Australian Parliament urges citizens to bypass geo-locks on software

An Australian parliamentary committee released a report today encouraging Australian consumers to find lawful ways to bypass "geo-locks" on popular software from Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and others. According to ABC Australia, the report is the result of testimony given to the committee by representatives from Microsoft, Adobe, and Apple, companies that do business globally and charge Australian consumers and businesses considerably more for the privilege of purchasing their products and services. On average, Aussies pay 42 percent more for the same stuff as Americans.

The three companies grilled by the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications each gave differing answers on why their wares cost more in Australia. "Adobe said it offered a specialized 'bespoke' experience for Australian customers," wrote science and technology reporter Jake Sturmer. "Apple blamed local copyright holders for higher prices on its local iTunes store. Microsoft said its prices were set and customers could vote with their wallets. Except customers couldn't exactly do that because of geo-blocking."

The terms "geo-locking" or "geo-blocking" refer in aggregate to the broad set of techniques companies put in place to segregate the world into different regions or markets. Most companies that do business internationally have different pricing models for different regions of the world; Microsoft, for example, might charge customers in "emerging markets" less for products than it would charge customers in the US or UK. But software pricing in Australia tends to be skewed far to the expensive side of things—indeed, Penny Arcade Report Editor and Ars alum Ben Kuchera recently wrote about the cost of being a gamer in Australia, noting that new game releases will often cost more than A$100 (about US$92).

Beyond the reasons for higher Australian pricing mentioned by Sturmer, companies also cited things like the smaller market size, unfavorable exchange rates, different wage structures, the cost of freight, and sales taxes. The fact that software is increasingly digital and the marginal cost of delivering it to Australia is far lower doesn't appear to have made much of a difference in the price tags presented to consumers. "There's obviously a fair bit of consumer frustration out there, particularly in the area of downloads—where people cannot see any real justification for such great differentials in downloads," noted Committee Chairman Nick Champion. The full report can be downloaded here.

The response from companies like Adobe has been relatively consistent, even with the switch to digital delivery. Many appear to have demonstrated a desire to keep pricing consistent across digital and physical items and take in the extra margin. In February 2013, shortly after the announcement of Adobe's cloud-based pricing model, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was cornered by a reporter in Sydney and repeatedly avoided answering the reporter's questions on why Australian consumers would be forced to pay more for the all-digital service, responding instead with an impenetrable wall of buzzwords.

There are issues, though, with the committee's recommendation that Australians do what they can do circumvent or avoid geo-locks on software—mainly that avoiding geo-locks may not be possible within the bounds of Australian law, which has some anti-circumvention provisions similar to those in US law. The report states:

While many submissions strongly support the avoidance of geoblocking mechanisms put in place by IT companies and vendors, there is also uncertainty as to whether such actions are legal in all circumstances, including as a possible breach of the Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provisions in relation to access control TPMs.

Meanwhile, Australian consumer group Choice has published a set of guidelines on easy ways Australian geoblocks can be defeated, including using parcel forwarding services to order from US-based vendors, using VPN services to fool geolocation, and instructions on setting up a US iTunes account. None of the methods listed appear to involve actual programmatic circumvention, and most are relatively easy to implement.