Bigred
07-29-2013, 12:01 PM
IT Pricing Inquiry recommends a clampdown on geo-blocking to slash the high prices Australians are forced pay for digital goods. (http://www.news.com.au/technology/parliamentary-it-pricing-inquiry-recommends-banning-geoblocking-to-slash-prices-for-aussie-consumers/story-e6frfro0-1226687628779)
Paying too much for digital goods such as songs on iTunes? IT Pricing Inquiry recommends a clampdown on geo-blocking to slash the high prices Australians are forced pay for digital goods.
AUSTRALIANS will be able to buy digital products such as software, games and music dramatically cheaper if the federal government accepts the IT Pricing inquiry report handed down today to clamp down on geo-blocking.
Choice Director of Campaigns and Communications Matt Levey today welcomed the 10 recommendations in the parliamentary Infrastructure and Communications Committee 130-page report into the so-called "Australia Tax", a practice in which companies ramped up prices of digital goods by an average of 50 per cent.
Geo-blocking is the system used to limit your access to the internet, based on your geographic location.
Committee chairman Nick Champion said the inquiry's recommendations reflected a desire for "a more competitive marketplace where consumers have clear rights and where they can shop around".
"Markets have always been segregated geographically," Mr Champion said.
"Why that in the past might have been justified because it was hard to shift goods around the world, in the age of the internet, and the digital download and the National Broadband Network, it's going to become increasingly less able to be justified."
AUSSIES 'AT RISK' OF CYBER ATTACKS
Mr Levey said Choice was particularly pleased that the inquiry had "taken aim at the practice of geo-blocking - putting up the virtual walls that essentially sustain higher prices in Australia".
"If you were to take what's in this report and put that into legislation, we would say that's a great win for Aussies who are copping a raw deal on digital prices.
"But as we know, some inquiry reports find their way into the dusty bookshelves of the parliamentary library and others might find their way into legislation. We certainly hope this will be the second outcome.
"The challenge is really now for politicians to act on it."
Mr Levey praised the committee which demanded representatives of key digital companies Adobe, Microsoft and Apple to front the inquiry and explain the price differentiation.
He said many Australians already used "virtual private networks" to get around geo-blocking but, in doing so, they risked breaking the terms of services of the companies they use.
"There would be many, many Australians who don't have that level of confidence and in fairness it's a legal grey area," he said.
The key recommendations of the report are:
* Removing all parallel import restrictions, giving Australians access to cheaper goods;
* Reforming copyright law to give greater protection to consumers getting around 'geo-blocks'
* Educating consumers on their rights to get around geo-blocks;
* Considering amending the law to make terms of service which seek to enforce geo-blocking void; and
* Considering an outright ban on geo-blocking if other changes don't work.
Mr Champion said the first option was to beef up ways for consumers to work around the practice of geo-blocking, saying banning the practice was "an option of last resort".
"But it does have to be on the table," he said.
In its submission to the inquiry, Choice highlighted more than 200 examples of price discrimination.
Choice found in the case of one Microsoft product, it was cheaper for someone to fly to the US, buy the software and repeat that trip than it was to buy it in Australia.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/parliamentary-it-pricing-inquiry-recommends-banning-geoblocking-to-slash-prices-for-aussie-consumers/story-e6frfro0-1226687628779#ixzz2aSSi72NG
Does this have a familar ring to any of our friends from down under?
Paying too much for digital goods such as songs on iTunes? IT Pricing Inquiry recommends a clampdown on geo-blocking to slash the high prices Australians are forced pay for digital goods.
AUSTRALIANS will be able to buy digital products such as software, games and music dramatically cheaper if the federal government accepts the IT Pricing inquiry report handed down today to clamp down on geo-blocking.
Choice Director of Campaigns and Communications Matt Levey today welcomed the 10 recommendations in the parliamentary Infrastructure and Communications Committee 130-page report into the so-called "Australia Tax", a practice in which companies ramped up prices of digital goods by an average of 50 per cent.
Geo-blocking is the system used to limit your access to the internet, based on your geographic location.
Committee chairman Nick Champion said the inquiry's recommendations reflected a desire for "a more competitive marketplace where consumers have clear rights and where they can shop around".
"Markets have always been segregated geographically," Mr Champion said.
"Why that in the past might have been justified because it was hard to shift goods around the world, in the age of the internet, and the digital download and the National Broadband Network, it's going to become increasingly less able to be justified."
AUSSIES 'AT RISK' OF CYBER ATTACKS
Mr Levey said Choice was particularly pleased that the inquiry had "taken aim at the practice of geo-blocking - putting up the virtual walls that essentially sustain higher prices in Australia".
"If you were to take what's in this report and put that into legislation, we would say that's a great win for Aussies who are copping a raw deal on digital prices.
"But as we know, some inquiry reports find their way into the dusty bookshelves of the parliamentary library and others might find their way into legislation. We certainly hope this will be the second outcome.
"The challenge is really now for politicians to act on it."
Mr Levey praised the committee which demanded representatives of key digital companies Adobe, Microsoft and Apple to front the inquiry and explain the price differentiation.
He said many Australians already used "virtual private networks" to get around geo-blocking but, in doing so, they risked breaking the terms of services of the companies they use.
"There would be many, many Australians who don't have that level of confidence and in fairness it's a legal grey area," he said.
The key recommendations of the report are:
* Removing all parallel import restrictions, giving Australians access to cheaper goods;
* Reforming copyright law to give greater protection to consumers getting around 'geo-blocks'
* Educating consumers on their rights to get around geo-blocks;
* Considering amending the law to make terms of service which seek to enforce geo-blocking void; and
* Considering an outright ban on geo-blocking if other changes don't work.
Mr Champion said the first option was to beef up ways for consumers to work around the practice of geo-blocking, saying banning the practice was "an option of last resort".
"But it does have to be on the table," he said.
In its submission to the inquiry, Choice highlighted more than 200 examples of price discrimination.
Choice found in the case of one Microsoft product, it was cheaper for someone to fly to the US, buy the software and repeat that trip than it was to buy it in Australia.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/parliamentary-it-pricing-inquiry-recommends-banning-geoblocking-to-slash-prices-for-aussie-consumers/story-e6frfro0-1226687628779#ixzz2aSSi72NG
Does this have a familar ring to any of our friends from down under?