back to article Dallas Buyers Club doubles down on Oz Torrenters

The law firm that secured an Australian Federal Court decision against iiNet and other ISPs says it's widening its field of fire to target a further 23,000 individuals. Marque Lawyers' boss Michael Bradley has told The West Australian that Australian internet service provider (ISP) iiNet was targeted by way of a test case. …

  1. Winkypop Silver badge
    Happy

    Very Possibly Not

    Nice article Richard.

    In the interests of further, open and free, public discourse...

    Keen to evade data retention? Here's how to choose a VPN - Crikey

  2. Bubba Von Braun
    Pirate

    And there confirmation of the approaching sunami

    By their own admission they will engage in speculative invoicing, rather than try and recover the actual cost of the copy..

    Great catch Reg hacks..

    1. Mark 65

      Re: And there confirmation of the approaching sunami

      Not entirely. El Judge wants to inspect the communiques first.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Response

    I have to wonder how they'd react if someone they've sent one of these letters, alleging downloading and sharing a copy of the Dallas Buyers Club, simply replies with "no, I did not". Or worse, if the letter demands money, or "something bad" might happen, taking it to the local police as an extortion attempt.

    1. DainB Bronze badge

      Re: Response

      That's the point, they won't sue you, they can demand ISP to disconnect you but I will sue ISP myself if it happens.

      So... yellow lid bin is the correct mailbox for them.

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. FozzyBear

    piracy rates sky rocket in OZ

    yeah that's because even the people who would buy season 6 of SOA are still waiting for it to hit the shelves and are sick of waiting

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2015: Close that barn door!

    Circa 2007: I think the horse just escaped...

    Downloading has become 'normalised' behaviour by large sections of the populace.

    Whatever the reason; delayed release dates, cost of payTV, georestrictions, risk of spoilers, etc.

    To many it's become SOP.

    Doesn't mean it's right, just that there's no silver bullet.

    Suing people won't help.

    1. dan1980

      Re: 2015: Close that barn door!

      @AC

      I am no fan of this behaviour by the 'content owners' (and their representatives) but I must admit that the amount of copyright breaching that happens is no little matter.

      I just don't download content. At all - legally or not - so I am regularly surprised by just how prevalent the practice is. Not just the cliches of kids who just assume they can or uni sudents who don't want to pay for stuff - it's actual adults: people with real jobs; professionals. Managers, small business owners, teachers, doctors. Property developers who live in $10m houses in exclusive Sydney suburbs and drive Bentleys.

      It's actually quite astonishing because while there are (I think) many reasons why illegal downloading of copyright material is widespread, sometimes it really just comes down to people thinking that if they can download something for free then why pay.

      Not all and not even a majority. Most, I would argue do it because what they want is, perhaps, freely available to stream, free, in the US but blocked here. Most people see that as unfair. In other instance, there simply isn't any legal way to watch a show in a timely fashion or, if there is, it is subject to an unjustifiable 'Australia tax' that, as the Internet has opened our eyes to the prices people pay elsewhere, we are increasingly disinclined to accept.

      Other times it is about convenience. Netflix finally coming to Australia is a big step but prior sometimes it is simply more convenient to download something because the legitimate ways to do it might require you to purchase a whole season or sign up to something and, well, when there's an easier alternative, sometimes it's just too much hassle.

      None of this justifies copyright infringement but it does help you understand it and if you are really trying to bring it under control, then understanding why people are doing it should really be seen as step 1.

      1. Michael Xion

        Re: 2015: Close that barn door!

        I agree with you on the whole mindset with downloading media. I work at a university and just about everyone I talk to downloads moves and TV shows via torrenting. These are uni students, academics and professional staff. The 'convenience' and 'but it's not available any other way' arguments just don't wash with me for most of them. If they can work out how to torrent a file, they can work out how to get around georestrictions for services like Netflix US, Amazon Prime or even iTunes US.

        Even GoT is available as a legit download here in Oz (if you want to pay for a craptapulous cable TV bundle at about $50 per month).

