Why the Australian government won't win the war on online piracy and copyright infringement.

Recent reports came out today speculating on the impact that Attorney General George Brandis' latest anti-piracy proposal will have on the Australian public who were recently deemed by Mumbrella to be "at the top of the world piracy ladder." Online articles today claim the proposal will "force ISPs to take steps to prevent Australians from infringing copyright", "allowing rights holders to pursue legal action to force ISPs to censor websites", and directly from the report itself, "provide an incentive for market participants to work together to address online copyright infringement."

Effectively, the Australian Governments' only resolution to the major issue of Australia's online piracy obsession, is to place a great, big, fat bandage over the whole thing. Here are my reasons why the proposal, and subsequent proposals to fight those who elicit online piracy, will fail.

1.) Its too easy to pirate.
We may not be up there as the most tech-driven countries in the world, but we sure know how to get around ISP blocks, slow download speeds, and blocked access to content. VPN'ing, using proxies, fake accounts, false IP's, are just some of the ways Australians are getting around that whole risk of being caught downloading illegally. Its "virtually" (pun intended) impossible to track a user's identity online these days if they don't want to be found, hence why our Attorney General has not attempted to prosecute the individuals who are responsible for online piracy and instead, go after the ISPs.

2.) There is no alternative and therefore, no incentive for individuals to stop pirating.
The biggest flaw in the proposal from Brandis is the line "provide an incentive for market participants to work together to address online copyright infringement." This should have been the only focus of the proposal and is clearly something the Australian Government has not even considered at this point, despite all the committee meetings and tax-payer funded Premium Skype calls with Hollywood. The following infographic highlights the exact reasons why individuals download illegally and should have been what the proposal responded to:

http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/05/07/1225863/666012-news-com-au-illegal-downloads-survey-results.gif

As you can see, cost and adequate access to content are the main reasons behind why people download illegally.

Here is how we square up currently against these statements:

Image courtesy of:http://reckoner.com.au/2014/07/watching-tv-in-australia-the-australian-delay-under-the-microscope/

AVERAGE COST OF MOVIE TICKETS

Image courtesy of:http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/research/statistics/wcboprices.aspx

Image courtesy of:http://reckoner.com.au/2014/07/watching-tv-in-australia-the-australian-delay-under-the-microscope/

The following infographics should also be considered in this regard as evidence of the fact that Australians are not abject to paying for their content. Rather, they just want it to be a fair playing ground and not be forced to accept the lacklustre standards the Australian media and government enforce.

Image courtesy of:http://www.news.com.au/technology/internet-pirates-say-theyd-pay-for-legal-downloads/story-e6frfro0-1225863187697

There is clearly a disconnect between what the Australian Government has proposed and what the actual purpose of an online piracy overhaul should be. Rather than trying to reserve a few million each year for the major studios, the government should be focusing on major initiatives that fulfill long term revenue raising for these companies, not short term gain. To be honest, these are the only two points that need to be considered right now. The Australian government Hollywood studios cannot expect that Australia is suddenly going to find its moral compass and magically stop downloading illegally. Nor should they expect that targeting their ISPs or those who facilitate online piracy will work either. There will always be a work around. There will always be a reason to download illegally unless, we find an alternative. I call upon Attorney General George Brandis to consider this statement and really think about what could be done to resolve this issue in the long run, not just for the term of his position in Parliament.