Australian Internet Providers Will Have to Name People Who Pirated 'Dallas Buyers Club'

A federal court has ordered several Australian internet service providers to cough up the identities of some 4,700 account holders whose internet connections were allegedly used to share the movie Dallas Buyers Club.

In the decision reached on Tuesday afternoon Justice Nye Perram ruled in favor of the film's owners, Dallas Buyers Club LLC, in their application requesting the disclosure. Some of the networks required to hand over customer details are iiNet, Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet, and Wideband Networks.

Here's quick lesson on how frustrating it has been to live in Australia in the digital age: Dallas Buyers Club was released widely in US cinemas on November 22, 2013. In December it was the subject of considerable Oscar buzz, especially after it received Golden Globe nominations for its two main actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. So by this point there were Australians who knew about the film and were excited to see it. But they weren't allowed to unless they bought a plane ticket.

On January 12, 2014, Matthew McConaughey won the Golden Globe for best actor for his work on the film. On January 16, the movie was nominated for six Academy Awards. About a month later, on February 4, it was made available on DVD in the US.

It wasn't until a week and a half after that, on February 14, that it hit Australian cinemas. And then half a year later, on September 7, it was made available on DVD for people who wanted to buy in Australia.

Many think delayed releases like that make those who otherwise not pirate resort to illegal downloads. On the Opie and Anthony radio show in April 2013 comedian Louis CK talked about his recent trip down under, and explained how he thought this works: "In Australia moms and dad pirate video. Because we're not letting them buy it. Because we're keeping it from them… Everybody in the world is like, 'Take my fucking credit card and let me have the thing. But if you're going to be a pain in the ass, fuck you, I can steal all of it.'"

So what can you expect if you're one of the pirates? Well the former chief regulatory officer at iiNet, Steve Dalby, has already talked to Fairfax about some possible defenses if you're sent a notice. But you might not be sent one. The owners of the movie haven't made their intentions clear yet.

If you do get a notice, Justice Perram will have seen it first. This probably means you won't receive speculative invoicing of the "give us thousands of dollars or else" variety, because of its questionable legality on Australian shores.

Furthermore certain people will apparently be exempt, for PR reasons. Vice-president of Royalties at Voltage Pictures, the parent company of Dallas Buyers Club LLC, told the Federal Court in February, "If we start proceedings in Australia I will make it clear to local counsel 'you will not pursue the handicapped, welfare cases, or people that have mental issues or the military' and that's the majority of what's going on with the download.

"We're very concerned about the press saying 'how dare Voltage pursue a military veteran or an autistic child' as that sort of press would ruin us," he added. "It's not about the money here, it's about stopping illegal piracy."

There is something softly ironic about this landmark copyright case being pursued by Voltage Pictures. The film they own depicts a slow-moving organization, not evil but burdened by old-fashioned thinking, being ignored by some plucky cowboy types who don't care if they break laws—they want the product now.

Obviously people who desperately want to watch Oscar films are not the equivalent of people suffering from AIDS, but that's kind of the point. Nobody is going to make a film about this crusade against internet piracy, and if they did it's doubtful it would come down on the side of the company that owns the rights to a film that grossed over $50 million worldwide.

This year Australia is finally getting affordable subscription streaming services, and Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment business is adapting to the reality of the internet and testing things like early online distribution. It is fast becoming accepted wisdom that these strategies are a far more effective way of stopping pirating than lawsuits and scare tactics.

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