Internet Politics and Power Presentation:
Investigating illegal downloading in Australia in relation to the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act, 2015.
2. Piracy
It’s no secret that a large proportion of Australians use the Internet to
illegally pirate content.
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3. Piracy
In a survey conducted in 2014, Choice found
that one third of Australians “download, stream
or watch pirated movies and TV shows online”
(Kollmorgen, 2014).
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5. “
According to Leaver (2008),
Australian media consumers suffer
from “the tyranny of digital
distance”.
6. Piracy
This is a term used to describe how outdated
models of media distribution “that began as
geographical necessities” in the modern “era of
digital communication” are being maintained by
media corporations primarily for political and
economical reasons that ultimately alienate
audiences (Leaver, 2008).
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7. Piracy
Australians often gain legal access to media content far later than consumers in the
United States.
◉ This is particularly obvious when you compare Australian online streaming
services like Netflix to their US counterparts.
◉ When Netflix launched in Australia in 2015, due to the complexity of licensing
deals the Australian service only offered 38% of TV content and 34% of movie
content available to US Netflix users (Finder, 2016).
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8. Piracy
While piracy did decrease with the release of
Netflix in Australia, illegal downloading is most
certainly still a widespread issue (Gruber, 2015).
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9. Piracy
The idea that Australians feel alienated by the
current models of media distribution is also
highlighted by data collected by Choice.
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10. “
They found that “32% of Australian
pirates are downloading TV shows that
they know they can’t buy in Australia
and 30% are pirating movies that can’t
be bought in Australia” (Gruber, 2015).
11. Case Study
The “tyranny of digital distance” can be explained in action through
the Australian release of popular series “Game of Thrones” sixth
season.
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12. Case Study
Game of Thrones is currently one of the most
popular television series in Australia. It is also
one of the most pirated (Harvey, 2014).
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13. Case Study
This is likely due to a few factors:
◉ Spoilers - Social media and the Internet at our fingertips in general make it
very hard to avoid spoilers of a show, particularly a hugely popular one.
People want to watch new content as soon as it releases to that they can
experience it without already knowing what will happen.
◉ Hype - The excitement that surrounds the release of every new Game of
Thrones episode means that just about everyone wants to talk about it. People
who haven’t seen it yet can’t (for fear of spoilers and lack of information) so
they will try and watch it as soon as possible.
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14. Case Study
So, people want to watch Game of Thrones as
soon as it comes out, there’s nothing wrong with
that, right?
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15. Case Study
Wrong! Unfortunately in Australia, there were very few ways people could legally
watch Game of Thrones season six on release.
◉ Foxtel - Game of Thrones released on Foxtel at similar times to the US
however, users had to be subscribed to a Foxtel package to watch it, which is
quite expensive. Users could not simply pay for a single show / episode.
◉ Netflix - Game of Thrones was not available on Australian Netflix. Some
people resorted to a VPN to use the US Netflix service however, this required
a reasonable level of technical knowledge to do. However, this option was far
cheaper as they could pay for single episodes.
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16. Case Study
Limited legal options and a lack of timeliness,
affordability and availability meant that many
people resorted to illegal methods to watch
Game of Thrones season six in Australia.
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17. Policy
In response the high rate of piracy in Australia, a document known
as the “Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill” was
introduced to parliament by Malcolm Turnbull in March, 2015.
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18. Policy
◉ The bill allows Copyright holders to request injunctions for
offshore websites that “infringe, or facilitate an infringement
of Copyright” (2015, s. 115A.1a).
◉ These injunctions “require the carriage service provider to
take reasonable steps to disable access to the online
location” (2015, s. 115A.2).
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19. Policy
Essentially, the bill allows companies who hold
media Copyrights like Foxtel, Netflix and
Universal to issue Australian Internet Service
Providers (ISP’s) with a list of websites they
need to block (like The PirateBay).
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20. “
According to the government “the bill provides an
effective contribution towards addressing the
longstanding problem of online copyright infringement
and it does so in a proportionate and balanced way
that takes into account other important public and
private interests” (Turnbull, 2015).
21. Policy
However, the bill does not detail exactly how
these sites should be blocked, which has
resulted in court debates between ISP’s and
Copyright holders (Sturmer, 2016).
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22. Policy
Additionally, parties opposed to the bill have some concerns
including:
◉ Whether legitimate sites like Dropbox may be blocked.
◉ Or that sites may be unintentionally blocked in blunders
similar to that of ASIC in 2013, where 250,000 websites
were blocked unintentionally instead of just one (McGrath,
2013).
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23. Conclusion
While it is certainly important for the rights of Copyright holders to be
protected in Australia, it is also crucial that the general public is
provided with an affordable, accessible and timely alternative to
piracy.
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24. Conclusion
Blanket policies that do not address this problem
holistically and reflexively do little to address the
issue as a whole. If this policy does help to
reduce piracy then it is certainly a good thing
however, more could be done.
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26. “
“the factors that would most encourage people to stop
are a) Reduce the cost of legal content (39%), b)
Improve availability (38%) and c) Eliminate release
delays (36%)” (Department of Communication and the
Arts, 2015)
27. Conclusion
If the government could interpret this data and
translate it into policies that help provide the
general public with a timely and relatively
affordable alternative to piracy which provides
users with access to a wide range of content, we
may see piracy decrease even further.
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28. References
Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth) s. 115A. Retrieved from
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00080
Department of Communication and the Arts. (2015). New online copyright infringement research released. Retrieved from
https://www.communications.gov.au/departmental-news/new-online-copyright-infringement-research-released
Finder. (2016). Netflix USA vs the world: Content libraries compared. Retrieved from
https://www.finder.com/netflix-usa-vs-world-content
Gruber, I. (2015). Choice 2015 piracy survey shows government actions are ineffective. Retrieved from
https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/choice-piracy-survey-2015
Harvey, A. (2014). Game of Thrones piracy war: Choice says Foxtel has itself to blame for illegal downloading of hit show. ABC News.
Retrived from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-17/choice-backs-australians-who-pirate-game-of-thrones/5530710
Kollmorgen, A. (2014).One third of Australians have illegally accessed online content. Retrieved from
https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/choice-content-piracy-
survey-091214
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29. References
Leaver, T. (2008). Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the tyranny of digital distance. Media International Australia
Incorporating Culture and Policy, 1(126), 145-154. Retrieved from http://www.tamaleaver.net/research/the-tyranny-of-digital-
distance/
McGrath, P. (2013, August 28). ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 websites due to 'basic' IP address misunderstanding. ABC News.
Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-27/asic-accidentally-blocked-250,000-websites-ip-address/5701734
Sturmer, J. (2016, June 24). Siteblock: Pirate Bay, Torrentz, IsoHunt under spotlight in Australian website-blocking test case. ABC
News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-24/pirate-bay-torrentz-under-fire-in-website-blocking-test-
case/7541714
Turnbull, M. (2015, June 19). Debate on the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015. Liberal Media Release. Retrieved
from http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/debate-on-the-copyright-amendment-online-infringement-bill-2015
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