back to article Big Content picks on small Australian ISPs again

Big Content has once again headed to Australia in an attempt to make internet service providers (ISPs) at least partly responsible for their customers' illegal downloads, this time by coughing up their contact details. Hollywood spent years trying to make ISPs liable for illegal downloads by their subscribers in the “iiTrial …

  1. Thorne

    Tie this to manditory data rentention

    Throw in the TPP and you have a recipe for disaster

  2. MartinB105

    Alternative to piracy?

    Maybe Big Content should offer an alternative to piracy before pursuing the pirates and ISP's?

    It's baffling that I still can't legally purchase, download and play TV or film content on my Linux-based XBMC system. Until they fix that, piracy is the only choice for people like me.

    1. PCS

      Re: Alternative to piracy?

      Or you could use one of the supported operating systems instead of being a self-confessed pirate freetard?

      1. Richard Jones 1
        Flame

        Re: Alternative to piracy?

        Or the film makers could issue everyone with a free device to download and pay for their tatty content, oops, sorry valuable IP.

        I cannot remember the last time I went to see a film at the cinema, I do remember that I hated every second of the drivel. I was dragged there by a family member, never again. Frankly 'free' is too high a price to pay for much of the output.

        As for downloading, I would feel it was unfair to the electrons tortured by the process; is there a society for the prevention of torture of electrons when you need its services?

      2. MartinB105

        Re: Alternative to piracy?

        @PCS, Find me a system that's free, supports DRM and still does everything that XBMC can do, then we'll talk.

        If the industry isn't willing to meet me halfway, then that's their problem, not mine. Either way, I get the content that I want. I pay for music because the music industry learned. I also pay for games (I've contributed several hundred dollars to Humble Indie Bundles over the years - how's that for a "freetard"?). The TV and movie industry need to catch up. I've tried my best to solve the problem; I've contacted various companies and organisations within the industry to find solutions, but most don't care enough to even respond, and those that do respond aren't willing to offer a solution. Clearly they're not interested in making content legally accessible to people who would be willing to pay for it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alternative to piracy?

      It's baffling that I still can't legally purchase, download and play TV or film content on my Linux-based XBMC system. Until they fix that, piracy is the only choice for people like me.

      Not at all. You could instead choose to lose the sense of entitlement, and go do something else instead.

      1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Re: Alternative to piracy?

        Disclosure: I use a Raspberry Pi with OpenELEC (a Kodi/XBMC variant)

        I use this media center for various reasons:

        I enjoy setting up and tweaking the system (sad I know).

        I have more faith that this setup will not result in data about me being transmitted to various commercial entities for sale and analysis not in any way for my benefit.

        I don't trust the various vendors not to switch of access to media for commercial reasons.

        Hopefully I will avoid root-kits and other vendor activities undertaken in bad faith.

        I have yet to find a DVD/Blue Ray/Smart TV/Media Streamer that gives access to all streaming services and IPTV so I can exercise effective consumer choice.

        I avoid vendor lock in and can use open standards. I am thus able to move film/music/TV between devices as I update hardware.

        Note that none of this is a cost based selection.

  3. sad_loser

    Fighting a losing battle

    You can get pretty much all the media content you will want on a 3TB hdd which costs £75

    If they stamp on downloads I would be able to mail order a pre-loaded hdd +media server from china for £100.

    At the moment home media server set up is a bit geeky.

    They might find it rapidly goes mainstream if they do this.

    1. g e

      Re: Fighting a losing battle

      Geeky? Really?

      DLNA NAS + Smart TV - both pretty common things these days - the wifi router is a given.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hating the wrong people

    Instead of hating the criminals who pirate, some folks are so ignorant that they hate copyright holders for enforcing their copyrights which they are obligated to do under law or they lose their copyright. As far as the court ruling that ISPs have no means to stop piracy, it shows how technically ignorant the appeals court is.

    No wonder copyright holders are frustrated when the judicial system is clueless on the technology involved. The good news is more pirates and facilitators of piracy are going to jail and being heavily fined. This will only continue to escalate as the braindead folks who believe they are entitled to steal, continue to pirate. There is definitely a jail cell waiting with their name on it.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Hating the wrong people

      enforcing their copyrights which they are obligated to do under law or they lose their copyright.

      Now I'm no legal expert by any definition of the term but I thought it was trademarks that have to be actively defended lest the owner lose them, not copyright.

    2. SS2011
      FAIL

      Re: Hating the wrong people

      Big Content Stooge Much?

    3. Run with the dogs

      Re: Hating the wrong people

      1) Copyright is not lost if 'undefended'

      2) Even ISPs using real time deep packet inspection (very expensive to implement and maintain) have very little chance against an encrypted data stream. Your assumption otherwise shows how technically ignorant you are.

      3) Profit lost to copyright holder for an instance of a downloaded film might be £10 (total guess), but money paid by law abiding citizens to keep someone in jail is likely to be in the 10s of thousands, even for a short stay. While they are in jail they can also sit a degree at our expense :) Might be fair if the movie industry paid the bill for the jail time - lol.

  5. petec

    Lawd!

    Mainstream "piracy" exists, because of archaic content distribution systems. It's utterly controlled by megalomaniac consortium's with zero understanding of they way things are actually going. They reply on every dirty trick in the book and any and all high placed (government) connections they might have.

    It's irritating and stupid for us ultimate end user clients.

    I have lost track of the stuff I have downloaded from al over the world, because it will never appear in my country in any form or way. Incredible movies, that barely make half a mill at the box office, yet are masterfully acted and directed.

    "Piracy" has not dented the profits of big movie in any significant way, and has even helped the indie stuff gain a much broader exposure.

    1. Tim Roberts 1

      quite

      Not sure if you are correct in the "Piracy has not dented the profits of big movie in any significant way" , but you are definitely correct about archaic distribution.

      Here in oz you cannot buy the latest Game of Thrones episodes at any price (or so I'm told). So the only way to access them is to download a copy from somewhere.

      I'll wager that if they were available to purchase (download) on release, in higher quality then there would be a market.

      I don't download copyrighted stuff, but I have no sympathy for the companies that are effectively hobbling their own market.

      1. Thorne

        Re: quite

        "Not sure if you are correct in the "Piracy has not dented the profits of big movie in any significant way" , but you are definitely correct about archaic distribution."

        The three strikes laws when in France resulted in a drop in piracy but also a drop in legit sales.

  6. KjetilS

    It's interesting how music piracy in Norway was pretty much eradicated when we actually was able to listen to music legally for a reasonable sum of money.

    When the only alternative was buying stuff on CD, piracy was pretty common.

    Perhaps the movie studios should reconsider their options?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like