<div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Ausnog,</div><div><br></div><div>Included below is an article from todays Commsday about the negotiations regarding copyright enforcement, who will be spared costs, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>I am concerned that as an industry we don't know what the Communications Alliance is negotiating for on our behalf, and what they will and won't agree to - especially in responsibility, liability and costs.</div><div><br></div><div>The negotiations are closed-door and I am nervous that we're going to end up with some politically negotiated burden that will cost ISPs a significant amount of money... especially Small ISPs, the area I am most passionate about.</div><div><br></div><div>Is any Ausnogger involved in this process who can let us know what is going on?</div><div><br></div><div>...Skeeve</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>========COMMSDAY 16 FEB 2015============</div><div><br></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Key roadblocks remain for
copyright code as deadline looms</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">ISPs and copyright holders are locked in a series of urgent meetings,
rushing to finish a draft industry code to combat content piracy – with an effective
deadline looming of 20 February, this coming Friday, to conclude negotiations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">But while the private discussions have sent good progress on many
operational aspects of the code, the two sides are still struggling to find
common ground on two key areas of dissent: who should bear the costs of the
proposed scheme, and whether ISPs should themselves be obliged to prosecute
sanctions against copyright infringers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">In the dying weeks of last year, communications minister Malcolm Turnbull
and Attorney-general George Brandis called on ISPs and rights holders to collaborate
on a new industry copyright code.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Such a code, they said, should provide a means to warn users found illegally
downloading; inform them of the possible consequences; and publicize
alternative, affordable and legitimate means of downloading the desired
material. Following a set number of warnings, it should also provide rights owners
a path to identify – and prosecute civil action against – serial infringers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Turnbull and Brandis set a deadline of 8 April for both sides to agree
on the code. Working back from there, the parties need to work in a 30-day
period for public comment plus additional time to examine all submissions and
make any changes to the original draft. The board of industry body Communications
Alliance would also need to sign of on the release of a draft code for comment
in the first place. The upshot: ISPs have set 20 February as the latest possible
date that a draft should be publicly released.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Negotiations between rights holders and the telco sector on copyright
have, in recent history, ranged from chilly to abortive – particularly around
the time several years ago that a collection of Hollywood studios tried unsuccessfully
to sue iiNet for copyright infringements by its users. Nevertheless, through
the current series of private meetings, CommsDay understands that good progress
has been made on several basic operational aspects of the code: everything from
how warning notices might look, to the workflow from infringement detection
onto allegations and notifications, and how the notices themselves might be
sent out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">However, there are two key areas, which remain divisive. The first is
the perennially vexed issue of who should wear the costs for implementing the
scheme. Turnbull has said it’s “reasonable to expect that the bulk of the costs
would be borne by the rights holders,” given they have the most to gain
financially from a reduction in piracy. But the exact numbers on any cost split
are proving difficult to hammer out – and there are still voices in the debate
for solutions along the entire spectrum of possible arrangements, even up to
ISPs wearing most of the costs themselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">The second stumbling block is perhaps more surprising: behind closed doors,
there’s still dispute as to whether the code should include provision for ISPs
to level sanctions against their own users for copyright infringement, such as
redirection or throttling. Turnbull and Brandis mentioned no such steps in
their letter to industry, merely expecting the code to “[ensure that] ISPs take
reasonable steps (including the development of an education and warning notice
scheme) to deter online copy-right infringement on their network” and “include
a process for facilitated discovery to assist rights holders in taking
direct copyright infringement action against a subscriber after an agreed
number of notices.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Indeed, ISPs have in the past expressed severe reservations around
punishing their subscribers directly for alleged copyright infringement on the
say-so of rights holders. It’s no great stretch to infer that the renewed push
for direct ISP sanctions has come from the rights holders’ side of the negotiating
table.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">At this stage, it’s unclear whether the two sides will be able to reach agreement
before the looming deadline. It’s not uncommon, particularly under time pressure,
for parties to find a compromise on a single issue that then cascades into
broader agreement: a ‘key log’ that enables them to clear the whole jam.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">But their alternatives are limited. Turnbull and Brandis have said that,
should there be no code by the final 8 April deadline, the government will lay
down arrangements either via an industry code prescribed by the Attorney-general
under the Copyright Act, or an industry standard prescribed by the Australian
Communications and Media Authority at the direction of the comms minister.
Failure to agree on a code would essentially mean taking a gamble on which side
of the debate the government might come down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial">Petroc Wilton</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">========<br></p>
<div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><font color="#002060" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="3"><p style="margin:0px;font-size:13px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(32,73,125)"><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:13px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(32,73,125)"><br>--</p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:13px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(32,73,125)">Skeeve Stevens - <span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px">The ISP Guy</span></p></font></font><font color="#002060" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="3"><p style="margin:0px;font-size:13px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(32,73,125)">Email: <a href="mailto:skeeve@theispguy.com" target="_blank">skeeve@theispguy.com</a> ; <span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px">Twitter: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheISPGuy" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px" target="_blank">@TheISPGuy</a></p></font></font><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><span style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;color:rgb(32,73,125);font-family:Calibri">Blog: <a href="http://theispguy.com/" target="_blank">TheISPGuy.com</a> ; Facebook: </span><font color="#20497d" face="Calibri"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/theispguy" target="_blank">TheISPGuy</a></font><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#002060"><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="3"><p style="margin:0px;font-size:13px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(32,73,125)">Linkedin: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/skeeve" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">/in/skeeve</a> ; <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Expert360: </span><a href="https://expert360.com/profile/d54a9" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">Profile</a></p></font></font></div><div><blockquote type="cite" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>