[AusNOG] Internet companies forced to block The Pirate Bay, bittorrent websites in Australia, Federal Court rules

[Ross Wheeler]

On Fri, 16 Dec 2016, Steve Kurzeja wrote:

> but it is an effective first line of defence mechanism for parental 
> control/content filtering purposes.

For a quick and easy, reasonably light-weight opt-in solution, sure.
But as a mandated, catch-everybody regulatory instrument it blows chunks.

Let me be perfectly clear: I don't condone or support piracy.
The specific instance we're currently discussion (ie, foxtel vs "the 
internet") - is in no small part brought on by the rights-holders and 
their agents. Artificially witholding products (to cite a specific 
semi-recent exampe, "Game of Thrones") for weeks or months after their 
release in other parts of the world, purely so they can milk every last 
cent out of consumers - is pretty much guaranteed to create an environment 
where sites like TPB flourish.

If these people made legally purchasing (licensing) the product, in a 
timely manner, and at a fair and reasonable price, without having to jump 
through hoops - well, I suspect the VAST majority of those who currently 
obtain pirate copies of the material, wouldn't bother doing so.

Artificially breaking the way the internet works in order to prop up 
dubious business operations, through brute force methods (like court 
orders) is not something that should be encouraged.

</opinion>
R.