Leaked partnership reveals Australia’s push for cost limits for ISPs

A May 2014 draft leaked last week by Wikileaks of confidential Trans-Pacific Partnership talks showed that Australia wants ISPs to police piracy on their networks but not have to bear the huge costs for it.

This is what Australian ISPs have been arguing for in previous (and stalled) talks with copyright holders. They maintain copyright holders should pay for the policing.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership talks are to simplify trade between Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore.

The leaked draft comes as copyright holders lobby Government for tough sanctions against copyright infringers and ISPs. The Government is considering pushing ISPs to crack down on continual infringers by slowing their services. But the Digital Industry Association of Australia argues this will neither reduce piracy nor “significantly increase the incentives for creators.” 3.5 million Australians access illegal content at least once a month.

Last week, an Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (IPAF) report unveiled at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast. claimed 29% of Australian adults illegally download movies, TV shows and music. It’s a growing trend, with 55% admitting to doing it each week, a 20% rise from the previous year. The worst offenders were aged 18 to 24, the report said. But 64% of Aussies agree downloading new releases is stealing.