Foxtel welcomes paage of online piracy legislation

News posted 06:00pm on Mon Jun 22, 2015

Foxtel today congratulated the Government and Opposition for coming together to help fight the scourge of online piracy. The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 will give copyright owners and licensees the ability to seek injunctions to block access to overseas-based sites that steal content and profit from selling advertising around it.

Foxtel Chief Executive, Richard Freudenstein said, We are pleased that the Government and Opposition have taken strong action to combat online piracy. They recognise that, not only is piracy theft and therefore morally wrong, it is harmful to Australia's creative communities and to businesses that employ hundreds of thousands of Australians.

These offshore sites are not operated by noble spirits fighting for the freedom of the internet, they are run by criminals who profit from stealing other people's creative endeavours.

This Bill is modelled on legislation that works effectively in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Europe and Singapore. There have been wild claims that it will create an internet filter , break the internet or prevent legitimate uses of the internet. International experience shows that this is simply nonsense and fear mongering - last time I looked the UK had a perfectly well functioning internet.

We look forward to seeing the legislation put into effect both to demonstrate that these fears are unfounded and to begin reducing the levels of illegal downloading in Australia.

This Bill is part of a series of measures being put in place by government and industry to educate the public about the problems created by online piracy and where they can find legitimate ways to get access to the content they love, Mr Freudenstein concluded.

Media enquiries:

Foxtel

Bruce Meagher

bruce.meagher@foxtel.com.au

(02) 9813 7593/ 0412 254 690

LINK:	http://www.foxtel.com.au/about/media-centre/press-releases/2015/foxtel...
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