Credibility of anti-piracy report in question
- 16 March, 2011 17:22
- Comments 10
Internet rights advocacy groups have savaged a report that lists the dire economic consequences of Internet piracy.
The Age had based a report on the then mysterious anti-piracy paper earlier this month. The article claimed piracy has cost the content industry in Australia, including the film and video games sector, $900 million last year with the figure to hit $5.2 billion by 2016 when factoring in potential impacts of the National Broadband Network (NBN).
The full paper, titled The Impact of Internet Piracy on the Australian Economy was commissioned by the Australian Content Industry Group (ACIG) and compiled by Sphere Analysis.
It was released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a member of ACIG, today.
Over 40,000 jobs could be lost in the content sector by 2016, according to the report.
The Pirate Party has questioned the validity of the report. Upon analysis of the paper, the group claimed most of the frightening figures and estimations attributed to content piracy in Australia are based on European statistics.
“It’s not really science; it’s just extrapolation on estimation,” Pirate Party representative, Brendan Molloy, said.
Prior to the report being released, Pirate Party had attempted to contact Sphere Analysis but was unsuccessful. The group also noted the company had ties with the real estate industry and raised concerns over the legitimacy of the analyst group.
“It seems to be a shell company for pushing the interest of lobby groups when they need it so this is all a bit suspicious,” Molloy said.
While Sphere Analysis is indeed the trading name for Sphere Property Incorporation, a company with a 20 year history in financial and economic modelling, it is now delving into areas of public policy, according to Emilio Ferrer who wrote the report.
“There is nothing mysterious about this whole thing,” he said. “We now have particular sets of skills and we are applying them to different areas.”
He addressed the questions around the European figures used in the anti-piracy report.
“We are very fortunate Tera Consultants (a Paris-based analyst firm) did a comprehensive study of five European countries comparable to Australia in terms of economy, how the internet has grown and structure of their content industry,” Ferrer said. “This presents an opportunity to apply the findings to the Australian context using Australian data.
“I don’t accept the criticism at all.”
Ferrer has maintained the Sphere Analysis report is perfectly legitimate, but Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) doubted it would “pass muster in a first-year economics class".
“The methodology is flawed since it treats a download as money simply lost to the economy,” EFA chair, Colin Jacobs, said. “We cant’ see how that is a defensible conclusion, yet [Sphere Analysis] uses it to make precise estimates of thousands of lost jobs and drops in government revenue.”
Ferrer was undeterred by the report’s detractors.
“I can understand why people that may not want anything done about Internet piracy will be upset when a report attempts to list the economic impact,” he said. “But the reality is the impact is very significant.”
“Inevitably the government will have to do something about this in the future because local jobs are at stake here.”
The content industry has been locking horns with ISPs over Internet copyright infringement issues.
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), representing a number of high-profile movie studios, took iiNet to the Federal Court over alleged film piracy activities by the ISP’s subscribers.
This culminated to a two-year legal battle which has led the Internet Industry Association (IIA) to develop an .
Yesterday, iiNet released a paper of its own which suggests forming an independent regulation body to be a mediator between content holders, ISPs and consumers.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @spandaslui
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Comments
O'really
What a clown. Look at the ICT jobs that are lost to off- shoring every year. Do you see the government stepping in to save our jobs?
I wonder if they are going to do a report on out-dated pricing models and their affect on piracy next.
Alexander Robertson
I don't take the side of pirate's, but I've read that report, I've also studied economics and can't help see that there are gaping hole in their argument.
The affects of piracy would barely touch our GDP, what heavily affects it though is that a lot of IP (intellectual property) is being sold over seas, either from digital downloads or imports. This is because media company's are inflating the price extremely in local retail in Australia.
This profiteering from the media companies is doing FAR FAR more damage than a pirate will ever do.
twig
Game and movie pirates are the people who are LEAST likely to pay for it, even if piracy wasn't possible.
Stopping online copyright infringement won't add to your bottom line, they'll just find other things to do with their time.
Alinos
@twig
exactly people pay for content because they want it. People pirate because its there.
There is no definitive correlation to lost profit there.
Same as when they say X game was pirated so many times. Purely because it was downloaded.
I have bought games via digital distribution, where it was actually quicker to download it via a torrent than it was to download it from the legitimate site.
I've paid for my CD-key they have my money, but because my ones and zeros came faster from what is considered an illegal area, i've contributed to piracy numbers.
Then theres the fact that a pirated thing can lead to a sale.
i know someone who download's all his music illegally then buys what he wants and trashes the rest. and his arguement here is that he can't listen to them to find out what they sound like before he makes a purchase so this is the only way he can do it. And often in the case of some of the indy bands he listen's too theres a high chance if it hadn't been for them popping up on a torrent site he never would have heard of them and as a consequence never bought there music(and in the case of those he's told me to buy neither would i)
David
It is not about being pro piracy it is about draconian laws being passed on Australians based on fabricated figures. Directors in Australia can go to jail if there company is using unlicensed copies of software, but those laws do not apply in the USA yet it occurred because of the FTA. Meanwhile the USA was quite happy to use Australian invented wireless technology without paying for it. Countries like China and India are given discounted prices, but Australia is paying far more for software here than in the USA. That is why I have a problem with manipulted research it is unfair to Australians
Rod
Grammer correction - in correct metaphor:
"The content industry has been locking heads with ISPs over Internet copyright infringement issues."
should be "... locking horns ..." or maybe could have used " ... knocking heads"
Rod
Spandas
@Rod: Thanks for pointing that out. I was meant to write "locking horns"... Clearly I was in need of some caffeine.
Correction has been made.
peterniss22
Its funny how both the motion picture industry as well as the music industry continue to make a larger profit every single year than that of the previous year. I so smell bs here and anyone taken in by this furnished paid for rubbish needs to wisen up. These industries are not in it for the fun, spirit, art or anything you would normaly associate with creative industries, just pure greedy proffits. Nothing more. Number one goal is making maximum cash.
Ever wondered why you pay full price to replace a scratched CD?
Kevin
The music industry. The same mob that manipulate top 40 charts by placing cds ordered by a retailer as a sale. Some tunes even make the top ten before they are available for sale.
The music industry who add one new track to a bunch of rehashed older tunes to a CD just for greater profits.
The music industry which charge more for recording and distribution charges than the royalties they pay out. Oh the royalties are based on real sales and not the chart position.
The music industry that are losing major artists to independent labels daily simply because and artist can make more money selling his own recorded and produced CD over the net.
The music industry that have more best of albums from the same artists released weekly. Just do a Google for the best of anyone.
The music industry that own the original recording, only pay royalties to the writer/s and not the artist of musicians.
Trust the mob with anything they claim. No way ever.
The argument is not about royalties it is about the music industry keeping control.
Mensa
Grammer correction!! Brilliant!
How about grammar correction and while we are there it is incorrect not in correct.
One of your best Rod.
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