Internet Villain Mulls 3 Strikes For Australian Pirates
Written by enigmax on July 15, 2009Senator Stephen Conroy is a man on a mission. Undeterred that his absurd plans to filter the Internet have earned him the dubious title of Internet Villain of the Year, he is now promising to find a solution to the file-sharing ‘problem’ by bringing parties together who are already at war, or have little respect for him and his plans.
When it comes to Internet issues in Australia, Senator Stephen Conroy is becoming increasingly unpopular. Best known for his plans to filter the Internet, Conroy has managed to annoy an increasing number of prominent industry figures – the very people he absolutely needs onside if any of his plans are to come to fruition.
Last year the chief of ISP iiNet Michael Malone labeled Conroy as “the worst Communications Minister we’ve had in the 15 years since the [Internet] industry has existed,” and this year the ISP pulled out of filtering trials, saying the filter would not work.
But criticism of Conroy don’t stop there. The proposed filtering system championed by Conroy – ostensibly for the protection of minors – isn’t even supported by those whose interests it claims to protect.
Last week Save the Children, Civil Liberties Australia and the National Children’s and Youth Law Center urged the government to abandon plans for Conroy’s filter saying that it will neither protect children from viewing explicit material, nor stop child pornography from being distributed. Let’s hope Conroy listens to these groups, because he doesn’t seem to listen to anyone else who says his plans are going nowhere.
Last night Senator Conroy unveiled a report entitled Australia’s Digital Economy: Future Directions while promising the government will “facilitate development of an appropriate solution to the issue of unauthorised file sharing”.
So what kind of imaginative, creative, pioneering ideas and solutions are available for Conroy to nurture and facilitate? From the report;
One solution proposed by copyright owners is a “three strikes” or “graduated response” proposal under which copyright owners would work together with ISPs to identify the ISP’s customers who are suspected of unauthorised file sharing and the ISP would then send a notice on behalf of the copyright owner to that customer advising of this allegation. After multiple notices, a series of escalated steps could be taken with respect to the customer’s account.
The “copyright owners” who submitted this proposal includes anti-piracy group AFACT, currently engaged in hugely expensive legal action against prominent ISP iiNet, blaming it for the copyright-infringing activities of its customers.
Good luck to Conroy in “facilitating” meaningful discussions between these outfits in the future. Their relationship must be at an all-time low already, and getting lower with every dollar-sapping court appearance in these difficult financial times.
But it’s not just the entertainment industry’s relationship with ISPs that’s proving problematic when attempting to find a “solution” to the piracy issue, it appears that ISPs have no time for Conroy either. Last week the Senator was awarded the accolade of “Internet Villain of the Year” by ISPs at the 11th annual Internet Industry Awards, even beating France’s President Sarkozy to the title.
Solving the piracy “problem” is hugely difficult and complex and will only be made more so by the already faltering relationships between parties who appear to have little respect for each other, even before the process begins.
The full report can be downloaded here (.pdf)
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61 Responses
Guess nobody wants to be friends with me then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B7Mp8fSvNs
Nobody knows that I have a Terrabyte collection of pirated Music, Books, Movies, Games and Porn. Mwuhahahaha!
This aussie is retarded, MATE!
This guy is a total douche bag…
@4
I’m not your mate, pal !
Call for his removal maybe?
if only we could get rid of him… “One solution proposed by copyright owners is a “three strikes” or “graduated response.”
Wow hes done his research there, im suprised this hasnt been tried to be pushed through before. but thats how back dated we are here in oz.
dismissal that guy he wants to limit our internet freedom. WE love content and if we like specific content we want to share it with other people! no matter what file or if there is a copyright for that file!!!
copyright was designed to protect the creative from commercial profit!!
now they have edited the law so they can sue everyone that is file-sharing without any profit!!
WE ARE SHARING BECAUSE WE HAVE RESPECT AND WE LOVE CONTENT!!!!
I SURE WANT TO DONATE MONEY TO THE ARTIST AND COMPANIES BUT THEN I’M AFRAID THAT THEY WILL SUE ME BECAUSE THEY HAVE MY ACCOUNT NUMBER AND WITH THAT THEY CAN GET MY NAME AND ADDRESS AND ALL THESE SHIT SO THEY ACTUALLY STOP ME FROM DONATING TO THEM THAT’S A STUPID PROBLEM!!
Hey this was my tip-off :)
I e-mailed them 9 hours ago with the information and links.
Probably a good time to help these guys set up:
http://pirateparty.org.au/
I wonder how much this venture has cost already, and would cost to operate if it was ever launched.
