In trying to placate content producers the government’s plans to require ISPs to block torrenting sites ignores the key reason people resort to piracy.
Telstra has invested in an Australian Cloud software company called Panviva. Xero has hit a tally of 400,000 small business customers operating on its cloud platform, and iSentia has signed a pioneering agreement that allows the scraping of online news and magazine content.
Piracy, ISPs and the battle for content
While the Australian government has outlined plans to crack down on internet piracy, consumer advocacy group Choice has argued that harsher penalties will not address the drivers of piracy.
CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland says, “Outsourcing the piracy crackdown to industry is far from a soft option, because it carries the potential for serious sanctions against consumers including internet disconnection.”
“And it’s far from an effective option, because it ignores the two biggest reasons Australians infringe online copyright – price and availability.”
With streaming technology being adopted more widely competition is heating up between new providers such as Quickflix Ltd.
(ASX:QFX) in Australia and Netflix in the US. These in turn are competing with traditional delivery methods such as cable networks like Foxtel. Despite a range of delivery methods, the one constant element is content which is in limited supply, in the end it will come down to how content is licensed. What’s become clear is that if content is held behind high-priced walls then piracy will only increase.
ASX listing
Finance News Network covered the listing of eCargo Holdings Limited
(ASX:ECG) on the ASX last week. FNN spoke with Chairman, John Lau and CEO Chris Lau about the company’s unique combination of infrastructure, logistics and marketing?
“eCargo has developed a full range of services to facilitate E-commerce trading in China, comprising of E-commerce IT, front-end, the middle-ware and the back-end of technology and systems. E-operations, managing stores, brand size stores in China as well as stores in the marketplaces, such as Tmall and other marketplaces in China. E-support, we call it E-support service it’s all the production services that we can provide, particularly our studio - videos and stills and models for photography. E-marketing is where China is particularly strong, in social media for the netizens. So we have a special division looking after social media and marketing, and E-fulfilment and DC operations. And for the stock of each and every brand and deliver them to their final consumers.”
Collaboration
Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS) has invested in an Australian Cloud software company called Panviva. Australia’s largest telco describes Melbourne based Panviva as a global leader in business process guidance software solutions with operations across Australia the US and UK.
Quickflix Limited
(ASX:QFX) has announced a major upgrade for the service on the PlayStation platform. The video streaming service has launched premium streaming of latest release movies and current season TV shows.
Melbourne IT Limited (ASSX:MLB) has announced a strategic new alliance with Tiger Pistol and new accreditation from Amazon Web Services. The investment in Tiger Pistol, a leading social media marketing platform, allows Melbourne IT to offer innovative solutions for small businesses to be successful online and broadens the domain name supplier beyond its traditional web presence into social media solutions.
Mobile Embrace Limited
(ASX:MBE) will partner with communications company M1 Limited to provide Direct Carrier Billing for M1 postpaid customers in Singapore. The mobile payments and mobile marketing company says it will bring M1 customers mobile-optimized digital products and services and the ability to pay with direct carrier billing.
Growth
Xero Limited (ASX:XRO, NZE:XRO) has achieved a key milestone with more than 400,000 small business customers operating on its cloud platform. The New Zealand based online accounting company reports it processed $250 billion New Zealand dollars, or about $235 billion Australian dollars, worth of transactions this year.
Shares in 1-Page Limited
(ASX:1PG) are up more than 6 per cent on news it has signed First Republic Bank to its new employment referral system. The cloud based human resources company says First Republic is now using two of the company’s offerings and says the bank is one of the largest in the US.
SMS Management & Technology Limited
(ASX:SMX) has also made gains as it appoints Jacqueline Korhonen as CEO while also confirming first half guidance. Chairman Derek Young says Mrs Korhonen has a track record of managing and delivering profitable growth within tech companies and she will drive improvements in operational performance.
iSentia Group Limited
(ASX:ISD) has signed a pioneering agreement that allows the scraping of online news and magazine content for clients. The deal, brokered by the Copyright Agency, allows iSentia to harvest headlines and content including paywall content from Fairfax Media and NewsCorp and deliver multi platform ‘news alerts’ to clients about content directly relevant to their business.
Regeneus Limited
(ASX:RGS) has welcomed new Japanese regenerative medicine laws to fast track cell therapy. The regenerative medicine company says the laws which passed through Parliament in November last year have now come into effect.
