Piracy plan gets late serve from Husic
Labor MP Ed Husic has become one of the first major party members to point out the flaws of the Abbott government's controversial anti-piracy website-blocking bill.
Husic has boldly sidestepped his party’s support of the bill, which seeks to block access to websites deemed to be purveyors of copyright material.
Husic says the planned changes to the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 favour the interests of rights holders over consumers.
He said the changes actually reflect “an ethos that tries to limit the liberalising force of the internet to the extent that it tries to skew benefits to producers, rights holders, and entrenched interests at the expense of others”.
Some say the call comes too late and the horse has bolted, as Husic’s party already passed the bill with virtually no opposition.
The amendments would allow rights-holders to get the court to block access to websites, or “online locations” with the “primary purpose” of facilitating copyright infringement.
Websites such as The Pirate Bay and KickAssTorrents are among its major targets.
The bill passed the House of Representatives with Labor's support last week, and will go before the Senate next week, where it is again expected to pass easily.
Mr Husic has become the first major party MP to publicly speak out against it.
“On the surface it aims to tackle piracy,” Mr Husic said of the bill.
“You can't argue with that. But in the wider context it demonstrates an absence of commitment by this government to having a coherent approach to dealing with piracy... it is tough on piracy but not on the causes of piracy.”
“For years consumers of content have been forced to accept content later than overseas consumers at higher prices,” he said.
“It's a business model that helped prop up profits of rights holders, and consumers have been cynically forced to accept a business model that simply fleeces them.”
He called the bill a “lopsided attempt to deal with piracy” that “doesn't actually deal with the way of getting that content to people in much more efficient means”.
Greens deputy leader Scott Ludlam said his party would seek amendments to protect users of virtual private networks (VPNs).
Fairfax Media reports say such an amendment to the bill's explanatory memorandum - clarifying that VPNs should not be blocked - is already planned.
The news outlet claims that the amendment will be moved when the bill reaches the Senate.
“I think scope creep is a huge problem,” Senator Ludlam told reporters.
“Effectively this will set up a second site-blocking or internet filtering regime,” he said.
“This is a dangerous and unnecessary piece of legislation that potentially criminalises legitimate use of VPNs or other tools,” he said.
“This is what happens when you get a government that only listens to one side of the argument – the public interest gets left in the dust.”