Australia’s biggest internet service providers (ISPs) have said they are willing to undertake more aggressive steps to tackle online piracy, including blocking customers from accessing overseas websites that host pirated movies, TV shows and music, says a new report.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Telstra, Optus, iiNet, Vodafone and other ISPs have said they are also open to negotiating a recent proposal that aims punish internet users who have received three warnings for downloading illegal content.
Attorney-General George Brandis has described Australia as the world’s “worst offender” for online piracy and has long been arguing for stricter policies to address the nation’s piracy problem. One recent proposal outlined by the government is the “three strikes” scheme.
The telecommunications companies say they are willing to negotiate a so-called “graduated response” or “three strikes” scheme, but they are opposed to threatening customers with slower speeds or terminated services as suggested by Village Roadshow.
“Just as there is no place on the internet for terrorism or paedophilia, there should be no place for theft that will impact the livelihoods of the 900,000 people whose security is protected by legitimate copyright,” Village Roadshow argued in a submission to the federal government.
Rights holders such as Village Roadshow and ISPs are at odds over who should bear the costs of tackling the problem of online piracy. Previous government proposals have suggested rights holders could seek a court order requiring ISPs to block overseas-based websites, like the Pirate Bay, that host pirated content.
Consumer group Choice argue this would lead to an “industry-run internet filter” and the Communications Alliance said in its submission that site blocking carries a high risk of “collateral damage”, where legal sites could also get caught by the filter.
“The bottom line is that consumer rights should be protected and that law-abiding internet users should not have to pay the cost of doing Hollywood’s police work for it,” said Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton.
Choice said the government should look into the pricing for digital goods in Australia compared to overseas in an effort to stop price gouging. It also said Australian copyright law should also be amended to clarify that consumer circumventing of “geo-blocking” to access sites such as Netflix is legal.
