Just How Bad Is Movie Piracy?
In August, the top 10 most coveted films in movie piracy world were Bruno, Inglorious Bastards, District 9, State of Play, The Hangover, Management, The Boat That Rocked, 17 Again, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Fighting. Despite a lot of MPAA belly-aching that pirated copies of movies are severely cutting into their profit margins, the Box Office numbers suggest that people still really love going to the movies with their friends. For instance, Final Destination took in $28.3 million in its opening weekend; Inglorious Bastards – $19.6 million; and District 9 – $10.7 million.
One approach to putting an end to the piracy of movies is to crack down harder on the source of the pirated copies. According to Executive director of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, Neil Gane, “Over 90 per cent of first-release pirated movies originate from illegal recordings being made in cinemas.” He says they’re working closely with cinema management to combat new download and pirated DVD leaks. He adds, “We are also focusing on syndicates that download and manufacture in large quantities, looking to cut off that element of supply.” Recently, a South Australian man received a 7-month suspended jail sentence for possessing more than 10,000 pirated movies, as well as DVD burning equipment.
Another overseas movie piracy proposal comes from Britain and France. In Europe, they’re proposing mandates for Internet Service Providers to help fight illegal music downloads and movie downloads. Suspected online pirates will have their accounts slowed down and possibly even have their Internet access blocked. “Digital piracy is a serious problem and a real threat to the U.K.’s creative industries,” explains Geoff Taylor, chief executive of BPI, a group working to prevent illegal downloads of new music. “The solution to the piracy problem must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.” Even though the U.S. Business Software Alliance supports imposing sanctions on those guilty of illegal downloads, it seems unlikely that such a heavy-handed strategy would be employed in America, just as the President and Vice President have announced efforts to expand broadband services to rural areas. Even so, it’s an interesting suggestion to watch in the future.
Motion picture thieves are an incredibly intelligent foe, which makes them such a formidable force to the MPAA movie piracy prosecutors. “When you’re talking about digital content … it’s impossible to lock it down completely” said Greg Sandoval, who reports on these matters at CNET. He adds, “These hackers are very creative. Sometimes, they’re one step ahead of the security experts.” He says these thieves can strip the carefully encoded watermarks from DVDs and gain access to perfect advance copies of the films. So far, there are no solutions other than stiffer penalties, greater enforcement teams and more guilt trips on the average citizen.
Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed treating panic disorder as well as tips on the various anxiety disorder medication available at anxietydisordercure.com.
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