digitalpiracy_digital piracy 30/09/2013 07:13 Page 9
he Australian Federation
Against Copyright Theft
(AFACT) has changed its name
to the ‘Australian Screen
Association’ (ASA). The core mission of
the Australian Screen Association (ASA)
is to advance the business and art of film
making and increase its enjoyment
around the world by supporting, protecting and promoting the safe and legal
consumption of movie and TV content
across all platforms. This is achieved
through education, public awareness
and research programmes, in order to
highlight to movie fans the importance
and benefits of content protection.
Neil Gane, Managing Director of the
Australian Screen Association said: “Our screen
industry creates content that tells our local
stories and brings us stories from overseas that
entertain us, educate us and bind us together.
The Australian Screen Association will continue to work with local screen industry organisations to support the careers of emerging and
established film-makers, as well as promote an
environment that supports, protects and promotes the safe and legal consumption of movie
and TV content across all platforms.”
AFACT, as the operational arm of the ASA,
will continue to assist in the investigation and
prosecution of commercial-scale content theft
operations, by working alongside state and federal law enforcement authorities around
Australia. In the last 12 months, AFACT has
seized almost 1.5 million illegal DVDs and has
shut down several sophisticated criminal
organisations found to be distributing illegal
DVDs within Australia.
INTERVENTION. Foxtel chief executive
Richard Freudenstein in March 2013 called on
Australia’s federal government to intervene in
online piracy negotiations, suggesting that
failure to fight illegal downloading before the
national broadband network is rolled out could
“devastate traditional content creation industries”. He made his comments at the ASTRA
2013 Conference in Sydney.
He nevertheless argued that governments
should only intervene where there was clear
evidence of market failure or where they could
promote investment, innovation and the development of dynamic sectors such as the media
and content creation industries. “One area that
does not require further restrictive regulation is
media ownership and control,” he claimed,
pointing instead to online piracy and restricting
illegal access to content as activities meriting
government action.
“We need to have an appropriate system in
place before the NBN is rolled out – in whatever form that happens – because with super fast
broadband the flood gates could really open,”
he warned delegates. “It is time something was
done. We will be calling on both the
T
10 Content Security Special
Government and Opposition to develop policies
that protect copyright owners and ensure the
viability of the content creation industries.”
According to Freudenstein, Australia need-
ation with Irdeto (conditional access system
provider to freeSAT service) and local police
authorities in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Two full investigations were conducted. Both
PUNISHING
PIRATES
ed to adopt a copyright regime similar to that
implemented in the US, France and New
Zealand, where ISPs have agreed to passing on
warning notices to Internet users found to have
illegally downloaded material. The federal
Attorney-General’s Department instigated talks
between content owners and ISPs for a similar
Irdeto and the local police provided high levels of cooperation leading to the successful prosecutions.
The defendants in both cases
pleaded guilty and have accepted
the settlements requiring them to
pay UPC DTH several thousand
Euros compensation.
In welcoming the decision the
AAPA’s executive director, Sheila
Cassells, said that “these are cases
which show that local officials
fully support the need to maintain
the legitimate protection of the
services our members provide to
paying customers in these
countries. AAPA will continue to
support its members in taking
necessary action.”
SUSPECTS. In May 2013 in Japan, officers
from the Joint Investigation Headquarters of
Fukuoka Prefectural Police Cyber Crime
Division, Asakura Police Station and Ukiha
Police Station arrested three individuals
suspected off illegally making copyrighted
movies transmittable through the use of file
Anti-piracy bodies worldwide continue their fight
against illegal copying and distribution of premium
content, both in terms of direct agency action against
offenders, as well as by lobbying legislators.
system in Australia in 2011, but these ground to
a halt when ISP iiNet withdrew from a
proposed trial of the system.
SHARING. In February 2013, news emerged
that two new cases of the piracy practice known
as card sharing had been brought to a resolution in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The
cases involved the theft of services from UPC
DTH (operating the brand freeSAT in these
markets) enabling the illegal reception of
services and depriving UPC of payment.
Following criminal complaints filed by UPC
DTH, whose parent company Liberty Global is
a member of AAPA (Audiovisual Anti-Piracy
Alliance), the matter was addressed in co-oper-
sharing software WinMX. Two other suspects
were referred to the Public Prosecutors Office.
Two suspects, a 52-year-old man from
Kirishima-City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and a
43-year-old man from Kurashiki-City,
Okayama Prefecture, are the first to be arrested
for illegally uploading foreign movies using
WinMX. The two suspects admitted the
charges of making movies transmittable via the
file sharing software WinMX without permission from rights-holders.
As an increasing number of illegal uploads
of foreign movies are now being found on the
WinMX networks, according to Japan and
International Motion Picture Association