Copyright content owners, who want to curtail illegal downloaders, have been pushing for an industry code that would would require Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to send warning notices to subscribers suspected of illegal downloading. According to a report today, this code has been scrapped because the costs were predicted to be too high.
This code was to be called the “three strikes code”, hoping to send shivers down the spines of pirates. Each strike was progressively more serious and if three notices were sent in a 12-month period, the ISP had a right to “facilitate an expedited discovery process to assist the Rights holder to enforce its copyright”. Scary stuff.
The federal government initially pushed for a code to be created when the Dallas Buyer’s Club court case was still active — the issue of piracy was at its peak then. Only last week the court case came to a close with the rights holders for the firm sending up a white flag.
The federal government ordered for a code to be developed, but Speaking with CNET, Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke said:
“We reached the conclusion after having an independent audit firm evaluate the cost of sending out the notices, and we concluded that it was too much of an imposition to ask the ISPs, and also from our own point of view, the amount it would cost. We concluded that it was too much of an imposition to ask the ISPs, and also from our own point of view, the amount it would cost. So we decided not to push it forward.”
So now that a code has been shelved, the government may make moves to create something on their own. Stay tuned pirates.
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