Music Industry Piracy Investigations has recruited a prominent figure to become the next General Manager of their organization. MIPI will be hoping that when ex-Microsoft director of intellectual property Vanessa Hutley starts work in a few days time, she’ll be more optimistic of winning the piracy fight than she was in 2008. Back then Hutley declared that it would “never” be possible to stop people obtaining pirated media from file-sharing sites.
Last Monday, Sydney Morning Herald published an article in which they quoted Australian anti-piracy group MIPI saying that although they support “mitigation measures” for dealing with alleged file-sharers, “such measures would not include termination of internet accounts.” In a new press release, MIPI have accused Sydney Morning Herald of publishing misleading information. Not so, say SMH.
In the wake of the UN report which described disconnecting citizens from the Internet as a breach of human rights, an anti-piracy group has made a somewhat surprising statement. Music Industry Piracy Investigations, which acts for dozens of labels including the Big Four, today said that while they support measures for dealing with infringement, that does not include “termination of Internet accounts.”
Anti-piracy reports that are commissioned by the entertainment industries are suspicious by definition, but the mystery that surrounds a recent study goes far beyond that. Despite being widely covered in the press, no journalist has actually seen a copy of the report. Even worse, the company that produced the in-depth report was registered only four months ago, and appears to be carefully hidden from the public.
A new study commissioned by several entertainment industry outfits made the rounds in the Australian news yesterday. It claims that illicit movie, music and games downloads cost the industry $900 million a year as well as 8,000 jobs and that an increase in broadband adoption could propel the losses to a staggering $5.2 billion in the next five years. However, it looks like the public isn’t buying it, figuratively speaking.
An anti-piracy documentary created by the music industry and supposedly supported by artists has been grabbing headlines during recent days. However, one of the artists isn’t happy as he claims he was conned by the music industry into appearing in the video, which he says is part of a “witch hunt”.
Facing failure in their quest to force ISPs to warn and disconnect file-sharers, the anti-piracy division of the Australian music industry is now threatening to go the route of the RIAA and start taking legal action against individuals.
