ars technica - WikiLeaks: MPAA behind Aussie ISP lawsuit (but don't tell anybody)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/09/wikileaks-mpaa-behind-au...
As a crucial Australian copyright lawsuit goes to its High Court for consideration, a new WikiLeaks cable from the US State Department suggests that the force behind the action is anything but local. On the surface, it appears that the suit against iiNet—on the grounds that the country's third biggest ISP hasn't done enough to crack down on illegal file sharers—is an Australian content initiative. But according to the cable, the prime mover behind the suit is actually the Motion Picture Association of America, through the Motion Picture Association, its international arm.
The MPA, "does not want that fact to be broadcasted," the 2008 communiqué from then Ambassador Robert D. McCallum Jr. explained. "MPAA prefers that its leading role not be made public," the summary of the case added, to dodge the impression that it is "just Hollywood 'bullying some poor little Australian ISP'."
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This latest revelation revives a question raised by earlier WikiLeaks cables. How many Commonwealth member nation anti-piracy initiatives are essentially a creation of US content rightsholders, or the US State Department, or a combination of both parties?
According to cables released by WikiLeaks four months ago, in 2005 the US embassy in New Zealand urged Uncle Sam to fork over about half a million New Zealand dollars to bankroll a private intellectual property enforcement unit run by major rightsholders in the region.
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Meanwhile a 2008 cable outlines the extent to which the US has pressured Canada to pass tougher copyright laws—constantly communicating with that country's government about the matter and keeping Canada on America's Special 301 Priority Watch List. That is the US Trade Representative's "hall of shame" roster for countries that don't toe the US line on copyright.