Australia one step closer towards Three Strikes?

Yesterday, the Australian government confirmed that Attorney-General Robert McClelland will be holding a meeting with copyright advocacy groups to negotiate about regulations to combat online piracy. This meeting will take place in September and will be attended by some internet service providers (ISPs), The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and the newly formed Digital Entertainment Alliance Australia.

Previously, we wrote about how AFACT wrote a letter to major Australian ISPs, inviting them to talk about a graduated response type of approach to tackle illegal downloading. Now, the ISPs responded to this request. ISP Optus is planning to accept the invitation and a spokesman of Telstra confirmed Telstra will attend the meeting as well:

“We would like to achieve a constructive outcome that appropriately balances the interests of all stakeholders, including ISPs, right holders and consumers.”

While ISPs and right holders have been invited to the meeting, it’s quite remarkable that no invitations have been sent to groups that represent consumer interest. Given the absence of public interest groups in this debate and the abovementioned statement of Telstra, question remains whether the ISPs will cooperate with regulations such as a Three Strikes Act. We will have to wait and see what the outcome will be after the meeting in September.

References: Torrentfreak and Techdirt