Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Carrier club's careful copyright conga

We're not Big Content's interns, says Comms Alliance, but we might be RENT-A-COPS

Australia's carriers club, the Communications Alliance, has published its submission to the federal government's copyright inquiry after an early copy hit media inboxes.

As can be expected by a drafted-by-committee document, the Alliance's submission (PDF) walks a middle line between stay-off-the-grass resistance to the copyright industries' demands, on the one side, and capitulation on the other.

Rights holders, who have repeatedly complained about the uncooperative attitude of ISPs, get a return-of-serve in the document for refusing to foot any of the cost of enforcement: “ISPs and rights holders reached substantial agreement more than two years ago on the central elements of a trial notice-and-notice scheme (which did not involve sanctions),” the submission states. “One of the reasons why those discussions were ultimately unsuccessful was the failure to agree on funding arrangements for the trial.”

The submission reiterates the industry's skepticism about “graduated response” schemes, but says if the government intends to pursue such a scheme, negotiations with industry should be concluded before the Copyright Act is amended.

While conceding that some sort of site-blocking mechanism might be implemented, the Alliance's list of safeguards is unlikely to be welcomed by the copyright sector. It includes only applying blocks to sites hosted overseas that are “flagrantly and totally” infringing; focussing only on sites where infringement is the main source of revenue; be fine-grained enough not to cause collateral damage; only apply after attempts to send takedown notices have failed; and provide indemnity to local ISPs against false claims.

The Alliance, which absorbed the functions of the former Internet Industries Association earlier this year, also rejects outright the idea of customer disconnection. ®

Similar topics

Similar topics

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like