The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (IPAF) says new research shows that almost three-quarters of consumers would stop illegally downloading files if they received a notice from their internet service provider (ISP).
The study, which was conducted by Sycamore Research & Marketing and commissioned by IPAF, also found that consumers think ISPs are actively encouraging them to share and download illegal content, such as movie and music files.
IPAF chief executive Gail Grant said the public blamed: the movie industry (for making too much money), the law (for not being clear), and society (for accepting the behaviour).
“But most of all this whole thing about ISPs being ‘enablers’ came out, which was a surprise to us quite frankly,” she told IF.
IPAF supports the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) which is involved in a long-running court case against ISP iiNet. It alleges that the ISP failed to act on infringement notices provided by AFACT, which is largely being led by the US studios working in conjunction with Village Roadshow and the Seven Network.
IPAF is comprised of Australian film and TV organisations and has a separate role – to educate the community about intellectual property.
The IPAF-commissioned research found that 72 per cent of consumers say they would stop illegal downloading activities if they received an educational notice from their ISP – the same figure found a year earlier in another IPAF-commissioned survey.
However, Grant said the proportion of the population defined as “blind actives” – people who believed illegal downloading was wrong but still did it – had declined from 34 per cent of the population a year ago to 29 per cent.
IPAF is launching a new national cinema and television campaign this month, following on from the success of last year’s Accidental Pirate campaign.
The campaign was created by advertising agency Arnold Furnace and directed by Adam Blaiklock (whose feature film Caught Inside is released on October 6).
“We want to help people to see that excuses are really no longer acceptable – it is theft,” Grant said. “Let’s start defining it as theft.”
Arnold Furnace managing director Tony Singleton said the new campaign continues the humorous approach but now targets the excuses that people use to justify their illegal activities.”The new message is – ‘Whoever you are, there is no excuse for movie and TV theft’,” he said in a statement.