No sympathy for music pirates – Tuanz boss

Social networks exploded with grizzles yestrday as the first wave of infringement notices under the new copyright law were sent. 

But Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Paul Brislen was having none of it.

“I’ve got no sympathy if you’re copying music and think you’ve been hard done by,” Mr Brislen told underground internet radio show Discourse last night.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (Rianz) sent notices to Telecom, TelstraClear and Orcon alleging copyright infringement by their users.

Acts named in the notices – Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Taio Cruz – are all signed to labels owned by Universal Music.

Mr Brislen has previously noted (along with NBR) that the film and television industries often release content in New Zealand late or not at all – giving people a degree of intellectual justification for seeking it through other avenues.

But songs were a different story, he told Discourse.

“You’re not on good, solid, moral ground if you say I’m [illegally] downloading music because it isn’t available any other way - because it is from dozens of online retailers and the price is really low,” the Tuanz boss said.

Privacy, price concerns
Mr Brislen did have concerns about several aspects of the new file sharing law, however.

"We're now entering a world where the ISPs potentially get into deep packet inspection and oversight over every bit of data I send up and down the internet,” he said.

"Not only is that an abuse of my privacy but it comes in a tremendous cost in monetary terms for the ISP." Costs would likely be passed on to customers.

Another issue: Tuanz had been inundated by qeries from its corporate membership, who were confused over the legislation (which makes an account holder, such as a business, liable for the online actions of its employees or other users in most instances).

Movie, TV industries five years behind
It was interesting the first infringement notices came from the music industry, not television or music studios.

“[The] music [industry] is about five years ahead in terms of their understanding of the internet,” Mr Brislen said.

“And they’re so far ahead predominantly because of Apple. With iTunes [Apple] said, “You don’t have to steal it. We’ll make it easy for you to buy.

"Apple literally saved the music industry from themselves [and] those  clowns who said we’ll do exactly what television and the movie studios are doing at the moment which is 'Screw you if you want our content you can’t have it we’ll talk to our good friends in parliament'.”

Limiting movie and TV distribution, while appealing to polticians to tighten copyright law, gave the impression rights holders were more interested in defending an outdated business model than copyright.

(NBR broadly accepts this argument, though notes that in some cases even local music acts championed during Rianz piracy campaigns are not available through iTunes. Regardless, it seems something of a PR disaster to kick off infringement notices with overseas acts rather than go in to bat for a local artist.)

The Tuanz CEO speculated that Rianz had sent infringement notices for violations’ of major artists’ copyright because it was seeking headlines. He also speculated the industry body could be targeting those who used a service like BitTorrent to upload songs for others to illegally access.

Content critical to Crown fibre update
Mr Brislen said it was important for people to get easier access to online music, movies and TV, because content and services was what drove the uptake of fast internet upgrades like New Zealand’s $1.35 billion ultrafast broadband (UFB) rollout.

“It’s hard to sell bits and bytes,” the Tuanz boss said. “It’s much easier to sell Game of Thrones or America’s Next Top Model, God help us. That you can actually package up [in services bundled with a broadband connection.

“Most people say “I want television, I want cheap phone calls but they won’t go out and buy fast internet.”