Australian lawmakers have said they want to update the nation’s copyright laws for the digital age to take into account new technologies such as the Internet, MP3 players and DVD recorders.
According to Australian National University law professor Matthew Rimmer, the law makes no exception for search engines, such as Google, that index the Internet for users. The law also limits the company’s ability to digitize and archive images, books and news stories.
"Given the amount of litigation that Google has been involved in the last year, I think they've got very genuine fears that they could be subject to copyright actions in Australia," he said.
Addressing the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s concerns about the proposed law, Google lawyer Andrew McLaughlin told legislators their actions would destroy the Internet.
“If such advanced permission was required, the Internet would promptly grind to a halt," he said. “Google believes that the bill fails significantly to bring Australia's Copyright Act fully into the digital age.”
A company spokesman raised a practical objection to the absence of an indexing exemption for search engines.
"Given the vast size of the Internet, it is impossible for a search engine to contact personally each owner of a web page to determine whether the owner desires its web page to be searched, indexed or cached," a Google spokesman said.
A spokesman for Attorney General Philip Ruddock, who will work with lawmakers to institute the law, said the committee has received 70 submissions for comment on the legislation.
“We will take on board all the submissions and the committee will take their views into account when they do their report,” the spokesman said.