Australia - Piracy crackdown pays dividends

[Len]

Online piracy’s rampant growth has come to a halt as new measures and the growing popularity of streaming services help combat the problem, according to statistics.

The number of Australian adults admitting some form of ­piracy was unchanged at 21 per cent, according to a study by trade group Creative Content Australia. The snapshot of online behaviour provides the first evidence that an industry-wide clampdown on the problem is working as a deterrent. The survey also uncovered a shift in attitudes to piracy with the highest-ever proportion of Australians in the sample agreeing ­piracy is a crime — 74 per cent of adults and teenagers.

A majority of teenagers and adults agreed that piracy damages the livelihoods and jobs of those working in the film and television industries, at 68 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

Peter Tonagh, chief executive of Foxtel, welcomed the news but warned the creative industries must keep up the fight against ­piracy.

“We can’t be complacent, ­piracy is still a major issue, but I am confident that if we keep up our efforts we can make further inroads against this fundamental challenge to our business models.”

Graham Burke, co-chief executive of Village Roadshow and one of the most passionate campaigners for anti-piracy legislation in the world, is ratcheting up pressure on search giant Google to take better steps to eliminate its role in facilitating large- scale theft of intellectual property.

“Site blocking works and we have shut the front door of the ­department store by removing the big sign ‘Free Stolen Goods’,” said Mr Burke. “But as the processes to remove ‘mirror’ sites are slow, search engines are blatantly thumbing their noses at Australian law and courts by leading people to the back door. All you have to do is Google ‘PIR’ and Google auto complete comes up with Pirate Bay proxies.

“Google can address this as they have done in other areas and if they don’t they are demonstrating only an interest in luring traffic to their advertising model business.

“It is time for the tech giant to deliver on its public position of ‘Google is up for working with content owners to fight piracy’. It would be tragic if an overseas monopoly that doesn’t pay tax in our country cost Australians their jobs.”

The results, collected between September 14 and 19, mark the ninth survey carried out by CCA.

The survey was conducted before the film and television industries won federal court approval to block 59 websites that provide pirated streams of critically acclaimed Australian movies such as Lion and Mad Max: Fury Road.

This suggests the illegal downloading could be under even more pressure, particularly with the recent introduction of cheaper app-based subscription packages that don’t require a cable or satellite connection from Foxtel.

Foxtel this month doubled down on the strategy with the launch of the Foxtel Now box.