Well it didn’t take long….
Now that the spotlight is shining upon the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) as a result of the recent Health Care Complaints Comission (HCCC): Ruling people are now starting to pay closer attention to this anti-vaccine organisation. Publicity is generally a good thing unless you are doing something dishonest in which case publicity can quickly become your downfall. The AVN is learning this lesson the hard way from the HCCC Ruling to the even more recent NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) investigation in which the OLGR has asked the AVN to justify it’s status as a charity.
THE Australian Vaccination Network Inc is being investigated after claims it engaged in unauthorised fundraising.
The Bangalow-based anti-vaccination group has three weeks to prove why its charity fundraising authority should not be revoked after an audit by the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) found alleged breaches of legislation.
Possible breaches of the Charitable Trusts Act 1993 also have been referred to the Department of Justice and the Attorney-General. –Northern Rivers News
It seems the AVN just cannot stay out of trouble because now they have been caught for commercial copyright infringement. Special thanks to @fuzztwin on twitter for being so quick to share the storey.
An anti-vaccination group is under fire for allegedly breaching copyright laws by selling newspaper and medical journal articles online without permission from the authors.
The Australian Vaccination Network, which was the subject of a public warning issued by the Health Care Complaints Commission last month, withdrew 11 information packs from its website yesterday after complaints from authors. –Sydney Morning Herald
So that’s two government authorities and now Commercial Copyright Infringement. Looks like this is going to be a bad year for the Australian Vaccination Network. I believe their blatant copyright infringement will hit the hardest because it is not simply a mere violation but actually turning a profit by selling another persons work… that is a serious “don’t”.
I am sure somebody will go dirt digging to try and accuse me of being a hypocrite (my views on copyright) so I will clarify my position on copyright. I see no harm in the non-commercial infringement of copyright provided that attribution is applied where it is due and content is not deliberately taken out of it’s original context. However I do not agree with commercial infringement because there is no ethical justification for making a profit from someone else’s work without their permission. By all means information wants to be free and I believe it should be shared for the common good. Many authors and publishers allow such sharing, but no common good arises from commercial infringement. Particuarly when the infringer is a public health menace.
While you might see this as a wake-up call for AVN (which it should be) I still think it will just perpetuate their irrational conspiracy theories about the government even further.
Certainly any rational person would take such matters seriously and rethink their operations after being busted by a government authority. The HCCC's public warning has done far more negative publicity to the AVN than they would have received if they had complied with the recommendations.
I am waiting for more insane ranting from Meryl over the next few weeks as her house of cards comes crashing down yet again. While her and her idiotic fringe dwellers will have their irrational belief's reinforced within their own community the mainstream public will start to see them for the idiots they are. Insane conspiracy theories will only hurt the AVN in the public spotlight.
"I still think it will just perpetuate their irrational conspiracy theories about the government even further."
Yep. They're not rational people. So what? I'm beyond trying to change the minds of antivaxxers. Our job these days is not to change their minds, but to expose their idiocy.
As long as the public, the media and the regulating authorities see them as the unethical, irrational, conspiracy-mad fringe dwellers they are, then the world will be a slightly safer place.
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