From Convicts to Pirates: Illegal Downloading in Australia

PiracyIt’s no secret that a large proportion of Australians use the Internet to

illegally pirate content.

1

Piracy

In a survey conducted in 2014, Choice found

that one third of Australians “download, stream

or watch pirated movies and TV shows online”

(Kollmorgen, 2014).

1

Piracy

Expensive Prices38%

Availability23%

Timeliness32%

In a further investigation in 2015, they discovered that the primary reasons for this

piracy were:

(Gruber,

2015)

1

“

According to Leaver (2008), Australian media consumers suffer

from “the tyranny of digital distance”.

Piracy

This is a term used to describe how outdated

models of media distribution “that began as

geographical necessities” in the modern “era of

digital communication” are being maintained by

media corporations primarily for political and

economical reasons that ultimately alienate

audiences (Leaver, 2008).

1

Piracy

Australians often gain legal access to media content far later than consumers in the

United States.

◉ This is particularly obvious when you compare Australian online streaming

services like Netflix to their US counterparts.

◉ When Netflix launched in Australia in 2015, due to the complexity of licensing

deals the Australian service only offered 38% of TV content and 34% of movie

content available to US Netflix users (Finder, 2016).

1

Piracy

While piracy did decrease with the release of

Netflix in Australia, illegal downloading is most

certainly still a widespread issue (Gruber, 2015).

1

Piracy

The idea that Australians feel alienated by the

current models of media distribution is also

highlighted by data collected by Choice.

1

“

They found that “32% of Australian pirates are downloading TV shows that they know they can’t buy in Australia

and 30% are pirating movies that can’t be bought in Australia” (Gruber, 2015).

Case StudyThe “tyranny of digital distance” can be explained in action through

the Australian release of popular series “Game of Thrones” sixth

season.

2

Case Study

Game of Thrones is currently one of the most

popular television series in Australia. It is also

one of the most pirated (Harvey, 2014).

2

Case Study

This is likely due to a few factors:

◉ Spoilers - Social media and the Internet at our fingertips in general make it

very hard to avoid spoilers of a show, particularly a hugely popular one.

People want to watch new content as soon as it releases to that they can

experience it without already knowing what will happen.

◉ Hype - The excitement that surrounds the release of every new Game of

Thrones episode means that just about everyone wants to talk about it. People

who haven’t seen it yet can’t (for fear of spoilers and lack of information) so

they will try and watch it as soon as possible.

2

Case Study

So, people want to watch Game of Thrones as

soon as it comes out, there’s nothing wrong with

that, right?

2

Case Study

Wrong! Unfortunately in Australia, there were very few ways people could legally

watch Game of Thrones season six on release.

◉ Foxtel - Game of Thrones released on Foxtel at similar times to the US

however, users had to be subscribed to a Foxtel package to watch it, which is

quite expensive. Users could not simply pay for a single show / episode.

◉ Netflix - Game of Thrones was not available on Australian Netflix. Some

people resorted to a VPN to use the US Netflix service however, this required

a reasonable level of technical knowledge to do. However, this option was far

cheaper as they could pay for single episodes.

2

Case Study

Limited legal options and a lack of timeliness,

affordability and availability meant that many

people resorted to illegal methods to watch

Game of Thrones season six in Australia.

2

PolicyIn response the high rate of piracy in Australia, a document known

as the “Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill” was

introduced to parliament by Malcolm Turnbull in March, 2015.

3

Policy

◉ The bill allows Copyright holders to request injunctions for

offshore websites that “infringe, or facilitate an infringement

of Copyright” (2015, s. 115A.1a).

◉ These injunctions “require the carriage service provider to

take reasonable steps to disable access to the online

location” (2015, s. 115A.2).

3

Policy

Essentially, the bill allows companies who hold

media Copyrights like Foxtel, Netflix and

Universal to issue Australian Internet Service

Providers (ISP’s) with a list of websites they

need to block (like The PirateBay).

3

“

According to the government “the bill provides an effective contribution towards addressing the

longstanding problem of online copyright infringement and it does so in a proportionate and balanced way that takes into account other important public and

private interests” (Turnbull, 2015).

Policy

However, the bill does not detail exactly how

these sites should be blocked, which has

resulted in court debates between ISP’s and

Copyright holders (Sturmer, 2016).

3

Policy

Additionally, parties opposed to the bill have some concerns

including:

◉ Whether legitimate sites like Dropbox may be blocked.

◉ Or that sites may be unintentionally blocked in blunders

similar to that of ASIC in 2013, where 250,000 websites

were blocked unintentionally instead of just one (McGrath,

2013).

3

ConclusionWhile it is certainly important for the rights of Copyright holders to be

protected in Australia, it is also crucial that the general public is

provided with an affordable, accessible and timely alternative to

piracy.

4

Conclusion

Blanket policies that do not address this problem

holistically and reflexively do little to address the

issue as a whole. If this policy does help to

reduce piracy then it is certainly a good thing

however, more could be done.

4

Conclusion

The Australian Government has conducted a

study on the best methods of combating Internet

piracy.

4

“

“the factors that would most encourage people to stop are a) Reduce the cost of legal content (39%), b)

Improve availability (38%) and c) Eliminate release delays (36%)” (Department of Communication and the

Arts, 2015)

Conclusion

If the government could interpret this data and

translate it into policies that help provide the

general public with a timely and relatively

affordable alternative to piracy which provides

users with access to a wide range of content, we

may see piracy decrease even further.

4

References

Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth) s. 115A. Retrieved from

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00080

Department of Communication and the Arts. (2015). New online copyright infringement research released. Retrieved from

https://www.communications.gov.au/departmental-news/new-online-copyright-infringement-research-released

Finder. (2016). Netflix USA vs the world: Content libraries compared. Retrieved from

https://www.finder.com/netflix-usa-vs-world-content

Gruber, I. (2015). Choice 2015 piracy survey shows government actions are ineffective. Retrieved from

https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/choice-piracy-survey-2015

Harvey, A. (2014). Game of Thrones piracy war: Choice says Foxtel has itself to blame for illegal downloading of hit show. ABC News.

Retrived from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-17/choice-backs-australians-who-pirate-game-of-thrones/5530710

Kollmorgen, A. (2014).One third of Australians have illegally accessed online content. Retrieved from

https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/choice-content-piracy-

survey-091214

5

ReferencesLeaver, T. (2008). Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the tyranny of digital distance. Media International Australia

Incorporating Culture and Policy, 1(126), 145-154. Retrieved from http://www.tamaleaver.net/research/the-tyranny-of-digital-

distance/

McGrath, P. (2013, August 28). ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 websites due to 'basic' IP address misunderstanding. ABC News.

Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-27/asic-accidentally-blocked-250,000-websites-ip-address/5701734

Sturmer, J. (2016, June 24). Siteblock: Pirate Bay, Torrentz, IsoHunt under spotlight in Australian website-blocking test case. ABC

News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-24/pirate-bay-torrentz-under-fire-in-website-blocking-test-

case/7541714

Turnbull, M. (2015, June 19). Debate on the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015. Liberal Media Release. Retrieved

from http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/debate-on-the-copyright-amendment-online-infringement-bill-2015

Slide design by SlidesCarnival. Creative Commons Attribution Liscence.

5