Turnbull tackles content piracy with industry heavyweights

The debate over how to grapple with Australia’s content copyright infringement issues is raising division from within the government ranks and the industry.

Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for the Arts and attorney general, George Brandis released  a joint “discussion paper” in early August  and revealed very different views on key issues, including who should be charged for a crackdown on internet piracy and how content owners could adapt to the changing environment.

Turnbull has flagged a public forum to be held on September 9,  which will allow all the industry and policy stakeholders to express their positions. Key areas of contention in the discussion paper include what sanctions should be applied to illegal downloaders offenders,  what role should be taken by ISPs  and content owners  and who should pay for the sanctions or penalty system.

Turnbull has suggested that content owners should consider taking legal action against illegal downloaders, and should also bear at least some of the cost of a sanctions system.

One of the most vocal industry players, Village Roadshow CEO Grahame Burke, said that he would not take part in the forum.

Burke has rejected Turnbull’s suggestions, countering the position by stating that ISPs should be required to slow down the internet speeds of repeat offenders.

 “My company is not prepared to participate in the forum. As expressed to you previously, these Q and A style formats are judged by the noise on the night, and given the proposed venue, I believe this will be weighted by the crazies,” he said in an email which was sent to Turnbull and nine other chief executives who had been invited to the event.

The forum will include ‘Rake’ writer and producer Peter Duncan, iiNet CEO David Buckingham, Telstra executive director Jane Van Beelen, Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein and APRA CEO Brett Cottle.

In a recent blog from Turnbull he explained why throttling would too difficult to implement.  “Given the central importance of connectivity to all of our lives, cutting off or degrading an internet connection is a big deal – which of course is why the content owners believe it would be such an effective sanction and disincentive to infringing copyright. And then what about family or workplace accounts where one person is doing the wrong thing and others are not?,” he wrote.

He pushed the issue away from the infrastructure providers and back onto content owners. “As we note in the discussion paper and as I have said elsewhere, a part of the solution is making content available in Australia at the same time, or very shortly after, it is released overseas and at a comparable price.”