Australian ISP iiNet Walks Out of Piracy Warning System Talks

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Torrent Freak: "A leading Australian Internet service provider has pulled out of negotiations to create a warning notice scheme aimed at reducing online piracy. iiNet, the ISP that was sued by Hollywood after refusing to help chase down alleged infringers, said that it can't make any progress with rightsholders if they don't make their content freely available at a reasonable price. The ISP adds that holding extra data on customers' habits is inappropriate and not their responsibility."

Comments

Good on them.

[crafty.munchkin]

As an Aussie, I approve of them making a stand against how everyone in this country is ripped off by all the media outlets - especially when our dollar is worth more than the US dollar. And as for making us wait 3-6 months because they don't want us watching... well, the internet tore down that time barrier as well.

Re:Good on them.

[Anonymous Coward]

That type of service is actually quite common from Aussie ISP's, not of all of them though. Having worked at iiNet and other Aussie ISP's myself, I know first hand how such an excellent enviroment iiNet and some of the others are, not only for customers but for staff too. Especially iiNet - you should see the (new) iiNet offices: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/06/inside-iinets-perth-hq-bob-fruit-finn/

Oh, and the title to this article/thread is misleading: Aussies have had unlimited plans for ages now, and for cheap. I myself am sitting on unlimited DSL2+ (and not TPG/Dodo/etc either). True that some other Aussie ISP's don't have unlimited plans, but most, like iiNet, have 1TB+ monthly plans, which is more than enough for most people. I also find the title ironic, considering how (at least some of) the USA ISP's are imposing download limits on their plans now :)

Good news!

[It took my meds]

I'm so glad I'm with iiNet; they take a stand for me as a consumer. I don't pirate anything, nor do I view content that is outside the norms of adult society, however my browsing habits are not other people's business - especially corporate entities!

Re:Good news!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm so glad I'm with iiNet; they take a stand for me as a consumer. I don't pirate anything, nor do I view content that is outside the norms of adult society, however my browsing habits are not other people's business - especially corporate entities!

No disrespect intended, but there isn't anything special about that. You are just like the vast majority of other internet users. It's high time that the media companies and the government get that through their head.

Should everyone be "tracked like an animal" on the internet just because some people abuse it? No. Same goes for the advertisers who think tracking everybody is their god given right.

Re:Congratulations

[Chewbacon]

Nah, the dollar is so much sweeter than consumer rights when you're a big business. And most people don't mind having their rights taken away from them!

Game of Thrones from theoatmeal

[Hyperhaplo]

Americans have a similar situation.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

Re:Game of Thrones from theoatmeal

[Phrogman]

Yes given that you need to pay for Cable up here in Canada, then pay for specialty channels etc, someone in another forum post worked out that watching Game of Thrones would cost you something around $1000 Cdn. I can't recall the math but its hardly impossible.
I don't have cable at the moment and haven't had it for most of the past 3 years - except when the Olympics are on or something similar - because the bulk of the programming is complete shit and not worth watching, and the few shows that I do consider worth watching are only available if I subscribe to specialty channel packages that are arranged to maximize Shaw's profits (although Telus is no better), not to be convenient to the customer. TV is simply not worth bothering with. Oh and of course I now no longer have to endure ads.
If I need to watch something, there are DvDs. In the end its far cheaper to download the content, or go buy the content, or take it out of the library than it is to sign up for cable TV.
Netflix and the iOS BBC app are a godsend for good programs. This is the way to go for the future IMHO.

The content producers are pricing themselves out of the market and making consuming their content so difficult that potential customers chose other means - sometimes illegally downloading that content. If it was priced effectively and conveniently a *lot* of those users would choose to pay for it. Instead they present as many obstacles to viewing their content as I can conceive possible.
Bad marketing strategy is bad and doomed to fail.

Re:The content

[serviscope_minor]

How does that work out?

Not laden with ungodly amounts of DRM and silly timing restrictions?

The trouble is that not only is pirated content free, it's also better, because of the lack of DRM, and lack of silly timing restrictions.

If you torrent, you get it *now* and can put it on a media server, transcode it for your phone, pause, skip the ads (as it were), etc etc.

If you pay, not only do you have to wait a lot longer, you also get a worse product for your troubles. I once purchased a DVD of Castle which was laden with some lame attempt at extra copy protection. Basically, they split the DVD files up into teeny slices. The results it that the DVD player would occasionally pause for a visible fraction of a second between some of the odder transitions and the forward and backwards seeking wouldn't work properly.

Nice.

So, I did wait, and I did pay, and I got treated like a complete crook and sold a heap of crap which was a far worse experience than if I had downloaded it.