In an interesting juxtaposition of events, the Australian federal government announced at the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA) awards in Sydney a new initiative to focus on the growth of its digital content industry, according to Australian IT on the very day that investigators working on behalf of a trade group representing Australia's recording industry office conducted a raid on the offices of the KaZaa file sharing service to search for evidence of copyright violations, according to CBS News and many other major sources. Australian trails the U.S. and the U.K. in media content's share of their GDP, according to Australian Federal IT and Communications Minister Daryl Williams (3.3 percent versus the U.S. 5 percent and the U.K.'s 7.8 percent), but at AUD 19 billion it is hardly a drop in the bit bucket. It's not clear from the news reports that there is any connection between the KaZaa raid and the Australian government's trade negotiations with the U.S. but on the surface it would seem clear that the Australian feds are sending a message to their U.S. and other media counterparts that they're willing to support global efforts to clamp down on copyrights if that's what it takes to play more strongly in the electronic content big leagues. While the move against KaZaa is sure to please Australia's partners, it is not likely to tone down the public's interest in pursuiing legitimate sharing of intellectual property. Content is an industry, to be sure, but one in which the cottage aspects of production are beginning to loom larger in comparison to the content factories of earlier generations.