Australian Government Announces Broken Anti-Piracy Legislation

There's A Massive Government-Led Australian Piracy Crackdown On The Way - Gizmodo Australia

Today in a speech to the Australian Digital Alliance our current Attorney General, George Brandis, revealed the government's plan to tackle the scourge of online piracy. How does he plan to do this I hear you ask. Well through the old fallbacks of graduated response (the old three strikes rule), having ISPs take down sites that share copyrighted content and blocking access to websites like the infamous Pirate Bay.

Similar plans have been attempted overseas and have been hugely unsuccessful and previous attempts to introduce them to Australia failed before they even started.  Should these laws actually go through this time then I predict the following:

1. A distraught mother with sad looking children on her lap will appear on Today Tonight in tears saying that her vital internet was cut because "people were hacking it."

2. Precisely zero websites will be taken down by ISPs because no pirate sites are hosted in Australia, mainly because the ISPs are already well versed in taking down such sites for violating their own terms and conditions.

3. There will be a plethora of incorrectly blocked websites and most Australian tech publications will publish guides about how to easily bypass the artificial blockade.

4. The laws will be removed within an 18 to 24 month period due to the cost of enforcement outweighing any actual (or perceived) benefits.

But I have already covered the problems with this type of enforcement, and possible alternatives in depth (here is a selection of stories relating to piracy).  What I really want to do is delve into the remarkable timing of this announcement in line with recent events.

First up there is Foxtel obtaining exclusive rights to the next season of Game Of Thrones, a move that has most people anticipating Australia setting new records for pirated downloads of the popular show.  Previously it has been available within hours through iTunes and last year QuickFlix joined the club giving those fans who didn't have top tier Foxtel access an alternative to piracy.  It isn't much of a stretch to believe that the owners of Foxtel have been pushing hard to try to make sure that those who previously used alternate means have no other choices to signing up to $100+ pay TV package or be forced to wait for local DVD release.

The other development is the Australian Law Reform Commission's recommendation that the principles of fair use under Australian copyright law be broadened which would allow greater flexibility for personal, nonprofit use of purchased content. The mere suggestion of letting people use content they own in any way other than the specific versions they paid for must have had many rights holders in a panic at the thought of not being able to resell content in new formats to people who had bought previous versions. There is solid evidence of just how much entertainment "lobbyists" can pressure politicians so I dare say that George has been fielding many outraged phone calls since this report came down.

Unfortunately there will be no change to this status quo while rights holders hold on to the mistaken belief that every download is a lost sale.  There are multiple studies showing those who download more actually buy more content, there are studies showing how relaxing of DRM policies have led to increased sales and most importantly countries, including France and Great Britain, are in the process of dismantling these broken laws that our government seems hell bent on introducing.

So, in summary, the Australian government has just announced they intend to waste a whole heap of time and money.

Still No Aussie Netflix Alternative From Foxtel

Foxtel's Netflix Competitor Fails To Launch - Gizmodo Australia

Back in the wild promising days of September 2013 our good friends at Foxtel announced they were launching an exciting new product and rather strongly hinting that it may well be the Aussie answer to Netflix.  If the intervening time has dulled your memory of this then you can always have a quick look at this wonderful analysis of the announcement right here.

Apparently this less than revolutionary service was to be up by the end of 2013, but here we are nearing the end of January and there is still no sign.  The Presto website has next to no information but the Australian Financial Review apparently reported it was due to "software issues".  I would link it for you but the story is lurking behind a paywall and frankly Foxtel costs too much as it is.

I'm guessing the software issues related to the fact that they could not guarantee a smooth enough service for the rather steep asking price, and potentially couldn't nail down exclusive streaming rights for much of the content.

Really the main purpose of this move by Foxtel is to ensure that Netflix and Hulu are not able to officially provide their services to the ever growing contingent of Australian subscribers.   After all, if Foxtel has the all the streaming rights then any new players in the Aussie market would probably have to pay through the nose to access the content or simply will not be able to compete with the selection.

So at the end of the day we are still left with sub par offerings when it comes to on-demand content, a fact that is unlikely to change when Presto finally manages to launch.

What Can You Watch On Your Xbox One In Australia?

Xbox One Isn't About To Revolutionise TV In Australia - Gizmodo Australia

Ahh, remember the heady days of May 2013 when Xbox One was announced and the focus was rather strong.  If not, here is a quick reminder.

So, how about that TV functionality then.  Well with the imminent arrival of these shiny new black boxed Microsoft has revealed what each region can expect.  So what is in it for us Australians I hear you ask.  Well, hold on to your hats people and get ready...

