I protest the term “Australian film and television industry” as Australias F&T industry is quite small, and nothing it produces is worth pirating regardless. This case was all about protecting US F&T interests.
Regardless, the judge declared that the carriage service cannot be held responsible for individual users actions, and that iinet acted in the correct manner in regards to Australian privacy laws.
Something to look forward to.
There is now significant speculation that the US F&T industry will be lobbying the Aussie government to tighten up copyright infringement laws, and provide enforcement of those laws, chasing individual for prosecution, similar to the RIAA’s infamous cases in the USA.
I’ll comment it’s hard enough to get the Aussie government to do anything in Oz, other than jetsetting around the world to make a name for themselves, but who knows, individual pollies might be interested in a slightly larger retirement fund, after their bottomless cash, err , political terms, end.
At any rate, cash-strapped Oz is unlikely to be paying tax payers $$$$$$$$$ to chase down 12yr olds with a PC & internet connection during the middle of the Global Financial Crisis … which is expected to last for several years.
Australia generally comes down hard on people profiteering (selling) pirate material, when they are caught.
And the Aftermath…