The owners of television and movie content should take illegal downloaders to court, but internet service providers should not be required to impose sanctions, the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has said as the Abbott government discusses how it will crack down on internet piracy.
And Turnbull has challenged content owners to explain why films and TV shows are not more easily and cheaply available in a Spotify-style service, or not available in Australia at a similar price and at the same time as they are overseas.
Turnbull said he thought it was reasonable for the copyright owners to ask ISPs to deliver warning notices to customers who were illegally downloading – at the copyright owners’ expense. But he did not think it was reasonable for the ISP to be forced to take action against repeat offenders, for example by cutting off their internet service – an option canvassed in a discussion paper issued by Turnbull and the attorney general, George Brandis.
“I think it is reasonable to ask ISPs to alert people, so long as their costs are covered, and those notices will have an educative effect, but in terms of a sanction, that obviously should lie with the content owner, that is a reasonable approach, because they are suffering the loss.
“There are some people in the content industry who believe the costs should be borne in whole or in part by the telecommunications industry. I don’t find that a persuasive argument … There are enormous problems with asking an ISP to interrupt someone’s service,” he told Guardian Australia.
Another proposal in the discussion paper was to block offshore filesharing sites such as Pirate Bay. Turnbull insisted this was a practical proposal, although there would obviously be “some issues”.
Asked whether those seeking to download content would be able to get around the measure, he said “of course they can and they will, but this is basically a percentages game. Nothing you do will eliminate all piracy just as nothing you do will eliminate all shopshifting. I am not suggesting there wouldn’t be some problems.”
But Turnbull said it was also up to content providers to reduce the incentive for illegal downloading by making programs available in Australia in an affordable way.
“That is a very powerful argument, there is an obligation on the content owners, if their concerns are to be taken seriously by government, and they are … they have to play their part to make their content available universally and affordability,” he told ABC radio in an earlier interview.
“Anyone is entitled to sell their products for whatever price they like, that is their right, but if you want to discourage piracy the best thing you can do is to make your content available globally, universally and affordably.”
“If you look at what the music industry has done making songs available at low cost on Spotify and Pandora … you reduce the incentive for people to do the wrong thing. So everyone has to play their part … the content owners … are the ones who have to justify why they are charging more in Australia, why they are not releasing content in Australia at the same time it is released elsewhere in the world.”
Turnbull said he was planning a public forum in August and would be inviting Village Roadshow chairman Graham Burke and Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein.
When the Game of Thrones fourth season premiered in April, more Australians illegally downloaded the program than residents of any other country. Consumer group Choice said at the time that Foxtel itself was in part to blame.
“It expects people to pay for a whole range of products when they may want [just] one. You’re getting Real Housewives of every city, rather than just Game of Thrones, which you want,” Choice spokeswoman Erin Turner told the ABC. Foxtel said it had introduced more flexible ways to pay for its content.
Greens spokesman Scott Ludlam has questioned what has happened to Turnbull’s previous position: “Just two years ago, Turnbull said the high court came to “the right decision” when it found that ISPs such as iiNet were not responsible for their users pirating film and TV content on the internet. [Now] Turnbull puts his name to a discussion paper which openly canvasses overturning the judgment.
“Two years ago Turnbull said it was ‘very, very, very difficult, if not impossible’ for ISPs to monitor what their customers were doing online. [Now] he … discusses forcing ISPs to block websites, send users warning notices and even limit their broadband connections if they are suspected of infringing copyright.”
