back to article Australian ISPs agree to three-strikes-plus-court-order anti-piracy plan

Australia's internet service providers (ISPs) and Big Content have released a first draft of a proposed anti-piracy scheme. The TL;DR version is that the plan calls for Big Content to indemnify ISPs, so that after a three-strikes regime has played out in letters ISPs hand over customer contact details and Hollywood can let …

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  1. imanidiot Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    How to enforce

    And how exactly are ISPs expected to get this info? Mass data gathering and privacy infringement again?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How to enforce

      Where's the "Actual current, and all past, present and future rightsholder's shall forfeit all rights to any improperly claimed content." clause to prevent, not just discourage, false claims?

    2. John Tserkezis

      Re: How to enforce

      "And how exactly are ISPs expected to get this info?"

      They don't. As I understand it, Big Media <TM> tracks the IP address of the culprit down, the ISP is forced under legislation to match that up to a user in their database, and again up to the ISP to send the letters.

      In other words, Big Media <TM> is making the ISPs do their dirty work for them.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: How to enforce

        So after you get the 2nd warning you change ISP and start again?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: How to enforce

        Tracking is a lot more expensive than matching two fields in a database in front of you.

    3. JamesTQuirk

      Re: How to enforce

      I have received maybe 30-40 notices, from a "vibole on Viacom's" behalf ...

      NOT a File they have accused me of downloading of exists here, all shows I have never seen or in infant kids, foreign languages, some Online TV shows, which later I found are on youtube,..

      It only happens if I Connect to a ed2k server, server get shared REQUESTS on network, it confuses brain dead software see my PC as network client supporting others in network by relaying REQUESTS & they send you a notice, So don't stay connected to a server, do a search, leave, but if if that works, it works for ALL, so the real "problem" is missed, cause their IP P2P Detective software is crap ...

      I think answer is, for the Government to Setup & Operate, a licensing Fee Collection Service, linked to a "PayPal" like account, that uses BitTorrent ED2K & Others to collect Appropriate Fees to Copywrite Works, by giving say Copywrite 90% & Net Tax/admin 10%, they would more money in studio coffers, USE the EXISTING networks, no need for huge centralized Servers to stream hi speed content, and infrastructure to support it being so "Critical" & maybe a revenue stream thru Tax/admin & it saving money in enforcement, detection, P2P using less Network Resources ....

  2. frank ly

    Is it possible ...

    .. to spoof the IP addresses of Australian government buildings?

    1. MrDamage Silver badge

      Re: Is it possible ...

      Better still, how about spoofing the IP addresses of the lawyers representing Dallas Buyers Club LLC.

  3. Sanctimonious Prick
    Megaphone

    To State The Obvious...

    That $40 per year VPN service is looking rather attractive! :D

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To State The Obvious...

      Anyone NOT using a VPN these days for torrents is really inviting a problem.

    2. James Micallef Silver badge

      Re: To State The Obvious...

      If anyone is paying $pittance for a VPN service ONLY to hide their tracks while torrenting, why not just pay $pittance for Netflix or similar? It's a bit more expensive but also more convenient AND some of that money goes towards artists creating teh content.

      Of course there's plenty of other reasons to use a VPN...

      1. xpusostomos

        Re: To State The Obvious...

        "If anyone is paying $pittance for a VPN service ONLY to hide their tracks while torrenting, why not just pay $pittance for Netflix or similar?"

        Because there is no porn on netflix.

        Oh, and netflix doesn't have everything.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: To State The Obvious...

          I'd love to sign up for Netflix, but unfortunately since they don't have a native Linux client I'm not able to - I refuse to play video in a browser or using wine, since there's no guarantee that either of these methods will provide an acceptable experience and still work tomorrow (flash-based browser videos are not smooth, and wine is notoriously unreliable between updates).

          Even if they did have a Linux client, my internet speed isn't fast enough to be able to stream high-quality video, so they'd need to let me download the whole movie before I start watching it. And the next time I watch it (which might be the next day), I don't want to have to download it again - data costs money. So they'd need to let me download it and re-watch it infinitely.

          I won't sign up for netflix until I get a guarantee of an acceptable experience.

      2. pwl
        FAIL

        Re: To State The Obvious...

        Artists have alteady been paid. It's the old-world distributors who are desperately trying to hold onto their outdated business model that want the extra $$$.

        1. tesmith47

          Re: To State The Obvious...

          more accurately the" greedy bastards distributers"

      3. Alan Newbury

        Re: To State The Obvious...

        Sorry, I live in Australia. What is this 'Netflix' of which you speak?

        1. Fluffy Bunny

          Re: To State The Obvious...

          Actually, getting a VPN to access Netflix would be worthwhile.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If only....

    I dunno, all these plans to stop piracy. The time, effort and money spent on them. And they wont work. We all know they wont work. It's almost as if they are just 'going through the motions'. Half arsed regulations, without teeth, that can be easily circumvented anyways.

    Media companies : start providing quality stuff, thats affordable and conveniently accessable to consumers. Piracy would all but vanish.

    1. GrumpyOldBloke

      Re: If only....

      The media companies are in this for the long game, total control of all content just like the old days. If ISP's wont host content that hasn't been sanctioned by big media then the only channel for artists is big media. We already have a view of this in youtube where you don't even need to own the rights to content to have it withdrawn under a DMCA notice. If all content is scanned for any infringing words or melody from the last 150 years - you aint singing unless you're signing. Unfortunately their push for control has coincided with a lull in societies acceptance of eugenics and the promotion to positions of power of some truly worthless individuals.

    2. pwl

      Re: If only....

      let's also stop calling this "piracy" - which simply plays into the emotional argument framing people as blackhearted evildoers - and call it "unauthorised copying".

      most of this copying /does not/ result in the downloaders making a profit by reselling - people are simply responding to the egregious pricing by old-world distributors who want to maintain gross revenue and rely on distorting markets through litigation and lobbying.

  5. cyclical

    My experience from living and working in australia is that the main blocker to people pirating stuff was stupidly expensive bandwidth fees - it the first time I've seen people (ok, nerds) going to a party with a hard drive and copying media from each other because your 20Gb a month didn't go that far. Last time I saw that in the UK was 10+ years ago.

    The second, most important thing media producers can do to help stop piracy is just do simultaneous releases with the rest of the world. There were plenty of times that australian releases in the cinema were taking place the same time that DVD releases were happening in the rest of the world, TV is somewhat worse.

    Do they even have Netflix yet? I heard some rumblings a few weeks ago about that.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Out of interest, how long ago were you here. Delayed cinema releases?!

      1. Fluffy Bunny

        "Out of interest, how long ago were you here. Delayed cinema releases" - actually yes, they are still delayed.

        But if you think delayed cinema releases is a problem, try watching a TV series.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Mystic Megabyte
    Thumb Down

    Blimey!

    When did Australia become a fascist state? So it's not just the UK whose politicians are a bunch of limp-wristed, greedy arseholes.

    1. Dr Stephen Jones

      Re: Blimey!

      "When did Australia become a fascist state? So it's not just the UK whose politicians are a bunch of limp-wristed, greedy arseholes."

      I dunno. You could try not stealing stuff? And paying for what you use?

      With copyright infringement, the punishment should fit the crime. The economic damage is quite small in the individual action, but large in the aggregate. It is reasonable when most people pay to take some kind of action against repeat offenders.

      Maybe a points system plus community service for people who ignore warnings and keep on stealing.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Blimey!

        "Maybe a points system plus community service for people who ignore warnings and keep on stealing."

        Top plan. So we'll have bankers, lawyers, politicians and media company excecutives out sweeping the streets pretty much all the time then? No?

        Or is it easier to go after the little guy? The weak? The powerless? The proles? Sure, let big business (of which I'm counting big media companies who bleat about piracy) keep stealing from us all. Let's ignore that : people who have downloaded 4 films from TPB are the real criminals here. As I say. Top plan.

        1. Dr Stephen Jones

          Re: Blimey!

          "Top plan. So we'll have bankers, lawyers, politicians and media company excecutives out sweeping the streets pretty much all the time then? No?"

          Sounds fine to me, although you are very soft on bankers. The punishment should fit the crime.

          Piracy is largely conducted by the middle class and destroys working class jobs.

          1. Thorne

            Re: Blimey!

            "Piracy is largely conducted by the middle class and destroys working class jobs."

            I'd call this bullshit but no bull is large enough to make such a huge pile of shit.

            As shown by France's three strike laws, trying to kill piracy via this means actually resulted in a drop in actual legal sales. Piracy drops, sales drop thus it can be concluded that anti piracy laws destroy working class jobs......

            http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/09/world_copyright_summit_recap/

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Blimey!

        At least in the United States, copyrights and patents were only supposed to be for a very limited time (US Constitution), however the greedy politicians have extended this to over 120 years. Not exactly what the

        founding fathers had in mind. Also, these copyrights are being inforced to remove criticism of various companies. So if I criticise Apple Iphones, this post could be pulled due to a DMCA takedown

        1. JamesTQuirk

          Re: Blimey!

          About the USA, I Posted this elsewhere on El-Reg, but maybe it belongs here, Apparently it is a Old Problem like 1840's & before ...

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville

          Alexis de Tocqueville : "It is odd to watch with what feverish ardor Americans pursue prosperity. Ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen the shortest route to get it. They cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and yet rush to snatch any that comes within their reach as if they expected to stop living before they had relished them. Death steps in, in the end, and stops them before they have grown tired of this futile pursuit of that complete felicity which always escapes them."

          “Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”

      3. JamesTQuirk

        Re: Blimey!

        Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom "Chattar Lal - Dr. Jones, in our country, it's not usual for a guest to insult his host."

        So No Probs Bob, have the people who paid fees to people who made pencils, napkins, notebooks(paper), paper, Crayons, Texta's, Anything used to draw, Anything used to record, all their royalties?

        The people who design Typewriters, Teletype, Walkie Talkies ie: Nikola Tesla & others responsible for 20th century ? (no Westinghouse & others, screwed him, on Copywrite)

        Companies in Computer field that were swallowed and spat out for a key patent ?

        No but build a network, give users the capacity, then decide it's ok for companies & "intelligentsia" but NOT P2P....

        OK do what the "establishment" is good @, admin, collect & audit it, BUT not because your "system" allows it, because information unshared in useless, more minds that see it, transforms original info into NEW DATA ..

      4. jebdra

        Re: Blimey!

        "The economic damage is quite small in the individual action, but large in the aggregate"

        Please don't fall for Big Media's lies and statistics.

        The vast majority of people who download content would NEVER buy that content anyway. Half the time they just download it, watch 3 minutes and then delete it. Media companies count the number of downloads and scream "2 million lost sales" when in actuality, virtually none of those 2 million people would pay for it anyway.

        1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: Blimey!

          The vast majority of people who download content would NEVER buy that content anyway.

          I don't think that's a good excuse.

          1. xpusostomos

            Re: Blimey!

            "I don't think that's a good excuse."

            Actually, it may be a legal excuse to make fair use of a small portion.

        2. tesmith47

          Re: Blimey!

          EXACTLY, YOU HIT IT JUST RIGHT!!!!

      5. Thorne

        Re: Blimey!

        "With copyright infringement, the punishment should fit the crime."

        Damn straight it should. If I get caught pirating a TV show I should be forced to watch ads.....

        What? I go to jail and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars? Doesn't look like the punishment fits the crime then........

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Blimey!

        "I dunno. You could try not stealing stuff? And paying for what you use?"

        Okie dokie Doctor Jones! Here are my requirements, hold onto your potatoes!

        - Linux support, or standard video files that xine can play (at a minimum your client needs to support LIRC, and I need a phone number I can call for support if your client doesn't work properly).

        - I need to be able to download the whole movie and re-watch it an infinite number of times. I would use hundreds of gigabytes per year just from re-watching Star Wars. Either that or you'll need to subsidise my bandwidth.

        - Needs to be easier and more reliable than going to TPB or JB Hi-fi. Needs to include any obscure thing I might want to watch, like full frontal, the curiosity show, or a TISM concert.

        - Price needs to be MUCH lower than buying the DVDs.

        So if you can just let me know a place that fills my requirements I'll start paying for what I see IMMEDIATELY.

    2. Big-nosed Pengie

      Re: Blimey!

      "When did Australia become a fascist state?"

      At the last federal election.

  7. poopypants

    But...

    I have two sons living with me, one of whom has a girlfriend who also lives here.

    The house is owned by me, and the account that we have with our ISP is in my name. Everyone living in the house has free and open access to the ISP account via WiFi.

    I have no idea how each individual uses our shared internet connection, nor do I wish to know. I am letting them use my ISP account in much the same way that I let them use the water and electricity supply. If they choose to drown or electrocute somebody, I am not legally responsible.

    Unlike the situation with the water or electricity, am I to be held responsible for the actions of these other people? Must we have four separate ISP accounts? We have a single copper wire land line connection. As with the water and electricity, I don't even think four separate accounts over a single connection are possible.

    How do I avoid being held responsible for the actions of other adults, if there is no mechanism provided for me to do so?

    1. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

      Re: But...

      If you're then only adult in the house, it's likely you would be considered responsible. If your sons etc. are over majority age, big content should have to prove who did the deed. Of course big content don't give a crap about this and will attempt to sue whomever the holds the account linked to the infringing IP address regardless of how many other people had access.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: But...

