No more illegal downloads: Government
The Federal Government wants to block internet users accessing online torrent sites, meaning fans of popular TV shows such as Game of Thrones may no longer be able to illegally download them.
In an online copyright infringement discussion paper released yesterday, Attorney-General George Brandis outlined the Government's draft plans to force internet providers such as iiNet, Optus and Telstra to discourage online copyright infringements.
In a move which film company Village Roadshow described as necessary to fight the "piracy epidemic", the Government proposed amendments to the Copyright Act to provide clearer definitions on the legal liability for piracy.
It also wants to make it easier for the owners of TV shows and movies to take cases to court.
The paper pointed to similar blocking moves in Britain as an example and called for public discussions on new definitions for "reasonable steps" that an internet provider should take to prevent or avoid copyright infringements.
In response, iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby said the draft legislation was written to protect the content industry and called on content providers to address the real issue of availability in the Australian market.
The Perth company, which won a 2012 High Court battle against 34 movie studios on the piracy issue, has been a vocal critic of the Government's moves to block some internet sites.
The Federal Government’s proposals would overrule the 2012 High Court decision, which found that internet service providers could not be found liable for authorising an act by a subscriber that infringes copyright.
Mr Dalby has previously said trying to block all illegal sites would be like "trying to stop a plague of locusts with a can of fly spray".
He believed torrent sites would continue to pop up at other internet addresses.
Village Roadshow co-chief executive Graham Burke said the move was a positive step to support the livelihoods of 900,000 creative Australians who depended upon strong copyright protection for their jobs.
Mr Burke said there was no reason why torrent websites such as The Pirate Bay should be accessible in Australia when they were blocked in the UK and other European countries.
Australians are world-leaders in online piracy, and were consistently leading the globe in the volume of illegal downloads of series four of Game of Thrones
