Stronger Copyright monopolies on the Internet

Copyright law is meant to maintain a balance between the right of creators to a reasonable income through payments for the use of their work, and the rights of consumers to fair use of information. Most copyright is now held by corporations, which lobby for trade agreements to extend their rights.

Community campaigning has removed some of the worst proposals, but the text still locks in strong specific legal rights for copyright holders and criminalisation of copyright breaches, with much vaguer references to fair use provisions for consumers.

These detailed specific rights for copyright holders could prevent governments from introducing future reforms to improve consumer rights or respond to technological change. Sydney University Professor Kimberlee Weatherall has described them as "unbalanced, outdated and inflexible."