Piracy is regarded as an annoying and troublesome thing, and it is a price for doing business. Neil Gane, chairman of the Coalition Against piracy in Hong Kong, said the coalition includes foreign and local industry members. “Now, pirated content is in direct competition with legal services. Piracy has evolved-it is international, complex, and the primary challenge faced by streaming media service providers. “
According to statistics from Internet company Statisa.com, by 2022, global TV and movie suppliers will lose nearly $52 billion in revenue. This is still a daunting problem in large markets such as China and Russia, which have been fighting against digital piracy for a long time. However, in Asia, which has more than twice the population of the United States, rising demand is a wake-up call. In the past two years, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries have been included in the US Trade Representative’s “notorious markets” list, which is an annual compilation of the most serious intellectual property abuses and counterfeiters.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the piracy industry had the upper hand. In a survey initiated by the Video Industry Association of Asia (AVIA), more than half of respondents in five out of six Asian countries stated that they visited illegal streaming sites in 2019. The highest percentage is in the Philippines, where 66% of people admit to having such behavior. In Indonesia, 62% of users who visit these sites said that they have cancelled subscriptions for paid services. According to Muso TNT Ltd., a company that tracks piracy, the number of global piracy websites has increased by one-third after the blockade began in March last year due to the new crown epidemic. According to a survey conducted by the organization, the number of pirated movies in India has increased. 63%.
Data from consulting firm Media Partners Asia shows that by the end of 2020, only 6.5% of households in Asia have streaming services from Netflix or Disney. Therefore, before piracy becomes more entrenched, cracking down on piracy may be the key to solving the long-term growth of piracy in the region. “It’s still in the early stages.” Vivek Couto, the head of the consulting firm, said, “The industry needs the government to formulate policies to criminalize this behavior and crack down on piracy operators.” /p>
Currently, viewers in Vietnam only have to see Netflix’s “Brilliant Empire”(Bling Empire), and popular dramas such as Disney’s WandaVision (WandaVision) have been launched, and you can watch them on pirated websites. A popular pirated website even uses Netflix’s unique red font as its logo. Consumers can also use illegal streaming media applications and equipment (available on the local electronic market) to watch premium content.
At the Metro Manila Film Festival (Metro Manila Film Festival) in December last year, the staff of the local production company of Globe Studios hoped to provide their film “Brain Disabled” before the piracy caught up with them. “Fan Girl” (Fan Girl) strives for a few days of sales opportunities. The film produced by the studio was purchased by Netflix. During the online film festival, viewers charged 250 pesos ($5.15) for each download. But on the second day, pirated sites began to show this romantic comedy, some only charge 10 pesos once. We stared at the computer, and 10 links popped up every hour-sending the movie out. “We should have relaxed and enjoyed the box office success.” said Quark Henares, head of the Globe Telecom Inc. studio. “However, we have been tracking pirated sites. , But cannot close them.”
Jenales said that Universal Pictures lost millions of pesos in revenue at the festival. He said that piracy makes it impossible to produce profitable content in the Philippines.
Asian piracy sites often have links to illegal online gambling. Gane said his anti-piracy organization is part of the Avia Group (AVIA). Providing free entertainment allows pirates to attract customers to gambling sites and earn income from other problematic advertisements. According to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), some websites that offer pirated movies have links to organized criminal groups that use proceeds from pirated movies to fund serious criminal activities and engage in money laundering activities.
In order to prevent illegal transmission, streaming media service providers use watermarking and other technologies, which are either visible to prevent piracy, or invisible. Digital fingerprint technology can help broadcast platforms such as YouTube to identify whether the content is protected by copyright. But the most popular weapon against pirated videos is to block websites, but this requires the cooperation of the government. According to Avia, in most AsiaIn European countries, the website will be closed by law enforcement agencies only when criminal proceedings are filed against its operator. Even in countries where the law allows courts or government agencies to block illegal websites, this process is usually slow.
In Indonesia, the association sends a list to the government every 10 days, listing 50 illegal websites identified by its automated software in order to quickly block it. AVIA said that since mid-2019, more than 3,000 illegal websites have been closed. But a follow-up survey launched by the organization last year showed that although Indonesians who visited illegal websites fell by 55%, only 16% of those who visited pirated websites before would continue to subscribe to paid services. “This is a game of whacking a mole,” said Chand Parwez Servia, chairman of the Indonesian Film Commission. “The problem is that they change faster. What we need is law enforcement and court proceedings against operators.”
Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology did not respond to reporters’ requests for comment. The Director-General of the Intellectual Property Office of The Philippines, Rowel Barba, said that the agency recommended the establishment of regulations for rapid blocking of websites at a congressional committee hearing held in February this year. Barba said that the agency currently has neither an enforcement mechanism nor the legal power to shut down the website.
However, the core of the problem is the attitude of the audience. Many of them believe that there is nothing wrong with downloading pirated movies. “Many users think that since they pay for the Internet, everything on the Internet should be free,” said Maria Yolanda Crisanto, chief sustainability officer of Globe Telecom. “It is slow to change this mentality.”——Shirley Zhao (Shirley Zhao)
Translator: TeresaChen