I’m betting you could hire more than a few police officers for the same cost.
If you want to fight child porn, then invest in manpower and skill, not in filters.
The problem with the whole copyright issue is simple. Greedy corporations and their deplorable tactics. If this shows anything, it shows how much control corporations have over our elected officials and high-level government bureaucrats. As with the PTB trial, that even due process is something that can be bought and sold for false PR to justify their quest for power. So unless the government and their corporate handlers are going to chase down the millions of internet pirates, it’s just going to come down to bullying by those in power.
this man is such a freak, and if you look at him he’s really not that old, usually its much older people who are so pro-copyright, oh well i assume that once the people born in the 80’s grow up we’ll be in government and fix these morons’ mess
Senator Stephen Conroy has to be one of the most unpopular people in Australian politics at the moment. His “plans” are a waste of taxpayers money and pandering to what to MPAA want, and the so called “clean feed” (of which there is no opt-out option in his plans) is a failure from the very beginning. Australian internet is already expensive and slow compared to the rest of the world yet this genius wants to make it worse under the guise of child pornography. Why does it seem like us who vote get very little say in what actually goes on afterward?
FAiL
Isn’t New Zealand close enough to know how people reacts to “graduated response” or the “if I find you photocopying a book I’ll make sure you never read or write again” law?
Protest, get a QR Code and start painting them on walls, sidewalks, T-shirts :)
Put doubt in the system that they want to use, embed music and video in another videos and music files because even if they know one file is illegal they have little chance to prove it in court the intentions of whom download such a file.
But this is just protesting to really get what you want use something like retroshare or stealthNet and Tor to get what you want LoL
Aussie here. Conroy is an idiot, he’ll never get anything done. Where Sarkozy could force things, Conroy thankfully doesn’t have that sort of power to abuse.
Australias internet backbone is 3rd world standard, seriously, and he wants to filter and slow down our already pathetic bandwidth.
Can’t wait til he gets replaced… Better the devil you know? It can’t get worse than him.
The problem with filtering content is its all subjective. And while the government is trying to govern the people its not going to work. People need to govern them selves and their children. But since we don’t have freedom of speech due to minority groups imposing their standards on the majorty our struggles wont end.
getting setup ;)
http://www.piratepartyofcanada.com/
who is next china or which country
becoming worst day by day
worst story bro
ah but you can be friends with our resident trolles unreasonedmind and trollestyles ;)
@23
China?
I’m pretty sure China is already filtering everything that can be filtered.
lolz failz
If they keep doing this shit, people are just gonna make a new, better internet and ditch these motherfuckers in the dust. I’m thinking short to medium-range wireless towers, paid through taxes. That way, it will be hard for assholes to track people down with a dynamic IP.
can we have a ‘3 strikes’ or ‘graduated response’ for these idiots in power, so if they do not listen to the population 3 times and just push thru what they’ve been paid for, they get the sack and get someone else in
I’m pretty sure this will go nowhere. Together we as pirates stand strong against all evil corporations.
Typical. Someone tries to stop the freeloading party from destroying creative industry, and people name him “Villain of the Year”. While I’ll agree he’s not the most efficient politician in existence, I have no doubts he’s genuinely well intended. I guess he got a bit “too close of succeeding” and pirates got afraid of him and felt they had to publicly ridicule him.
WE ARE SHARING BECAUSE WE HAVE RESPECT AND WE LOVE CONTENT!!!!
if you respected the content you would “share” in the cost of it’s development. as it stands, you’re just another ungrateful freeloader.
Internet Filtering makes sense. As long as it filters adult material (kind of like requiring all adult sites use .xxx top level domain), the way to identify servers with adult content, simply use thousands of adult volunteers who can mark all those contents other than to force all adult sites selling in the country to tag all their contents on that filtering system.
Allow access only to adults who unlock full access on their Internet connection accounts. Unfiltering adult sites is quick, easy and even anonymous.
Next, finding a solution for ARTISTS and CONSUMERS is totally possible. I agree we need to pis on the LABELS because unnecessary intermediaries should not have a voice around the table. Though, it would be GREAT if Australia took on the forefront of simply paying artists for popularity and quality of their contents being traded on the Internet and paying that through a tax that can be levied either on the ISP or directly to all the citizen, around $5 per month should pay for many more artists and general creators than the current intermediary-infested system pays for today.
Of course you cannot block people from using proxy servers, tor anonymising software and the likes. Still, it is quite EASY for ISPs and the Government to detect when people use those tools. Then what simply can be done, is a simple email is sent to the PARENTS at that Internet address, simply warning them that someone is using regular DNS circumvention tools from that address.
I believe that the online adult entertainment industry have HUGE interests involved in NOT seeing Conroy’s Internet filtering plans implemented in Australia. Not only for Australia, but because if it works in Australia, all other countries will implement it. Which may translate into the online adult entertainment industry loosing BILLIONS of dollars of revenues from fathers anonymously paying with their credit cards for adult content because they are TOO SHY telling about their adult content consumption to their wives.
Sure I agree you MUST be VERY careful that Internet filtering must ONLY be used to protect children from adult material (pron and violent and any other type of generally recognized adult-only materials).
Again, one CAN tag the majority of online adut contents, same way Google tags adult images in “Safe Search”, add to it that the Government could ask for tens of thousands of volunteer adult web surfers, to install simple Web Browser plugins that allows all those users to help the Government keep up to date the database over the Adult-only contents. Databases over servers that host it and sites that link to it. But MOST of it will be blocked since MOST of it is COMMERCIAL adult content (trying to take a credit card payment at some point in the browsing session), thus MOST adult sites will be OBLIGATED to simply register their servers and their content on that Adult-only database IF they want to LEGALLY do business in that country. The Government can easily block money transactions and punish businesses who try to circumvent the Adult-only list.
Anyways, I think you need to give Conroy a break. He is the ONLY one who cares about the really BAD situation children are being left in, where ALL CHILDREN are just a click away from GRAVELY psychologically DISTURBING adult contents.
the man could not care less, he’s using this to enhance his political profile, the message matters not, as long as the public recognize him then he’ll move up the power ladder
the fact that this a contemporary topic all the better for him
I’m sure his ego and bank are being fed by the large entertainment corporations, so why would be stop?
Going under the guise of “oh we need to protect children from being abused and exploited by child m*lestors, and we need to shield them from p*rnography; so therefore we must stop the piracy of music and movies” is an old trick often used by the RIAA/MPAA in order to scare politicians and lawmakers in to pushing and passing new copyright amendment laws.
All the while the RIAA/MPAA-type organizations themselves are guilty of harming children and families financially, emotionally and mentally.
Yeah, they’re out to protect the children. I think not.
it doesnt matter… Australia is a two party political system, and both parties have the same policies on just about everything… this will be pushed through because a powerful lobby group wants it to happen and contributes to both parties election campaigns… welcome to the quasi-dictatorship
it is debatable whether or not a solution of this type could scale appropriately. there are different sized players in every game, different levels of accomplishment and reward, and artists like employees and business owners all have different goals. many believe this would pave the way for more “weekend artists” while at the same time drastically reducing the chances of professional artists actually being able to support themselves with their art.
Internet filtering don’t make any sense at all.
It only make sense to people who believe that:
1 – Filters really work.
2 – It will be used as planed.
3 – Things never go wrong.
Now if people look at the record of any filtering system in history you see some commom things that happen.
- Filters get bypassed.
- Governments abuse and try to silence the opposition.
- Many innocent people get caught and are victimized for life.
The australian government indeed put more sites to censor that it planned or admit doing so.
See the ACMA proposed blacklist spill:
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Wikileaks-spills-ACMA-blacklist/0,130061744,339295538,00.htm
The kiddy pron stuff is just a shield for the real intentions of people in power and that is to gain more control. It doesn’t matter if they pass the law or not it will be circumvented but it erodes the civil liberties of the people, no one would try to shield a child molester, no one would let their children in harms way on the internet they would find a solution on their own they don’t need government mandates to do it, people are capable of doing it themselves and all the laws that already exist give the people the power to act upon their needs.
So besides taxes and paying for getting screwed by governments everywhere now people have to pay taxes to the entertainment industry too because they are indispensable to the survival of humanity?
I need to declare independence somewhere from this types.
this guy should be set on fire n watch him die n roast marshmellows n drink beers while were watchin him burn, i’ve never heard of this guy, but from the sound of this article, this should be put into action
Please drop dead Mr. Conroy. I wonder who’s lining your pockets with so much money that you would ignore the majority of the Australian population. You wont be in power for much longer if you keep this up. The Krudd government has to go…..
@BioShockerT81
Can you read, you stupid bastard?
Conroy wasn’t named Internet Villian of the Year by filesharers. He was named Internet Villian of the Year by ISPs at the 11th annual Internet Industry Awards.
Please try again.
@41: Oh, hey there. It’s nice to see that there are still rude people in the world.
