Planned responses to piracy are “overkill” says Pirate Party

Pirate Party Australia opposes the push from Attorney-General George Brandis to coerce Internet service providers into becoming copyright police[1]. Threats to take legislative action to institute a graduated response (“three strikes”) regime and website blocking will be ineffective to curb illegal file-sharing of copyrighted material and are an unnecessary, reactionary measure.

“Creating a censorship regime and cutting people off from the Internet are non-solutions which are attempting to solve a problem that does not exist,” said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia. “Censorship is overkill, and graduated response regimes have been shown to be totally ineffective in practice — last year France dropped its controversial HADOPI scheme, and a recent study by Rebecca Giblin from Monash University’s Faculty of Law indicates that graduated responses are neither successful or effective, and that the future of such schemes should be reconsidered[2]. For the Attorney-General to suggest this as a way forward is absurd and flies in the face of available evidence, as per usual.

“In his opening address at the Australian Digital Alliance Forum this February the Attorney-General cited the Great Gatsby as an example of why we need to protect the Australian film industry from file-sharing[3]. He claimed that piracy is putting content creation at risk. If this were the case, the Great Gatsby would not have made more than double its production budget at the box office alone[4]. The film industry does not appear to be suffering from file-sharing, despite their claims, considering 2013 was the biggest year for box office takings in history, and broke the record which was set only the previous year[5].”

Evidence suggests a large proportion of illegal file-sharing is actually driven by lack of access in markets like Australia, and that it is possible to compete against piracy if you’re willing to adapt your business models[6]. Consumers who cannot access content in a timely, affordable and convenient manner are more likely to turn to piracy as an alternative. Panellists at the Australian Digital Alliance Forum representing Google, Ericsson, and InternetNZ all pointed out that markets with easily accessible content are likely to see a much lower proportion of consumers relying on file-sharing for their content.

“Australia has limited legal access to content, unlike many other markets, and as communications technology is creating globally connected communities that cross international borders, Australians are lagging behind their peers in countries that have a much greater range of services available,” Mr Frew continued. “We have had an entire Pricing Inquiry look into why Australians are paying much more for the same content when compared to the United States and elsewhere, given the minimal distribution costs digital technology is allowing.

“Former US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, pleaded with Australians to stop downloading episodes of Game of Thrones illegally[7], despite there consistently being no legal means to access the content at the same time as Americans. HBO has recently signed a deal to give Foxtel exclusive distribution rights to air Game of Thrones in Australia, forcing viewers to shell out a minimum of $75 per month to access the show legal and quickly[8]. This is tantamount to encouraging Australians to download the program, and will only serve to increase piracy rates in Australia.”

Pirate Party Australia supports extensive reform to copyright law in Australia, including the legalisation of non-commercial file-sharing, the introduction of fair use into Australia, and the shortening of copyright terms to 15 years.

The Pirate Party intends to contest the WA Senate Election, announced last week, having competed in the 2013 Federal Election and 2014 Griffith By-Election earlier this month. The Party received 0.31% of the total national vote in the Senate[9], although it did not contest the election in either Western Australia or South Australia, nor the two territories. The Pirate Party surpassed expectations in Griffith, securing 1.51% of the vote and placing fourth of eleven candidates, ahead of all other minor parties except the Greens[10]. The Party is currently crowdfunding its campaign for the WA Senate Election, and has reached nearly a third of its $10,000 goal in one day. The announcement can be found here: https://pirateparty.org.au/2014/02/24/pirate-party-crowdfunds-to-field-candidates-in-wa-senate-campaign/

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/au/australian-attorney-general-gives-isps-piracy-ultimatum-7000026653/

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

[3] http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Speeches/Pages/2014/14February2014-openingoftheAustralianDigitalAllianceForum.aspx

[4] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=greatgatsby2012.htm

[5] http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2014/01/03/2013-sets-all-time-box-office-record/

[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24108673

[7] http://www.news.com.au/national/us-ambassador-jeffrey-bleich-pleads-australia-stop-pirating-game-of-thrones/story-e6frfkp9-1226629324212

[8] http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/hbo-screws-australia-over-game-of-thrones-20140203-31w3c.html

[9] http://results.aec.gov.au/17496/Website/SenateStateFirstPrefsByGroup-17496-NAT.htm

[10] http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-17552-163.htm