        At the end of the day, it's less about 'convenience' and more about price. I think a lot of people also rationalise illegal downloads by saying to themselves "well, the production has already been paid for, they've made their money from cinema/TV/cable sales, so what I'm doing doesn't really effect the bottom line - it's a victim-less crime"

        However, there are still many issues with the availability of media and the actions of media companies that are compounding the problem. Even with ITunes US, Netflix US and HBO NOW (the combined cost of which is about $30 per month including a smart DNS service), I do find myself not being able to access certain movies, TV shows that I want to watch - but it's not a common occurrence given the wealth of other options available on those services.

        One annoyance is that (particularly with ITunes), sometimes a movie is available to buy, but not to rent. I rarely watch movies more than once, just let me pay a reasonable rental fee (reasonable for me being about $5, what I would have paid a few years back for a new release rental DVD).

        tl;dr. The arguments supporting 'illegal' downloads such as torrenting are becoming less relevant, but the big media companies still have a way to go, and work to do, before all those arguments become specious.

        1. Lee T

          Re: 2015: Close that barn door!

          Bypassing the Geoblocking is probably similarly illegal, honestly. Morally better, perhaps.

          1. Michael Xion

            Re: 2015: Close that barn door!

            Actually, bypassing Geoblocking is not illegal (at least in Australia). As a breach of the Terms of Service, the most you can expect is for your account to be cancelled. There's a very good reason that iTunes, Netflix and HBO don't make it hard to get around geoblocking (which they could easily do) - they still get the money. Most estimates I've seen is that somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000 Australians accessed Netflix US via smart DNS or VPN before it launched locally, that's a hefty chunk of change. Particularly if you didn't have to pay for the licensing rights to that content for Australia.

  7. James 51

    I wonder what would happen if someone tried to sue them for libel after receiving one of these letters. After all they are accusing these people of breaking the law with no proof (IP address does not count).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Suing for libel? Have you looked at the costs of doing that?

      1. James 51

        They are relying on people not fighting back as part of their business model. If you could contact others on the list and pool the cost, might work.

  8. lansalot

    Piracy is as much as 50%, eh?

    50% of what?

    1. Ashley186

      Priacy

      Help, I Accidentally 50% of Piracy. What should I do.. Is this Dangerous ?

      1. Wombling_Free

        Re: Priacy

        metadata. You should retain and delete your metadata.

  9. ckdizz

    Bad Business Decisions 101

    I just had a look at Voltage Pictures movie catalogue. I would have more sympathy for their position if they didn't largely produce straight to video movies with ageing B-movie actors like Steven Seagal and Dolph Lundgren, and make up the rest with TV movie reconstructions of military operations. Honestly, I wouldn't even steal this crap.

    Yes, we know Voltage are desperate to make up the revenue they lose from the 80% of their catalogue that constitutes Bad Business Decisions. I'll believe their commitment to the bit when they start suing people for downloading Generation Um or that box-office wonder, Ambushed, featuring Dolph Lundgren and Vinnie Jones. This stuff would be right at home on It's Always Sunny.

    People at Voltage aren't going to lose their jobs because a few thousand people downloaded Dallas Buyers Club. They're going to lose their jobs because Voltage Pictures select the movies they make with a tombola. And also because they throw the pittance they DO make into the pockets of lawyers.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There is another reason...

    It probably accounts for a small proportion but someone I know is so fed up with the shite that is punted as movies that they would be furious if they paid for it. That someone, genuinely buys the stuff they like having previewed it and has un-opened DVDs still in their wrapping.

    Have you seen Interstellar? - a passable sci-romp... now contrast that with Coherence. A miserable piece of crap that was so poor even the film company didn't bother giving it an ending, just some cryptic rubbish in the closing minutes of a dire pile of dung with no content other than simply hinting at something spooky happening, leaving you to make up your own story... so lazy and yet we are expected to pay £10 a head to see it at a cinema.

    Some movie productions deserve to be pirated just to save joe public from being ripped... there aren't many institutions where you part with your cash up front with no easy recourse for poor quality merchandise.

    Jus' sayin'

  11. TsVk!

    This just the test case... and also the true purpose of meta data retention laws being introduced in Australia. I'd bet my left shoe on it.

  12. Wombling_Free

    Wait a moment...

    How are 50% of Austfailians going to download a film?

    It would take years on a 28.8k modem wouldn't it?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon