's a pretty solid argument and that's what most people argue for.
- gregoryl 6y ago
  Google has offices, employees, multiple registered businesses of various types, and a bunch of physical hardware. They very much are subject to Australian law if they want to stay here. (That said, the law is insane, and neatly demonstrates how badly our politicians are beholden to Murdoch).

offby37years 6y ago

No difference to EU dictating GDPR laws.

oneplane 6y ago
That is how law tends to work; it dictates what is lawful within the area it controls.
Silhouette 6y ago
The EU's attempts to force extra-territorial enforcement of the GDPR are hardly uncontroversial. It remains to be seen what will happen if and when it comes up against another big fish that is willing to take that fight. As probably the most obvious example, looking at the relative development of the tech sector in the US compared to the EU, particularly now the UK has left, I don't think it takes a genius to work out who loses if the EU really tries to cut off US tech for not playing nicely with EU rules (GDPR or otherwise) and the US government retaliates.
- dheera 6y ago
  It's laughable how preferentially they try to enforce GDPR on the US vs. other countries. For example, Tencent has a lot of WeChat users in the EU but the EU haven't done a thing about their gross privacy violations that don't align with GDPR. Or Xiaomi Roborock vacuum cleaners, which are sold in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, but send Wi-Fi SSIDs, passwords, GPS, and floor maps back to their server with no option to disable that behavior and no option to request deletion of user data. They mostly target Silicon Valley companies and don't seem to particularly care if other countries' companies violate GDPR.
  - andromeduck 6y ago
    It's just thinly veiled protectionism - not uncommon for "consumer protection" schemes sadly.
    - Hallucinaut 6y ago

threatofrain 6y ago

A country rules by the prerogative of power.

stolen_biscuit 6y ago

Google also do business in Australia, which means they are subject to Australian laws for the services they provide in Australia...

dheera 6y ago

I agree Australia doesn't get to dictate what people do over the internet from remotely. Neither does the EU. Neither does China. If you violate China's laws with your website, they block you. They don't need you to change your website. It's very simple. If you violate GDPR, the EU is welcome to block you. If you violate weird Australian laws, Australia is welcome to block you. No different. Just that (hee hee) we know the EU and Australia won't dare set up national firewalls. But from the perspective of the website owner, they're welcome to set up a firewall if they don't like the website. But the website isn't going anywhere.

asymptosis 6y ago
> Australia won't dare set up national firewalls I wouldn't be so sure about that. Australian govt is pretty open to implementing draconian laws. We've already got mandatory ISP metadata retention; we don't have a bill of rights like USA, we're basically a cryptotheocracy with the head of the Anglican Church as our head of state.
- senectus1 6y ago
  I doubt the Aust Gov could competently setup a national firewall. Especially not a Liberal one.
- suifbwish 6y ago
  Who exactly would this firewall be protecting? Bitbucket, Jira and other competing Australian tech products would be dumped by anyone Australia firewalls off and there would be a dozen Silicon Valley startups to take their place over night.
  - dheera 6y ago
    Presumably they only need to filter out selective websites from being displayed inside Australia and not prevent Australian products from working outside of Australia.
- dash2 6y ago