CANBERRA, Australia (CelebrityAccess) — A new study commissioned by the Department of Communications, revealed that almost half of Australian online media consumers continue to pirate some form of content, but only one in five would pay attention to a letter sent from their ISP warning them to stop.
The Online Copyright Infringement Research Paper, which was prepared by research company TNS, surveyed 2,630 media consumers in Australia over the age of 12 to gauge the rate of piracy across the country, comparing the figures to a similar study in the UK.
The study found that 43 percent of respondents who streamed or downloaded content admitted to pirating during the survery period, which extended from March 25 to April 13th, 2015, compared to just 21 percent of the respondents in a similar study in the UK.
Infringers cited the ease and convenience of piracy as a primary motivation with 30% saying their decision was price-based.
The Australian government last month passed a three strike law that will block people's internet access after being accused of multiple instances of copyright infringment, and a law allowing rights holders to to seek a court order requiring Internet service providers to block overseas websites that facilitate piracy.
The CEO of Communications Alliance, an Australian telecom industry association, told C-Net that the three strikes law was not a panacea.
"Yes, there's a potential role for a copyright notice scheme, and we're trying to get that up," he said. "But I was fascinated that only 21 percent of people said they'd stop infringing if they got a nasty notice from their service provider.
"That says that there is a role for that code but you can't just rely on threatening letters. They're not going to work. What's going to motivate people is availability of affordable content. You simply can't address the problem without taking into account both of those factors." – Staff Writers
