Over 2,500 petitioners agree that graduated response is flawed

Pirate Party Australia is pleased at the groundswell of support received so far for its Change.org petition launched yesterday in response to anti-piracy measures being considered by the Australian Government[1]. The proposals being discussed in Cabinet are aimed at placating corporate interests using measures that are ineffective and serve only to intrude on consumers’ rights. Specifically, the graduated response (“three strikes”) proposal under consideration has been shown by several studies to be ineffective at reducing copyright infringement. Pirate Party Australia’s petition is directed to the Senate, and calls on Senators to reject legislation that would institute a graduated response regime.

“A ‘three strikes’ policy, or any graduated response scheme, has been shown to be ineffective according to a research paper by Rebecca Giblin of Monash University’s Faculty of Law[2][3],” commented Pirate Party Australia spokesperson Michael Keating. “The HADOPI scheme that was rushed through the French Parliament has been abandoned after costing the French Government €12 million per year and resulting in just one person being fined[4][5][6]. Such measures were campaigned against by several organisations including the Featured Artists Coalition, which recognised the potential problems and ineffectiveness of the law[7].

“The ‘three strikes’ law introduced in New Zealand has provided more questions than solutions,” Mr Keating continued. “Costs for Internet service providers to comply with these laws were not studied[8]. Further, most home and business routers do not support individual tracking of users, making it difficult to determine who the alleged infringer is. In the United States this issue has received judicial attention, with courts ruling that an IP address is not enough to prove copyright infringement[9][10]. The Government appears to have no interest in addressing the financial and regulatory challenges of implementing such a measure, despite this being an issue that can be easily solved by providing content to Australian consumers quickly and cheaply.”

Pirate Party Australia contends that graduated responses are a disproportionate measure and are inappropriate in an age where essential services are increasingly available online. This is an issue the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression addressed[11]. The Special Rapporteur stated that “Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all States.” The Special Rapporteur stated that cutting off users from Internet access for any reason is disproportionate and violates article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“Not only are graduated response schemes ineffective, they are also disproportionate and threaten fundamental human rights. It will be for the most part ignored, but cutting off access to a vital tool like the Internet for even a small number of people is capable of causing significant ramifications for virtually every aspect of their life.

“We are very happy to see our petition reach over 2,500 signatures, but we still have a long way to go. We need Australians to sign this petition to show our elected representatives in the Senate that such measures must be rejected as they have been shown to be ineffective, will cause more difficulty for consumers, and generate distrust and resentment towards the content industry. Copyright law in Australia needs to keep up with the digital age, and be approached without pandering to powerful lobbyists,” Mr Keating concluded.

Pirate Party Australia is committed to standing up for Australians as part of the campaign to introduce sensible and balanced copyright law to Australia that both rewards rights holders and provides fair access to consumers of content.

[1] https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/stop-blaming-consumers-for-the-outdated-business-models-of-the-media-industry

[2] http://www.itnews.com.au/News/356360,three-strikes-laws-do-not-reduce-online-piracy-study.aspx

[3] http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2322516

[4] http://www.zdnet.com/france-drops-hadopi-three-strikes-copyright-law-7000017857/

[5] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/06/hadopi_under_fire/

[6] http://www.cnet.com/news/french-three-strikes-law-no-longer-suspends-net-access/

[7] http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/its-not-a-crime-to-download-say-musicians-1643217.html

[8] http://www.itnews.com.au/News/254485,new-zealand-passes-three-strikes-law.aspx

[9] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/judge-to-porn-trolls-ip-addresses-arent-people/

[10] http://rt.com/usa/ip-address-online-piracy-judge-990/

[11] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.27_en.pdf