Copyright crusader flies in

CRAIG SIMCOX/Dominion Post

BY THE BOOK: Motion Picture Association executive vice-president officer Greg Frazier with the anti-piracy comic book that will be given to children during the school holidays.

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The Motion Picture Association sent one of its biggest guns to Wellington last week in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Government to beef up its proposed approach to tackling internet piracy.

Washington-based executive vice-president and chief policy officer Greg Frazier held discussions with officials in an attempt to persuade the Government to rethink its plan to water down section 92a of the Copyright Act, which was put on hold in March following a storm of protests from internet advocates.

He also launched a "comic book" driving home the association's anti-piracy message, which will be distributed to 17,000 children at cinemas throughout New Zealand during the school holidays.

The association, which is funded by the major US movie studios, estimates internet piracy is costing its members at least $33 million a year in New Zealand.

Mr Frazier says ordinary internet users are effectively paying a "piracy tax" through their internet bills to pay for the activities of a minority who use peer-to-peer file-sharing sites to download pirated movies and music for free.

"They [pirates] are creating a disproportionate amount of traffic, the service is being degraded, the networks have to be built out to accommodate that level of traffic and you are paying for that build-out.

"You are in effect paying a `piracy tax' every month with your ISP bill. I don't think that is fair to internet subscribers who aren't engaging in that activity."

Mr Frazier asked officials to reconsider rules that would allow the "mass enforcement" of copyright holders' rights through a scheme that obliged internet providers to take action against customers who infringed copyright.

The original version of section 92a, which never came into force, would have forced internet providers to terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers "in reasonable circumstances".

The association envisaged ISPs would act on infringement notices generated automatically by copyright holders, who would identify infringers by tracking traffic on file-sharing sites.

After intense opposition from internet providers and internet advocates, the Government proposed a compromise in July, that would mean copyright holders would have to take each case to arbitration or to the Copyright Tribunal, which would get new powers to fine or close the internet accounts of infringers.

The association criticised the change as a "backward step", warning the system could become clogged with thousands of unresolved disputes. It called for more "streamlined" justice.

Mr Frazier says any enforcement scheme needs to be automated "because the scope and the level of infringement is so high, that in order for it to be effective you simply cannot do it manually".

He hasn't given up on the Government reverting to something similar to the original section 92a, perhaps with an appeals process for disputed account terminations.

"I am not convinced having an automatic system is off the books. We had some good discussions with the Government over the last day or so and I am confident they have heard our concerns."

Commerce Minister Simon Power says he expects the Government will be in a position to decide on the outcome of the review of section 92a in a couple of weeks.

"I'm advised by officials that Motion Picture Association representatives, in their meeting with the Economic Development Ministry, did not express an interest in returning to the original section 92a provision."

InternetNZ spokesman Jordan Carter was not concerned the Government might perform a second backflip by backing away from the approach outlined in its July discussion document.

"Any decision to penalise people should be done by an appropriate authority and I don't think an automated system can do that, and I don't think the Government thinks it can, either. I would expect rights holders to keep pushing because that seems to be their mindset."

Internet advocates in Australia are preparing to launch a Pirate Party, modelled on the Swedish Pirate Party, which champions freedoms on the internet. Elections for a national council will be held on Wednesday. Germany's Pirate Party won 2 per cent of the vote in the country's parliamentary elections last week.

- © Fairfax NZ News