Aussie Government Will Focus on Unauthorized Downloads

[Harry-Potter]

Attorney general George Brandis signals the efforts to overcome high court decision claiming that broadband providers don’t hold responsibility for piracy committed by their subscribers. The Australian government is going to examine how to overcome the high court ruling.

 

 

The experts point out that one possible move would require Internet service providers to issue graduated notifications to their customer using sites to facilitate piracy. According to George Brandis, unauthorized downloading of movies or any other protected material was a form of theft and he therefore was keen to introduce new measures to cut the rate of Internet piracy.

Attorney general claimed it was once thought the country’s Copyright Act was sufficient when it stipulated that an entity like an Internet service provider who authorized copyright violation was liable. However, back in 2012 the high court ruled that broadband provider iiNet could not be held liable for piracy committed by its subscribers.

In that well-known legal case, a group of 34 international and local entities, including Warner Bros, Disney and the Seven Network, alleged the ISP authorized their copyright violation when its subscribers downloaded films and TV shows. Now the government is considering possible ways to provide a legal incentive for ISPs to cooperate with rightsholders in preventing copyright infringement on their systems and networks in frames of copyright reform. Attorney general admitted it was complex reform and the authorities did not want to burden broadband providers beyond what was reasonably necessary to comply with both local and international obligations. Brandis’ preference would be to facilitate industry self-regulation instead of active and continuing government regulation.