After the head of Village Roadshow Australia, Graham Burke, charged iiNet and its Chief Regulatory Officer, Steve Dalby, of lying about Copyright theft, Dalby came back saying that the ISP doesn’t approve copyright burglary and that Burke just is worried about losing his “middle man status” in content distribution.
The response has received praise from advocates who have been calling for reform on outdated Copyright laws in Australia.
Co-CEO of Village Roadshow, Graham Burke, blamed iiNet for weaving a “fabric of lies” about how the ISP is reacting to copyright infringement.
Burke additionally said that iiNet’s Stephen Dalby had made silly remarks in a “call-to-arms” to clients, requesting that they keep in touch with the Australian Government about their copyright concerns.
We have included Stephen Dalby’s full response below:
[testimonials user=’Steve Dalby’ email=” name=’Steve Dalby’ position=’CRO of iiNet’ photo=’http://fnx.network/fnxnetwork/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mJQQHd2u.jpeg’]
Perhaps we’ve touched a nerve.
Mr Burke is obviously concerned about the increasing threat to his ‘middle-man’ status by the changes in technology and has failed to mention his colleague Simon Bush’s comments that the figures showed that “on a per capita basis Australia is second only to the United States in digital consumer revenues”.
So Australians are not only the worst pirates, but one of their best performing markets. “Outrageous!”
Piracy is wrong. We don’t condone it. But it’s not our job to fix.
Mr Burke suggests that my comments are outrageous. I’m sure he doesn’t like us pointing out some of the outrageous suggestions from his own industry.
You know … stuff like “You wouldn’t steal a car, you wouldn’t steal a handbag …”
It’s not our job to catch car thieves.
It’s not our job to catch bag-snatchers.
It’s not our job to stop on-line infringers.
Whoa ! “Outrageous!”
Mr Burke also shows his ignorance of the ISP revenue model. Not only is he totally wrong, but I think he fails to be outrageous. The ISP subscription model, commonly in place in Australia, does not charge by the download, as he suggests, it is a fixed fee per month. In that model ( a bit like gym membership) the less data a customer uses, the more profitable they are.
This was an argument that failed the logic test in the High Court, but don’t let that get in the way of your outrage Mr Burke.
Finally, if this is all about protecting 906,000 Aussie jobs why is it that not one single example of Aussie content ever gets a mention. It’s always about American movies, music and TV.
If you want to protect Aussie jobs, Mr Burke, how about you turn up to the industry talks and put something on the table? Where is the quid-pro-quo for Australian ISPs to do the bidding of your American masters?
No. I thought not.
[/testimonials]
Well then!
We at FNX, particularly us who live in Australia, eagerly await the reply!