[LINK] Dallas Buyers Club: Is this the victory for film pirates we think it is?

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Is this the victory for film pirates we think it is?
By Luke Buckmaster
ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-18/buckmaster-is-this-the-victory-for-film-pirates-we-think-it-is/7040128

Maybe the Dallas Buyers Club case against film piracy wasn't a backfire 
after all. Perhaps powerful lobby groups who have the ear of politicians 
can now say, "See, the courts don't help us. We need the internet 
filter." Luke Buckmaster writes.

Not long ago Australian movie pirates were nervously checking news 
reports and wondering whether the axe might eventually fall.

When word arrived more than a year ago that producers of Oscar-winning 
Matthew McConaughey drama Dallas Buyers Club were launching legal 
proceedings against more than 4700 iiNet customers who allegedly 
acquired the film via online torrents, more than a few people in the 
country presumably shifted in their seats and cleared their browsing 
history.

This week the Federal Court rejected a second bid from US company 
Voltage Pictures to obtain their contact information. Justice Nye Perram 
made an order to terminate the proceedings on February 11 after 
previously ruling that the privacy of the alleged pirates needed to be 
maintained.

During a hearing that lasted for less than a minute, he was good enough 
to throw in a movie reference:

     It needs to be kept in mind that what is before the court is a 
preliminary discovery application, not Ben-Hur.

The only option left for Dallas Buyers Club LLC is to launch a costly 
appeals process. The decision is being widely reported as a landmark 
ruling and the case seems doomed to fail.

If it does and a legal precedent is set, it is entirely possible online 
pirates in Australia will feel more empowered than ever and more 
confident in getting away with not paying for the content they watch. 
Perhaps Hollywood's attempt to prosecute torrenters has backfired, with 
legal teams in the future understandably reluctant to take up the charge.

Even if Voltage Pictures' plan worked, it's hard to imagine that 
successful pursuit of a relatively small group of people would cause 
large swathes of the population to stop what they're doing (particularly 
with ISP-disguising tools such as VPN unlockers available).

That is assuming the company was envisioning a world where everybody 
pays for what they watch; more likely they were trying to fleece some 
cash. But it's not unreasonable to think the case might be connected to 
larger motives pursued by Hollywood studios. In 2011 a WikiLeaks cable 
revealed the Motion Picture Association of America used the Australian 
Federation Against Copyright Theft as a cat's paw to attack local 
pirates, worried that doing so directly would be construed as big 
bullies versus the little guys.

The Dallas Buyer's Club case will remind them not to bugger around with 
small grabs but to go for the big prize. In June, a bill to allow 
copyright owners to pursue court injunctions forcing ISPs block sites 
such as PirateBay was passed in Australia with bipartisan support. Maybe 
the Dallas Buyers Club case wasn't a backfire after all. Perhaps 
powerful lobby groups who have the ear of politicians can now say, "See, 
the courts don't help us. We need the filter."

The Hollywood Sellers Club simply doesn't get it
The hunt for Australians who have illegally downloaded Dallas Buyers 
Club is only the latest act by an industry that doesn't understand how 
its own business works, writes Peter Green.

While it would be wrong to say they are calling the shots in this 
debate, it would be more ridiculous to suggest they don't have a degree 
of political influence. It was revealed earlier this year that Village 
Roadshow was the largest single political media donor in the year 
2013-2014, pumping more than $500,000 into the major parties.

Such measures are nothing new. The story of how the big guns in tinsel 
town have pursued Australian pirates over the years is a long and 
complicated one. Like many Hollywood-produced conspiracy movies, some of 
the (real-life) plot points beggar belief. It is a wild and largely 
untold history of movie piracy in Australia. And it makes court room 
hearings and the passing of legislation seem rather sedate by comparison.

Remember those old "Have You Got What You Paid For?" warnings at the 
start of video cassettes? They were developed by the Australasian Film 
and Video Security Office (AFVSO) which was established in the early 
'80s by a consortium of major Hollywood studios. Back then the battle 
against pirates wasn't confined to court rooms and corridors of power: 
it was fought more directly and real blood was spilt.

Around the turn of the century, in years before fast internet speeds 
turned the focus of piracy online, DVDs and VCDs were able to be copied 
and circulated in unprecedented numbers. Lured by ease of manufacturing 
and comparatively light penalties, criminal outfits turned from dealing 
drugs to dealing discs. The AFVSO collaborated with Australian Federal 
Police on raids, uncovering meth-like piracy labs hidden in places such 
as roof cavities and basements.

Like in any war, the other side fought back. In 2003 an overseas office 
of the AFVSO was firebombed and an employee's face slashed with a razor. 
The head of the organisation was so concerned about the safety of its 
Melbourne representative that bodyguards were hired to follow him 
wherever he went.

The threat of danger towards employees, who regularly received death 
threats, was so real the Sydney office closed its doors and moved to a 
secret location. The organisation disbanded not long after. It was 
replaced by the Australian Federation Against Copyright, established in 
2004 by the same major studios including Roadshow, Paramount, Sony, 
Disney and Fox.

They are now known by the friendlier-sounding Australian Screen 
Association, which keeps a reasonably low profile. Its website has a 
function reminiscent of the Have You Got What You Paid For era: a form 
that allows you to snitch on a person or business you believe is pirating.

Over the years in the battle against pirates in Australia, much has 
changed and much has remained the same. Irrespective of how the Dallas 
Buyers Club case plays out, Hollywood's war against Australians who rip 
off their content isn't over. Not by a long shot.

Luke Buckmaster is a film critic for Guardian Australia, a film and TV 
critic for Daily Review, and a critic for ABC iview's new show The Critics.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
email: brd at iimetro.com.au
web:   www.drbrd.com
web:   www.problemsfirst.com
Blog:  www.problemsfirst.com/blog