Illegal Downloads: Minister Comments on Leaked Discussion Paper

Thursday 31 July 2014 @ 11.34 a.m. | IP & Media | Trade & Commerce

The Guardian is today reporting that the ". . . Communications minister [Malcolm Turnbull] says the best way to discourage copyright piracy is for content to be more available and cheaper."

This response follows on information in recent days from a leaked draft government discussion paper dealing with “Online Copyright Infringement” published by Crickey,  indicating that the federal government intends to get tougher on copyright infringement (see our previous post Draft Discussion Paper Purports to Reveal Government’s Plan For Piracy Crackdown).

Not About ISPs Imposing Sanctions

Mr Turnbull is also reported to have indicated, as part of discussions about how his government will crack down on internet piracy, that he felt the owners of television and movie content should take illegal down loaders to court while internet service providers (ISPs) should not be required to impose sanctions. He is further reported as saying, it was reasonable for copyright owners to require ISPs to deliver warning notices to customers illegally downloading at the copyright owners’ expense. However, he does not think it reasonable for ISP's to be forced to take action against repeat offenders by cutting off their internet service, one of possibilities put up in the discussion paper to be issued by Mr Turnbull and the Attorney-General, George Brandis.

Blocking Offshore File Sharing Sites

Mr Turnbull does appear, with some reservations, to favour the proposal in the discussion paper relating to the blocking of offshore file sharing sites, insisting that such was "a practical proposal" but admitting there would be “some issues” such as whether those downloading content would be able to get around blocking, about which he is reported to have said:

“. . . of course they can and they will, but this is basically a percentages game. Nothing you do will eliminate all piracy just as nothing you do will eliminate all shoplifting. I am not suggesting there wouldn’t be some problems.”

In Mr Turnbull's view it was up to content providers to "reduce the incentive for illegal downloading by making programs available in Australia in an affordable way". In saying so he points to the music industry which he says, through services like Spotify and Pandora has reduced the incentive for people to breach copyright. He indicates "everyone has to play their part" and content owners have to justify why they are charging more in Australia and why they are not releasing content in Australia at the same time as it is released elsewhere.

Other Views

News.com reports a similar view to Mr Turnbull's from John Stanton from the ISP industry body Communication Alliance who says with respect to the blocking proposal that it ". . . overlook[s] a major source of the problem - that the content consumers want is not accessible or affordable enough. Australians are among the worst offenders in the world when it comes to illegal downloading". The article goes on to report a UMR Research study cited in the draft government discussion paper that found that an estimated 21 percent of all Australians over the age of 18 had engaged in online piracy.

Consumer group Choice is reported to also take the view that content providers need to be more focused on cost and availability to reduce illegal downloads. The ABC in a recent article reports that ". . .  Foxtel only has itself to blame for the number of Australians watching pirated versions of hit show Game of Thrones, which set a new record for illegal downloads" on the season four finale night where it was reported to have been downloaded 1.5 million times in the 12 hours after the show went to air [per internet tracking site TorrentFreak].

The Greens through their spokesman Scott Ludlam are reported as being critical of Mr Turnbull for having changed from his previous position where he said: “the high court came to 'the right decision' when it found that ISPs such as iiNet were not responsible for their users pirating film and TV content on the internet."

It is reported that a spokesman for Attorney-General has said the final version of the discussion paper is due to be released soon and it is certain to be followed closely by all stakeholders.

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

Sources:

Related Articles: