Australians illegally downloading or sharing movies, television and other material online would be identified, contacted, cautioned and potentially have their services reduced under a new graduated system proposed by The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT). The proposal is being presented to the Australian Telecommunications Summit 2007 in Sydney.
AFACT has expressed its frustration at the lack of action taken by the Internet Industry Association (IIA) in combating online piracy in Australia and proposed the new graduated system of regulation that has had positive results in the US.
‘We have tried to engage with the IIA in order to reach a code of practice for internet service providers (ISPs) that would tackle the levels of copyright infringement that the motion picture industry is currently facing,’ said Adrianne Pecotic, Executive Director of AFACT. ‘We are disappointed at their lack of enthusiasm.’
Australia has one of the highest per capita use of peer to peer file sharing systems leading to very high levels of infringement of copyright in major motion pictures and television programs.
‘The graduated response AFACT is proposing isn’t about punishing customers – it’s about educating customers,’ says Ms Pecotic. ‘It offers them the option to change their behaviour. Pirates are using technology to do something that’s wrong. We want to use the same technology to encourage behaviour that’s right.’
Having failed to get broad-based industry support AFACT is proposing that individual ISPs take up the graduated program.
[release from AFACT]