A graduated response scheme is one of the options currently being investigated by the Federal government as a way to curb the rampant online piracy in Australia, the Attorney-General’s Department has revealed. The scheme would essentially work as a “three-strikes” policy.
As ZDNet reports, Attorney-General George Brandis called Australia “the worst offender anywhere in the world when it comes to piracy,” and the numbers seem to agree. According to TorrentFreak, Australians top the list as the biggest pirates of the world’s most downloaded show, “Game of Thrones”.
Assistant Secretary for the Attorney-General’s Department Andrew Walter, who broached the subject of a graduated response scheme, said that since the High Court ruled that ISP iiNet was not required to police piracy perpetrated by its users, other ISPs have been reluctant to “come to the table,” but that Telstra have recently shown that they are willing to play ball.
Meanwhile, as CNET reports, iiNet Chief Regulatory Officer Steve Dalby has said that piracy in Australia is simply the symptom of a bigger issue: “the limited accessibility to desirable content and the discriminatory and high cost of content in Australia.” And we bet GoT fans are likely to agree.