Anyways, I never said it was the pirates that monikered him that. The ISPs also have a vested interest in piracy, as torrenting copyrighted material is the main reason people buy ultra-high bandwidth packages nowadays. They profit from on line piracy probably more than everyone else. Even more than those guys from Pirate Bay.
Hmmm…I would say they have a vested interest in not having to develop content because if push comes to shove pretty soon someone will discover that financing start ups to make internet TV, open movies, music and contracting those desperate artists that would do anything for any price can bring them millions in ventures that florish and doesn’t flop.
If they push that through, maybe we could also set up a “3 strikes” rule for politicians. 3 stupid laws passed and bang, out of office.
These morons that think they can solve this by fighting it are the dumbest of them all. All they have to do is come up with an easy access way to distribute media at lower costs, and not make us wait years for what is freely available on the internet. If someone could rent or buy something at a low cost and it was easier than other sources they would be more likely to pay the low price. But they just keep going the wring way. All it does it make it more popular to pirate. And I hope all ISP stand behind the consumer. We are the ones that will vote these idiots out of office.
@BioShockerT81
“Anyways, I never said it was the pirates that monikered him that.”
Nice lying, fucker.
Here’s what you had to say regarding Conroy’s new ‘Internet Villian of the Year’ moniker just one comment ago:
BioShockerT81
“I guess he got a bit “too close of succeeding” and pirates got afraid of him and felt they had to publicly ridicule him.”
I give your lie an A+ for boldness, but an F- for believability. You’re like a kid swearing through a mouthfull of half-chewed Oreos that he didn’t just rob the cookie jar.
I AM Australian, and trust me, this guy is NOT popular with just about ANYONE/EVERYONE I know.
“Conroy?!” they spit out disgustedly. “Bah! What an arrogant twat!”
His name is similar to “Mordor.” We should not, as Gandalf said, utter it here.
It’s not like we have heaps of usage or insane speeds anyway to download illegal content. Someone run this cunt over.
Progress will only emerge by way of detailed programmatic specificity, as Rudd would say.
Only one way to solve the “Piracy problem”, just legalise it.
Wrong, never going to happen in Oz.
Nooooo Way..
As the article says, all the major ISPs hate Conroy, known not only in his own country, but internationaly.
i have an idea. If we make China a PLC, and route all intenet traffic through its firewall and filters then the internet will be the way the industry wants it. Plus china can make a few quid on the side.
so this moron wants to stop p0rn AND filesharing now LOL omg there isn’t enough lols in my brains to properly express how laughable this is. what a clueless fuck.
For inflicting this complete dip shit pom on the Australian nation.
lmao elvis you got that off chasers war on everything..
Copyright just another way for corporates rip people off here. we are always been ripped of by the corporates over charged on everything and they also adding the price of piracy in to that. any way they just double dipping here. so they really shouldn’t have a problem with file shearing here because u already paid for it.
They will lie and say they don’t do that but they do…
The 3 strike lol thats been a flop around the world.
Graduated response that has been ignored in places around the world as just spam and blocked by peoples spam filters.
Censorship trial was a flop
The Government would like to have a Chinese style censorship in place…
The Government lied to the people.
Just like work choices aka rename fair work with a little adjustment.
Parts of Australia are on there way to been police states.
If your Caucasian the laws discriminate against you the work places now discriminate even tho are better qualified.
Other races discriminate against you
And they call us the lucky country Bullshit.
Some of us think we should go buy an island so we can go live in peace.
All we wants is a fair Go…
Maybe its time to support the pirate party some unionist agree we should support these guys for a fair a Australia because the alp and labor parties etc have failed us all…
From an online PDF article:
“…At the other extreme, a radically decentralized approach would allow the spontaneous emergence of bottom-up mobile networks. Within an open ‘spectrum commons’, autonomous radios would assemble as needed to create ad-hoc mesh networks that require no centralized control. Assuming a dense enough distribution of such radios, network coverage would
become nearly ubiquitous. Collectively, the end-devices would control how the network is used. New communication services could be invented and implemented at the edge of the network, and propagated throughout the network from peer to peer.”
Wow…. That just sucks…Why do some people have to wreck things for everyone?
Conroy is an absolute liability – We couldn’t even trust him in the ministry of silly walks portfolio.
Conroy is one of those many politicians that enable creeping totalitarianism, just like Janet Reno (D) and Donald Rumsfeld (R) in the US.
Party colours means jack shit, because as someone above correctly said, they’re all on the corporate payroll.
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