James-Freeman-Facebook wrote:
Redirecting to an overseas forum seems sensible and suggestions are welcome as to which one (or ones) we should suggest to Australian users so they can find mutual support somewhere in cyberspace.
I hesitate to suggest other sites in case in so doing I merely bring down on someone else's head the legal difficulties that Dr Freeman and FixHepC have encountered. And one of the unique attractions of this forum has been that Dr Freeman, through his numerous posts, has generously given us the benefit of his unrivalled expertise on matters to do with hepatitis c and its treatment.
But, nevertheless, in case anyone is unable to take advantage of the technical means to evade the post 15th June geoblocking (perhaps because, like me, they don't know how to) there are some potential alternatives which may be worth exploring.
There is mgalbrai's site which I assume is based in the US:
forums.delphiforums.com/generichcvtx/messages/1/fixhepc
and also Alsdad's site which I assume is based in the UK:
killthedragon.freeforums.net/
(I believe the original reason Alsdad set up this site was precisely for this contingency: to act as a potential refuge in case of FixHepC being closed down in whole or in part.)
However, fleeing to another site may only prove to be a stopgap unless the underlying legal problem can be addressed. Alsdad's site in particular could be vulnerable because the UK/EU regulations seem to be similar to the Australian ones.
If the FixHepC forum can be geoblocked in Australia because of alleged infringement of Australian medical advertising laws could we also see it, sometime in the future, being blocked in some or all of the EU countries? This would be not because the forum is based in those countries but because it would otherwise be accessible there infringing their own respective national/ EU drug advertising laws.
Greedfighter informs us that Harvoni is openly advertised on American TV. This prompted me to google the issue. It seems that amongst developed countries only the USA and, I think, New Zealand don't ban DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising of prescription only medicines. So on the basis of worst possible case thinking could we end up in a situation that this forum, or forums like it, are blocked in every developed nation apart from the USA and New Zealand?