Is Labor going to roll over for big tech – or will it protect the rights of everyday Australians? | Holly Rankin
TL;DR
Leaked documents show the Albanese government is weighing a copyright exception that would let AI companies train on the open Australian internet under an opt-out model. Family photos, small business sites and effectively any public page would be fair game unless the owner actively objects. Opinion author Holly Rankin argues this reverses the default for Australian creators and shifts the burden onto them.
Nauti's Take
An opt-out regime at least creates legal clarity on training data, an opportunity for Australia to compete for labs and data centers instead of litigating every dataset. The risk is that the burden flips to creators: anyone who never hears about the opt-out loses their rights by default.
Large vendors with legal teams gain the most, while photographers, agencies and small site owners are the ones who now have to mark their content technically.
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