Proud pirates can expect education: IPAF

By Ry Crozier on Aug 30, 2010 1:27 PM
Filed under Software

Two-year campaign kicks off.

A quarter of Australians revealed in a survey as "pirates and proud" will be targeted for re-education, a copyright group said.

The Newspoll survey of just under 1400 people was conducted last October but released only today.

It coincided with the launch of the first part of a new anti-piracy campaign by the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation that targeted accidental pirates, those who broke the law unwittingly. The group's members included the Motion Picture Association, TiVO, Foxtel, Video Ezy, Blockbuster studios.

"Pirates and proud" respondents would be targeted separately at some point over the next two years.

The survey

Accidental pirates accounted for 34 percent of the Newspoll survey respondents.

Another 24 percent who were be mostly 18 to 24-year-old men were "pirates and proud of it".

It found another 38 percent were "absolutely morally against piracy and weren't involved" with the rest described as uninterested.

Accidental pirates

IPAF chief executive officer Gail Grant told iTnews the two-year campaign to accidental pirates included broadcast advertisements, blog and Twitter feed to get them to adjust their ways.

TV ads would run on Foxtel and Austar from today and be on 900 cinema screens by the end of the week. Grant hoped free-to-air stations would also screen it soon.

She said IPAF had conducted eight focus groups with the accidental pirates before starting the campaign.

"They are very confronted if you tell them they're pirates," Grant said.

"They actually told us they see piracy as wrong but they don't recognise their own actions as being piracy."

Grant likened it to being against gambling but then "going to the casino every day".

Am I a pirate?

A website launched by IPAF invited internet users to take a quick multiple choice quiz to determine whether or not they were an "accidental pirate".

Users were asked if they downloaded TV shows from the internet for free before they were screened in Australia; doing so "could" make the user a pirate, IPAF said.

Grant said the wording was "careful [to] make sure we're giving people the right information".

"There are number of places you can download [content] legally," she said.

"We want people to be careful of the sites they go on. That's why the wording is as careful as we can be while still informing them."

Grant said IPAF would "love to" create and publish a list of legal streaming options that Australians could use to watch copyright material - for example, Fixplay - in the future.

Questions targeted the legality of making copies of rented DVDs, travellers buying cheap DVDs while holidaying in South East Asia, downloading new-release films from the internet and buying DVD-Rs from a car boot sale.

Answering no to all questions gave users the chance to win a $5 new release DVD rental voucher.

Active pirates in the crosshairs

Grant warned Australian users described as "pirates and proud" to expect anti-piracy education to find them, wherever they were.

"We're planning education and communications to go to particularly to that group," she said.

"They're technologically advanced and engaged [so it's about] how we talk to them on the platforms they're on all the time."

Proud pirates can expect education: IPAF

13 comments in this discussion

"I don't condone piracy, however have these guys ever asked themselves why pirates do what they do? Could it be because music and movies have become way too expensive? Or maybe because they feel ..."

By papaiso

Tags

proud, pirates, accidental pirate, campaign, ipaf, anti, piracy, foundation, tivo, film, studios

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Comments: 13

BC66 Aug 30, 2010 3:46 PM	IPAF believes it is wrong for people to download TV content. I guess most people do it because they don't want to pay the exhorbitant prices charged by Foxtel for 2 or 3 year old series, which Foxtel then replay over and over again. Foxtel are part owned by Telstra and they are simply following the old Telstra mantra of 'We have a monopoly so we will charge them till they bleed'. For the cost of cable TV we pay here in Australia, in the UK you can get Cable, mobile and internet all bundled together for about half the price so it is little wonder people download.The same applies to movies. Most cannot afford to take the family to the cinema due to the cost so download is a cheap alternative. One spokesperson stated that the public missed out by downloading movies as movies were made to be watched on the big screen. Doesn't appear to stop the industry making a fortune from DVD's does it.
sabredog66 Aug 30, 2010 4:34 PM	Yawn...more propaganda from the entertainment industry. Until TV channels start showing more TV shows close to the original air dates, not preempt, delay, sop midway through seasons or cut shows down to fit time slots then people are going to find the shows they like to watch elsewhere. Stop treating your viewers with contempt.
nate.cochrane Aug 30, 2010 5:05 PM	Seems that all these networks just don't get it. At the weekend Australian comedian Wil Anderson asked Hollywood screenwriter-director Joss Whedon if fans understood his shows better than network executives? "Monkeys understand my work better than network executives," Whedon replied. But as the story below made clear, Australians' problem with TV executives is a long one and groups such as IPAF would do better to address this audience before the "accidental pirates". http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/saving-a-screen-romance/2008/11/18/1226770456139.html
HubertCumberdale Aug 30, 2010 6:03 PM	some clueless twit wrote: A quarter of Australians revealed in a survey as "pirates and proud" will be targeted for re-education, a copyright group said. LOL Sounds like someone needs some educating themselves.
Sams Aug 30, 2010 6:58 PM	Heh. They are going to put anti-piracy ads on TV and in cinemas to discourage people from downloading TV shows and movies instead of watching TV and going to cinemas. Not the brightest crayons in the box are they.
rycrozier Aug 30, 2010 7:17 PM	Good to see the irony wasn't lost.
Cham Aug 30, 2010 7:31 PM	Hey, don't knock Foxtel... They're the reason people all over the world got to see the final 2 episodes of Better Off Ted, because not even the network that made it in America has aired them. More clueless propaganda from the content industries, who have decided that spending their money on telling us we, the consumer, are doing it wrong is far more effective then spending their money on providing their content to we, the consumer, in ways that we want and are prepared to pay for.
Sams Aug 30, 2010 9:18 PM	No doubt their survey will collect IP addresses too.
rycrozier Aug 30, 2010 9:36 PM	That won't tell them anything bad, will it? You got all green ticks right?
Sams Aug 30, 2010 10:17 PM	Terms and Conditions: "The Promoter and Ezy Entertainment Marketing Pty Ltd collects personal information in order to conduct the promotion and may, for this purpose, disclose such information to" ... "Australian regulatory authorities"
btone Aug 31, 2010 1:55 PM	Yeah right, try educating the fat parasites in their corporate bunkers trying to save their bloated, broken business models, then take your condescending spam and shove it up your PR fundamental. i-pap... oh, and have nice day y'all! :)
AusPom Sep 1, 2010 8:16 AM	The only ones to miss out financially from pirating of movies and TV programs are the fat cat middle men. These are the ones who bleed the consumers with inflated costs and in many cases second rate programs. In the case of TV programs from overseas, many of us are fed uip with the mindless Ameriocan pap that is shown here on all channels and Foxtel (the rerun station) so download of decent UK and Canadian programs fills the void.
papaiso Sep 8, 2010 3:04 PM	I don't condone piracy, however have these guys ever asked themselves why pirates do what they do? Could it be because music and movies have become way too expensive? Or maybe because they feel that the industry has ripped them off big time for too many years? Entertainment is an industry which historically relies on huge profits margins, but now times have changed. As many other industries have done, the entertainment industry will have to evolve, drop their prices and think about new ways to increase their revenue. Similar things happened in other industries: for instance when the fridge was invented, the guy selling ice blocks had to reinvent his business, or when asbestos was banned, businesses producing it had to switch business. This is the case of a Swiss company that went from producing asbestos panels into producing a very successful line of watches (Swatch). Also airlines had to cope with the competition of budget airlines and drop their airfares in order to remain competitive. So maybe if businesses in the entertainment industry start selling CDs and DVDs for $10 rather than $30+ they may find that more people will buy original rather than recur to piracy.