Pirates beware: Hollywood is coming after you

[cronus]

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digi ... mg2ui.html

Pirates beware: Hollywood is coming after you

A landmark ruling has paved the way for Australians who share movies and TV shows illicitly online to be sued by Hollywood.

A Federal Court judge on Tuesday ordered several Australian internet service providers, including iiNet, to hand over to a film studio the identities of thousands of account holders whose internet connections were allegedly used to share a Hollywood film.

The ruling means about 4700 Australian internet account holders whose service was used to share the blockbuster film Dallas Buyers Club on the internet from as early as May 2013 are likely to be sent letters threatening legal action by Australian lawyers acting for the US-based Dallas Buyers Club LLC, which owns the rights to the film.

This occurred in the US, where legal action was threatened against account holders, claiming they were liable for damages of up to $US150,000 ($196,656) in court unless settlement fees of up to $US7000 ($9171) were paid. This practice is commonly referred to as "speculative invoicing".

But in a win for iiNet and the other Australian ISPs, Justice Perram ordered that any letters sent to alleged illicit pirates must first be seen by him before they are sent. He said this would "prevent speculative invoicing", which may not be permitted under Australian law.

The judge also ordered that the privacy of individuals should be protected, meaning the rights holder, Dallas Buyers Club LLC, cannot disclose the identities of alleged pirates.

In addition to iiNet, ISPs Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks will also be required to hand over customer details.

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[pErvinalia]

Australia has just gone from being the biggest piraters in the world to one of the smallest in about 24hrs. . This is going to shake things up..

[jaydot]

is this the judges way of telling the movie moguls "i can't tell you to fuck right off, but i can make it a real pain in the ass to go after anyone because you have to get by me first."?

[piscator]

Australia has just gone from being the biggest piraters in the world to one of the smallest in about 24hrs. . This is going to shake things up..

All it takes is one guy with a stick, and a couple dogs, and the whole flock gets sheared...

[Brian Peacock]

So where a Aussie enthusiasts going to get there torrents now? Poor loves.

Oh, and...

[pErvinalia]

Well, Netflix is starting up in a few months, and there's a number of local equivalents just starting up now too. Most of us will pay a reasonable fee for legal access. It's just that we were being gouged for access. Once access is easy and cheap, then that'll change the game.

[Brian Peacock]

Do people actually still download these torrent things (or am I sounding like the old fuddy-duddy granddad (that I am) whittering on about how you can't hear the words or follow the tune in the bang-bang music beat-combos get in the hit-parade these days) when you can Spotify or Youtube most music for free?

[pErvinalia]

I don't know about music, but I suspect most people have moved to Spotify etc. But the big action is in movies and tv shows. There's just no way to get this stuff quickly and cheaply here in Australia. But that will all change in the next few months as Netflix kicks off.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

coughVPNcough

[pErvinalia]

Definitely. But free ones are a pain in the arse and no guarantee of anything. And if you're paying for one, you may as well pay for Netflix.