Not much really.  We get the following:
- Crackle (I thought this was US only, turns out it is available in Australia with a lot less content of course)
- Machinima (wooo, direct access to a YouTube channel)
- MUZU TV (a music video service to compete with Sony's Vidzone)
- Network 10's Tenplay (Catch up service for the 10 network - has a lot of stuff in it's list, some of which have actual episodes you can watch)
- Quickflix (Like Netflix but double the cost for a tiny fraction of the content)
- SBS On Demand (SBS Catch up, has good stuff occasionally but not much content)
- TED (see Machinima)
- Twitch (good if you like watching other people play games)

And that is it.  There has already been quite a stink due to the ABC iView app not making the transition from 360 to the new beast which is quite a shame since that is the best streaming service available in Australia.  The Foxtel service for 360 is also a notable omission, but it's Foxtel so who cares.

Of course North America gets over double the content (and probably even more in the near future) mainly because every service is already available there in other formats.

I am sure setting up a VPN and telling Microsoft you live in the US will unlock more content for you, but you'll still be missing out on iView.

Hopefully we'll get details of the PS4 services available at launch pretty soon.  As soon as it is available I will do a full comparison.

Fast Tracking Of Shows To Australia Is Getting Better, Maybe, If You Are Prepared To Pay

Bravo, Foxtel: The Walking Dead Is Airing In Australia Within 30 Minutes Of The US - Gizmodo Australia

Wow, Foxtel is listening (well, a little anyways).

It has been confirmed that Foxtel is screening the latest episodes of The Walking Dead about 30 minutes after it has finished screening in the US.  This is a big improvement of the 33 hour delay of season 3 but again we need to ask if it's enough.

Of course the answer is no. For the following reasons:

1.  A quick scroll through the comments confirm that the ads in the Foxtel version are just as full on as what you would expect on free to air, and considering you are already paying a premium for this content it certainly lessens the appeal.

2.  "Within 30 minutes" equates to the middle of the day in Australia, and the day in question is Monday.  Considering the majority of Foxtel subscribers will probably be at work this amazing bit of fast tracking won't actually benefit anyone.  Oh, there is an app that would let you watch it on your mobile device (as long as it's an iDevice) but then you'll also be coming up against the rather low data limit allowances allocated by Aussie telcos.

3.  You need a Foxtel subscription.  Sorry, but the idea of paying the asking price for high repetition, advertisement heavy content, regardless of how quickly they can put it on my screen, holds absolutely no appeal.

Also consider that The Walking Dead is now into it's forth season and even the early episodes have still not found their way to free to air and you can see that the distribution networks are still not too keen on giving Australians quick service at a comparable price to those enjoyed by US consumers.  You are looking at about $50 a month to access this show on Foxtel (with ads).  For $20 you can get access to Pay TV with a lot more content, with additional premium channels available for less than $5 per month, and you don't need to buy a bundle full of additional stuff you don't want.

I'm calling in now, with Game of Thrones on hiatus and Breaking Bad now finished we will be seeing an "Australians are the biggest pirates of The Walking Dead" in the very near future!

Australian's On Top (of Breaking Bad)

Breaking Bad Finale Sees Australians Beat The World At Piracy... Again - Gizmodo Australia

I know it's been a while since my last post, so I thought it would be appropriate to report on a story that also relates to one of the reasons I have been so slack.

For all those out there how don't know (yes, both of you) Breaking Bad's final ever episode screened earlier this week and despite it being fast tracked to Australia via Foxtel we still managed to be the biggest trackable downloaders of this fine show.

Australians counted for 20% of the world's public torrent downloads.  That's right, a country with roughly 0.3% of this planet's population managed to account for one fifth of the traffic on this show.  Could it be that maybe not everyone wants to pay the $120+ a month for the package that will give you access to this show?

Mind you having fairly recently gotten into this show myself I can see why those without ready access would be keen to grab the final episode as soon as possible.  I am almost to the end of the third season and can't wait to see what happens next, so on that note I'll leave you with the following alternative version while I go fire up Netflix...

Foxtel Announces Its Own "Netflix Style" Service

Foxtel Outs Its Own Netflix-Style Movie Streaming Service - Gizmodo Australia

Foxtel today announce a new streaming service called Presto in what appears, at first glance anyways, an attempt to preempt any attempt of services like Netflix to get into the Australian market.  So are they going about it the right way?

Hell no!

First up is the cost.  The going price is $24.99 a month which will give you access to Foxtel's seven movie channels and on-demand titles.  First up it is possible to set up access to Netflix and Hulu through a paid DNS service and still have change from $25 but there are a couple of other items not mentioned in the story above.

According to Tech World the bulk of the streaming will be mirroring the normal Foxtel broadcast, without the benefit of the IQ box, which means if there is a movie you want to watch you better be ready to watch it at the scheduled time.  Additionally they mention that the on-demand content will require further cost per movie you want to watch.

So not so much a Netflix style service, more a limited (and still overpriced) Foxtel style service.  Yet again Australians are expected to pay more for a vastly inferior service.