Did The Recording Industry Really Step Back From Three Strikes? Or Is It Playing Word Games?

from the don't-buy-it dept

A bunch of folks have been submitting the story from TorrentFreak claiming that representatives from Music Industry Piracy Investigations -- an anti-piracy group representing the major labels in Australia -- has said that it no longer favors three strikes laws, following theUN report that condemned such measures as a violation of civil rights. I didn't report on this at first, but since people keep submitting it, I figured I might as well comment on it: and I think the story is wrong. From the sound of things, I think the MIPI folks may have pulled a fast one. The key line is the quote from MIPI general manager Sabiene Heindl that it supports "mitigation measures" concerning infringement, but that "such measures would not include termination of Internet accounts."

Now, clearly, that might sound like backing away from three strikes, but I don't think it does. That's because we saw nearly the same thing a year and a half ago in the debate in the UK over the Digital Economy Act, where politicians supporting the Act, which is a variation on "three strikes" fought back against the public campaign against the Act by declaring that "disconnection" was no longer on the table. But, really, they were just playing word games. What they meant was permanent disconnection wasn't on the table, but it wasn't really ever in the bill. They were still very much in favor of so-called "temporary account suspension" which could last six months or more in some cases.

In other words, it's a terminology issue more than anything else. Many people are concerned about any internet access account loss, and consider a six month suspension to be pretty bad. But to avoid the dreaded "termination" or "disconnection" buzzword, supporters of three strikes now like to claim that their plans include no such thing -- instead it's just a "temporary account suspension." I'm guessing that this is exactly what the MIPI folks meant by saying they don't favor termination, but do favor mitigation. That mitigation might just turn out to be a "temporary" account suspension for three strikes. So, my sense is that this story is overblown. MIPI has carefully chosen language to make it seem not as extreme and to not anger as many people, but it could still very much support three strikes... just for extended "temporary" disconnections.

Filed Under: australia, disconnections, three strikes