According to the Book of Exodus, after the the children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, God bestowed Moses with the Ten Commandments inscribed on two stone tablets. Among them, famously, was, “Thou shalt not steal.”
But as 9News reports, some Aussie Christians could use a refresher on this particular piece of scripture. According to the Hillsong Church, the Australian Pentecostal mega-church famous for its music, Christians are pirating music. A lot.
“Despite the demographic of our audience being predominantly Christian, sadly we are not immune to the challenges posed by music piracy,” the organisation wrote in a submission to an inquiry on the government’s draft copyright laws.
Legislation recently put before parliament will allow rights holders to seek a court injunction forcing internet service providers to block access to piracy websites hosted overseas and Hillsong are one of the first to take the step.
According to Hillsong Music Australia and Hillsong Music Publishing, the band Hillsong United, one of the church’s most popular acts, has been cited by industry group Music Rights Australia as one of the most pirated music groups in the country.
However, despite efforts to crack down on piracy (as if the whole “Thou shalt not steal” thing wasn’t enough), Hillsong say that when websites are not hosted or run in Australia, the church is left “effectively powerless” to crack down on illegal sites.
The church went further to praise the government for taking action against online piracy with their legislation, which they predict will have an “immeasurably positive” impact on the creative industries in the country.
As 9News notes, the legislation includes tweaking to provisions outlining what the court needs to consider when taking action, as well as the implementation of an industry code currently before the broadcast watchdog.
The laws will also allow those “focused on charitable purposes” to maintain a focus on their core values, the church organisation argued. Readers can view Hillsong’s full submission via the official Parliament of Australia website.
While the Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited say the changes aren’t entirely a “silver bullet”, they concede they are an important step for Australia in overcoming web piracy. The bill has the support of the Australian Copyright Council, despite their concerns over the effectiveness of the bill.
