Hollywood Has Been Pressuring Australian Attorney General To Pressure ISPs Into Being Copyright Cops
from the because-of-course-they-are dept
For years, we followed the important iiNet case in Australia. Hollywood studios, which ran a group called AFACT in Australia, wanted to "set an example" of why ISPs should be liable for copyright infringement done on their networks, and deliberately chose iiNet to sue, believing the ISP was too small to mount a serious challenge. Instead, iiNet fought back strongly, making really strong points about how ridiculous it was to pin the blame on an ISP. The result was a complete victory for iiNet. It won at the district court, at the appeals court and finally at Australia's high court.Of course, Hollywood (AFACT is Australian-in-name-only -- a Wikileaks State Department cable revealed it to be an operation wholly controlled by the MPAA in Hollywood) continued to freak out, leading the Australian government to hold "stakeholder" meetings between the entertainment industry and the ISPs (note: no public representatives, even though they're the real stakeholders), to try to broker an agreement to make ISPs act as copyright cops. Of course, because Hollywood's position is inherently ridiculous, the ISPs noted that it was like negotiating with a brick wall, and talks soon broke down. The ISPs made it clear that it was silly to blame them when Hollywood itself was to blame by not making works available.
But, of course, Hollywood never stops. AFACT rebranded as the Australian Screen Association, and apparently has been very busy pumping new Australian Attorney General George Brandis full of misleading information and pure propaganda. We recently noted that Brandis was supporting website blocking and three strikes like programs, despite them failing elsewhere. And, he's also come out against fair use, because, fuck the public, Hollywood is upset.
Josh Taylor over at ZDnet used the Freedom of Information Act to get emails from between Neil Gane -- the "contractor" who ran AFACT and now the Australian Screen Association -- and Brandis, showing an ongoing campaign in which Gane continued to push Brandis with a series of one-sided misleading emails about how anti-consumer programs in other countries were the way forward:
In nine emails from Gane to the Attorney-General's department secretary, Roger Wilkins, and first assistant secretary in the civil law division, Matt Minogue, sent between the election and this year, obtained by ZDNet under Freedom of Information, Gane appears to be providing education notices of his own to the department, offering insights into how copyright infringement is being dealt with in other countries.There are a number of other emails, including a few that regular Techdirt readers may find especially amusing, including one mocking the "vocal minority" who were complaining that draconian copyright enforcement on things like Game of Thrones downloading might have serious unintended consequences. Update: The "vocal minority" has responded.
In one email pointing out Canada's moves, he notes that the Canadian government was not buying into the notion that ISPs should be compensated for having to warn customers for downloading infringing content.
Meanwhile, Brandis -- who has also been vehemently defending the NSA -- recently took a trip to the US, in part to explore issues around copyright. Did he meet with copyright scholars or other experts on these issues? Nope. Instead, he met with the director of the Center for Copyright Information, who runs the US's "six strikes" program. Brandis seems to have made up his mind, after being pushed on it by the MPAA, and with no respect at all to facts or reality.
All in all, Brandis appears to be only listening to one exceptionally biased party, even as a very long and thorough review process by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) found that fair use was important, and that copyright reform needed to be modernized to pay attention to the important rights and uses of the public. But apparently, that all gets thrown out the window because a Hollywood spokesperson has a direct email line to the Attorney General.
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Filed Under: alrc, australia, copyright, fair use, george brandis, hollywood, lobbying, neil gane, three strikes
Companies: afact, australian screen association, iinet, mpaa
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This Brandis...
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It's been near or about 2 years since it kicked off. So it appears another boondoggle arranged to boost the cost of internet access but nothing to do with getting people to buy more.
In today's economy not many people are buying. They are having enough troubles affording rent and utilities on minimum wage while inflation has eaten into their non-existent pay increases. In the efforts to dodge having to help pay for ACA, most have reduced work hours, resulting in even less disposable income.
But we all know the drum is being beaten because it's about piracy, not about poor business practices and high prices.
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Consider:
Being a LAWYER, do you really believe your Client is NOT guilty? No matter what he says.
I Wonder sometimes, HOW much money they would save NOT FIGHTING IT..
HOw much money NOT given to:
Lawyers
Judges
Politicians
TPP/NAFTA/ and other treaties
For ALL that money SPENT..they could create a GREAT WEB SITE and show the movies/video/music..that we want and ADVERT and get MORE MONEY..
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Mike Masnick just hates it when copyright law is enforced.
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That word... I do not think it means what you think it means... Come on, it takes less time for people to click the link to show the comment and read it than it did for you to copy and paste it.
"truthful"
Erm, are you going to make people recite the entire script of The Princess Bride?
Unless you meant to add the words "badly, with no care for accuracy, due process or effectiveness", in which case you're both probably right.
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So not only are you not correct you do not have any truth in your statement and instead show how much of a fool (and US centric) you really are.
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better trolling!
:)
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To think how much better things would be if people wouldn't cave as easily to pressure.
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Attorney generals - particularly under european legal systems like Australia - and judges should stay economically and associately impartial to politics. Especially in these imbalance areas.
Unfortunately the foundation for lobbying often starts in court, which makes it viable to put money into influencing the legal system...
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http://www.zdnet.com/film-lobby-emails-detail-persistence-for-copyright-crackdown-7000028324/
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Hmm. Just noting that the URL has always been in the post, so not sure why you felt the need to include it in the comments.
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Don't forget you can speak to your local representative and if necessary start working on a ground swell to get them removed at the next election. Mind you, the one who replaces them may be no better, but you do have options.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corp#Australia
and has the government in his pocket and I can't see him letting them get away with anything that doesn't benefit Rupert.
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NSA NSA NSA
you might learn hes a faggit
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