Pirates disregard fines and laws

Beverley Head
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:14

IT Industry - Strategy

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, AFACT, which now has just two days left to file an Appeal with the High Court if it wants to further pursue internet service provider, iiNet, over its allegations of copyright theft, may be interested to learn of a new independent study which suggests that fines and tougher laws are unlikely to stall piracy of films, books, music or software.

Professor Julian Thomas, Director of Swinburne University's Institute for Social Research said that a study of piracy in emerging economies, conducted by the US based Social Science Research Council; 'underlines the need for alternatives to hard-line enforcement and prosecution,' which had failed to stamp out piracy in international markets.

Professor Thomas said that there were lessons for Australia from the report which found that 'price is the major factor driving piracy.' For Australia he said this finding had particular implications with regard to competition in the industry, and also the need for ISPs such as iiNet to work with the copyright industry to develop 'workable models' allowing the two sectors to more comfortably co-exist.

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies, which is based on three years' study of pirate networks in India, China, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico and Russia, argues that global anti-piracy enforcement has largely failed. 'Previous policies have focused on enforcement, like tougher laws, stronger police powers and heavier penalties to curb piracy,' report author Joe Karaganis said in a release issued today by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and  Innovation.

He said that 'Our studies of developing countries show that piracy should be viewed as an economic problem, not merely a crime.'

Lack of competition leading to higher prices was seen as one spur to piracy. The report found that relative to local income levels, the cost of a CD or a copy of Microsoft Office is typically five to ten times higher in Russia, Brazil or South Africa than in the US or Europe.

While the report did not attempt to quantify the extent of piracy in these markets, it does reference earlier analysis.  In Russia for example it noted that 68 per cent of software is pirated.

 

Will the IIA's code of conduct work? Read on