[AusNOG] re Australian senate passes controversial, anti-piracy, website-blocking laws

[Robert Hudson]

On 24 June 2015 at 00:52, Chad Kelly <chad at cpkws.com.au> wrote:

But people will still pirate content, the industry would be better off
> focusing on making content available online and at an affordable price.
>

I totally agree - it's been shown repeatedly that by making content
available online in a convenient and easily digestible format, that people
will pay a reasonable price rather than pirate.  It's a shame that the
content owners don't see it this way, they're clearly still mentally tied
to old distribution models, such as region-locked DVDs, and when they do
dip their toes into the online content distribution models, they're still
intent on enforcing geographical boundaries.

The entertainment industry isn't alone here - you only have to look at
software distribution models to see that it works in very similar ways -
there's certainly no excuse for a downloadable software item to cost as
much more as it does in Australia than it does in the US (double or higher
in many cases).


> We have this stupid setup at the moment with distribution deals where not
> all content on NetFlics is available in Australia. Those deals should of
> been dumped  as soon as the Australian market was enterd.
> It defeats the purpose of entering the market, as you still need a VPN to
> access the USA version of the site, having an Australian presence was meant
> to make more content available.
> Its pointless them investing money in Australia if everyone is going to
> just access the US version due to having more content.
>

This legislation potentially allows content owners to (attempt to) stop
Australian users from accessing US Netflix, Hulu etc, because they will
claim that Australians accessing those services is having a negative
financial impact on their content distribution deals.


> Dump the distribution deals and stop whinging about going broke, after
> all, the film and TV industry will just go more broke trying to fight
> piracy.
>

We see it that way.  The industry itself, by and large, does not.  Or at
the very least, is trying to get as much money out of the old model as they
possibly can before they are dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th
century.


> You won't be able to stop all VPN providers, its just not practicle.
>

Watch them try.  And watch the chaos that ensues when they do.


> Anyway I think I am preaching to the converted a bit hear.
>

Yep, I'm definitely the converted on this topic. :)
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