For all we lack in privacy legislation and any kind of actually permitted free speech in Australia, the ACCC is a little gem and has been pretty damn amazing at holding the line against massive corporate interests.

They are the reason that, in Australia:

1. DVD/Blueray region zoning was banned, requiring all players in Australia being in “zone 0” and allowed to play discs from anywhere
2. We have a ban on locking a mobile phone to a carrier
3. We have a consumer guarantee law that requires a warranty period commensurate with the price of the item (so a $1500 iPhone can’t limit warranty to 12 months), and the ability to choose to have the retailer or the manufacturer honour that warranty (meaning shops can’t just say: “contact the manufacturer not us!”). Also allows for full immediate refund if the problem is big enough that you would not have bought it if this issue had been present at the time of purchase.

I got a full refund for a 12m old iPhone when apple announced they were going to scan everyone’s photo libraries, for example, and the shop I bought it from had to honour it. (They also got their money back from Apple).

I know people who bought a new car that turned out to be lemon, after a few years, so they literally filled out a form, dropped the key back to the dealer and had a full refund transferred back to them.

So… Fingers crossed!