I know that the copyright laws here in Australia have changed recently, but it used to be that we didn't have any "fair use" rights at all. The way the law stood, even local cache of a website for example, was an infringement. Thankfully that at least has been fixed.

I'm not too sure what the limits are now, but we don't have anywhere near the rights available in the US. Although we did get their extended length of copyright protection thanks to the Free Trade act. That's free as in free to get screwed over not in free as in beer... :/

http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/g091.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_copyright_law#List_of_some_possibly_non-violating_actions_in_Australia

They may be able to enforce the copyrights, but they are not obligated to do so by the law. I don't think the record companies would get very far suing Customs for failing to stop a shipment of fake Louis Vuiton handbags.

No, that would be publishing the file which assuming that you did not have permission to publish, would be copyright infringement. If you did that however, neither I nor anybody else, would be under any obligation to stop you from publishing it or stop others from downloading it.

It could be that it is cheaper just to wear the occasional losses.

And what are regulations if not laws?

Actually they are. http://www.unog.ch/__80256ee600585943.nsf/(httpPages)/3ce7cfc0aa4a7548c12571c00039cb0c?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1%2C2#_Section1 I recall China was designing a anti-laser designation device for their tanks. It would detect when it was being painted and then quickly fire a powerful laser back in the same direction with the intent to blind, and therefore illegal.