Australia has been called out as the piracy capital in the world for a number of years, a claim that caught the interest of the local Government.

After discussions between amusement and ISPs businesses produced no fruit, authorities required voluntary anti-piracy measures from Internet providers. The Government threatened to stiffen the law if that failed.

Titled ‘Copyright Notice Scheme Industry Code’, the proposition proposes that ISPs begin to their subscribers to forward infringement notices.

Their concerns have been expressed by several groups in response. Australia’s leading consumer group Selection, for instance, warns over the capacity for suits and fines that are possibly limitless.

Many Australians are taking countermeasures while the suggestions haven’t yet been executed.

In the last two weeks many file sharers have been seeking instruments to conceal their IP addresses and avoid the tracking system that is planned. Using BitTorrent proxies or VPN services can their sharing tasks linked to their ISP account, leaving the three-strikes system worthless.

This effect, revealed in the graph below, is restricted to Australia and seems to be a direct consequence of the suggestions that were ISPs.

We’re seeing a peak in sales and traffic from Australia. In the last two weeks we found an 88% traffic increase,” the VPN supplier told us.

These changes must be seen in view of course. It is still just a portion of Aussie file sharers who’ve taken countermeasures. Nevertheless, it is a clear sign that warnings aren’t the silver bullet to prevent piracy.

The Aussie case isn’t the very first time that individuals have turned to anonymizing tools. The same occurred when the US Copyright Alert System established, and there was likewise a spike in Canada when ISPs started forwarding piracy notices before this year.