      You don't - and that would be your argument in court if they tried to come after you, they have to prove that YOU the individual has committed the heinous crime of downloading the latest episode of Game of Thrones. However, if they had enough proof and were somehow granted a warrant to have your house searched and they found said infringing media on your sons computer - it would be them who would end up prosecuted.

      The EFF have already said that by opening up a small percentage of your network to be a publicly accessible, unencrypted hot spot (think BT Fon, or if you have DD-WRT etc a "Guest Network") this will pretty much cover you in court as it couldn't be proven if you had actually done it.

    3. Dr Stephen Jones

      Re: But...

      "How do I avoid being held responsible for the actions of other adults"

      You have no authority in your own household. And somehow this is someone else's fault?

      Wow.

      If your children have been brought up not to tell right from wrong, then it sounds like you deserve everything that's coming to you in life.

      1. JamesTQuirk

        Re: But...

        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/05/cat_collars_japanese_death_threat_hacker/

        Like the people who where hauled before courts over this ? All "innocent" but subjected to months of wrongful accusations & imprisonment, CAUSED by the holes in windows & other OS, So If law enforcement can't be sure of where it was coming from then, now with new "admissions" regarding NSA etc, how can traditional forensic methods still apply to this virus infected windows & OSX ?

        With currently infected routers, especially any embedded gizmotron, NBN gateways not receiving a patch in 6-7 months that I have had one, and my home routers have had 1 each, these are the backdoors that crooks ALSO use ....

        Clean Desktop OS's, and routers free of Spyware backdoors & maybe people may be able to lock down their systems ...

        And not all Download sites are illegal, www.archive.org, a American site, offering PD movies & Film & books & Audio & Computer Software, a site use frequently & mirror files to ed2k, but because I am a part of network doesn't mean I am downloading the file, seeing searches in network as files, means their "detective" software is dingo-dung ...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Three strikes is a joke

    Japan has the correct approach with mandatory prison sentences of two years or more and hefty fines for both pirates and facilitators of piracy. No one needs three chances to know they are a pirate. One chance is all they should get.

    1. Senshi

      Re: Three strikes is a joke

      Post that with your real name or go home, troll.

    2. GrumpyOldBloke

      Re: Three strikes is a joke

      Few societies have been as enthusiastic about eating their own young as Japan. Their rapidly declining population is evidence of the wisdom of their decisions. If the remaining otaku or emerging low waged underclass don't consume enough magical fighting school girl anime from Sony Entertainment and its ilk then the solution is obviously to lock em all up. As with much of Asia, nothing of consequence can ever be discussed because such topics are sensitive issues that go against the grain of social cohesion and conformity. Making people uncomfortable is impolite. Japan's hell bent desire for national seppuku rather than facing up to the failings of its elders is perhaps not the best model for anyone else to follow. Many studies have shown a relationship between piracy and paid for media consumption. If nothing else piracy demonstrates and area of demand that can be exploited - assuming your company is not so far up its own backside prattling on about business is war that it can see an opportunity. While it is not like Sony to completely fail to read a market these harsh laws against sharing have perhaps dealt it and other corporate sponsors of fascist stupidity a blow. Not that that is entirely a bad thing.

  9. RobHib

    What exactly does naughtiness amounts to?

    'A second allegation of naughtiness within twelve months will result in the despatch of a “Warning Notice” ...'

    'Naughtiness' by itself is a simple notion, so what's its actual extent? A single encounter with a file-sharing site that would make the Ort Cloud seem close, or one that would make Kim Dotcom feel overly satisfied.

    Exactly how this is played out will be its key to success or failure.

    As a person who feels that movies of the 1930's are overly modern, it's unlikely I'll ever encounter Hollywood's wrath, but it seems to me that many such industry agreements are dangerous and often fail. Also, using a surrogate cop for any reason is fraught with problems, especially one who is under duress to perform. Sometimes the antiquated procedures the law may be a better option, and this may be one of them.

    Seems a worry for some, I'll bet there'll be blood on the floor before it's over.

  10. channel extended

    TPP

    The TPP will of course stop all piracy by allowing big media to act like a government. They will then be able to sue/seize all property of accused pirates without trial or any form of hearing. That will teach 'em

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dumb question from a newbie

    If my (cough) mate was to use a VPN service to say (cough) "find" and download stuff on a torrent site, would this protect me, err, him from this 3 strikes malarkey?

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