Even Malcolm Turnbull Thinks We Pay Too Much For Content

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told Australian content providers very plainly that they need to re-evaluate their pricing strategies if they expect a more forceful hand from the federal government in cracking down on online piracy.

"There is an obligation on the content owners, if their concerns are to be taken seriously by government, and if governments are to take action to help them prevent piracy, then they have to play their part, which is to make their content available universally and affordably," Mr Turnbull told the ABC on Thursday.

"Anyone is entitled to sell their products for whatever price they like, that is their right, but if you want to discourage piracy the best thing you can do is to make your content available globally, universally and affordably.

"The content owners … they’re the ones who have to justify why they are charging Australians more, why they are not releasing content in Australia at precisely the same time it is released in the US or elsewhere in the world."

Mr Turnbull's comments came as part of a discussion on proposed changes to the 1968 Copyright Act that would place the onus of responsibility for piracy prevention straight onto the shoulders of ISPs, an option that — despite his reiteration of the damages wrought by unchecked piracy — he indicated was not an ideal end result.

"Internet piracy, downloading a movie that you haven’t paid for, is theft. It is exactly the same theft as walking into a DVD store and putting a DVD in your bag and walking out without paying,” Mr Turnbull said in the interview.

“It is really undermining a very important industry globally and it is simply theft.”

Using as an example New Zealand's policy of requiring service providers to send three infringement notices to offending customers before copyright holders are given free rein to sue their pants off, Mr Turnbull said, "There are some people in the content industry who believe that the costs of this should be borne in whole or in part by the telco sector — by the ISPs.

"I don’t find that a particularly persuasive argument.” 

Read UK-based lawyer Andrew Forbes' case for music copyright legislation, published on theMusic.com.au on July 30, here.