film piracy

1. Film Piracy

2. What is film piracy?
Film piracy is the illegal copying and distribution of
movies in print, video, dvd and/or electronic files. It
is commonly used all throughout Britain and the UK
so that people can watch films for cheaper or even
free. It's a very popular choice of watching films as it
is quite fast and simple. You can watch films that are
not yet released or if you are not willing/can't afford
to buy the film legally or go to the cinema to see it.
Other than the legal risks of film piracy, another fault
in pirated movies is that they are low quality films
that are not worth the small expense or the wait that
the legal copy would be.

3. Almost 30% of the UK population is watching/downloading
illegal copies of films online, costing the film industry
£500m a year. Streaming content online or buying fake
DVDs is classed as theft and despite the public not
thinking much of it, it creates serious consequences for
the industry and everyone involved in it. The perception
that it is a victimless crime is wrong. The super successes
created every year have their value reduced when the film
is copied or made available online. This can be very heart-breaking
for the film maker who could have been saving
up and raising money so that they can
make the film.

4. A Past Piracy Problem
In June 1996, the largest ever film piracy affair in the
New York, US was demolished. The nationwide
business sold over 100,000 films a week, earning
roughly $500,000. The investigation, nicknamed
"Operation Copy Cat", ended when search warrants
were completed by the NYPD and the MPAA. "36
people were arrested and there were 817 VCRs,
77,641 pirated videos, $40,000 in case, 37,000
blank cassettes, more than 100,000 sleeves, labels
and other sophisticated equipment used in the
duplicating process."

5. Film Piracy, Organised Crime and
Terrorism
There is evidence of an advancing connection between film piracy and
organized crime. Piracy is high in profit and low in risk, often taking
place unnoticed by law enforcement. Besides being a threat to the
global economy, counterfeiting is a threat to public safety and national
security.
This table show the criminal groups examined, by researchers from "RAND Corporation" in
2009, where they are based and the range of crimes they have committed. From this
information it's clear that all groups that committed film piracy also carried out other, more
serious, crimes.

6. Overall, the case provides clear evidence that
terrorist groups use film piracy to finance their
activities. Caution should be applied when making
conclusions from limited information. This research
also suggest that property theft is appealing to not
only organized crime but also terrorists, such as
opportunistic members of local terrorist associations.

7. Statistics

8. Other online piracy statistics:
http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy/

9. Effects on the Industry
Film piracy has been the bane of the film industry for
about 5 - 10 years now, slowly but surely it is starting
to slowly deteriorate the way they sale and make
their films. This effects is surely bad, it means a rise
in prices, a fall in quality and an abundance of
crimes committed by thousands of people!

10. Short Term
The are a great many short term effects that film piracy has on
the film industry. For example, people now simply do not want to
buy films when given the option for a free one, this is a disaster
for the industry as it mean they're forced to charge more for
there products. In turn having an effect on the chances of us
actually wanting to buy the film. This then means that any
revenue that would have been made from buying or renting the
film is now lowered, meaning that the industry loses out on any
potential earnings, and a lower budget for future projects. Star
wars for example, last year this was the top pirated movie in
America, it lost millions of dollars in potential earnings.
For many new films, film piracy is also a problem. Films that are
still in the cinemas are even accessible encouraging many
people to watch it online rather than pay to see it at the cinema.
This due to how easy it is to watch a movies online. With literally
just a few clicks you can find yourself watching all the latest or all
the old classics you grew up with, and this is why people are
using this in a major scale. This makes it extremely difficult for
producers to make a profit on their film project.

11. Long Term
As well as many short-term effects, they're also many long term
effects that piracy has on the film industry. For example, and possibly
the number one biggest fear for anyone with an aspiring career in the
film industry, job loss. Actors, stunt doubles, technicians and many
more of the variety of different types of jobs that are available in the
making of films are now at risk. This is much to do with the fact that
the profit that would have been made if people bought the film, is now
lost, meaning projects makes less money and are now having to
make huge cuts in things such as: pay, number of people employed
and im sure many other areas. This creates many problems. For
example, the quality of the films being made will start to fall,
especially with the higher demand for films that are high quality and
worth buying. this problem again is created because of the fact that
there just is not enough funding for the projects to keep up with the
higher demand. This is because of smaller budgets and the fact that
actors will not want to play a role if they do think it is worth it or they
are not being paid enough.

12. As with almost everything else in the world, the films
industry revolves and depends on money. This may
also effect any potential investors. Investors do not
look at how good the film might be, all they want to
know is how much profit they will make, so no profit,
means no investment, and this is bad news for
production companies. Even local movie stores will
be effected, many have now closed down and gone
out of business, this is partly due to the fact that
renting and buying movies have been made more
accessible online so there is no need to go to the
store, but also partly because people are now
choosing to pirate movies rather than rent them.

13. Advantages
However, although there are many negatives to film piracy when it
comes to to the music industry, there a few benefits for every day
people. For example, its free, and everything becomes better once
it is is free. people who may not be able to afford to pay £10 each
time a new film comes out can now access films easier and
without having to pay. This means that films maybe getting more
recognition. Also, it allows people to now test if they like a film or if
its worth buying before actually pay to see it. So this is actually an
advantage as no one wants to spend money on a film then it
turning out to be bad.
Hollywood director Lexi Alexander has even criticised the motion
picture industry claiming that "kids hacking film security is more
entertaining than Hollywood movies". This really shows that not
everyone is against, and although she is not condoning it, the
advantages have been recognised. It allows people from every
country to access foreign shows. For example, someone who has
migrated from France to the UK will find it very hard to find French
TV shows, so pirating allows them easy access to everything they
have missed.

14. Effects on the Consumer
Why people pirate films is unclear. The obvious reason for film piracy
would be the cheap cost or the availability of the products, but - as this
source shows - that may not be the case.
"Why do people pirate movies? It's an age-old question with an answer
that always seems to boil down to: because it's free.
The Industry Trust in the UK doesn't see it this way, though. In its
studies it has seen that the most prolific illegal downloaders are also
the ones who go to the cinema the most. They love movies, regardless
of where or how they watch them.”
This opens up questions about illegally
pirating films and what the main reason
for doing so is. If, then, the reason is not
because of the minimal or free cost, then
why? Its seems that although pirating films
is highly popular in the UK, there is little
to no evidence that shows why this happens
and why it is such a popular activity.

15. Advantages
Availability -
A simple search on Google is all it takes now to find an
illegally streaming website, making both films and
television shows easy to find and fast. This factor is
highly appealing to the consumer of film piracy as it can
be so simple to find a film quick and easy, and simply
forgetting about any consequences of doing so on a
illegal site. DVD pirated films can also be easily
accessed both online and at events such as car boot
sales. The availability of pirated films means that
consumers who don't either want the hassle of going to
the cinema or having to buy a film legally - for more
money - is a highly important reason as to why illegal
piracy happens.

16. Ads -
Advertisements before or during a film are always used
when watching legal forms of movies, along side these
advertisements are usually messages informing the
consumer that piracy is illegal - such as the image
shows. The irony in pirated movies cutting out these
adverts and messages is also a very attractive factor in to
why pirated movies are watched. As, often, consumers
do not want to be constantly interrupted - as they would if
watching a film on television - or have to sit through
masses of messages and ads before the movie has even
begun. The advantages of watching pirated films do, for
some, outweigh the disadvantages and so this illegal
activity continues to be a problem.

17. Disadvantages
Poor quality -
It's almost impossible to find the same quality in a
film legally bought and one pirated. Often films are
recorded at the back of cinema's and the footage -
with poor quality sound and, sometimes, movie
goer's heads popping up as they go to the loo. Along
side the band quality picture, the sound is
sometimes just shut off completely for short periods
of time. The poor quality of these pirated movies is a
main reason as to why the movie industry does not
go completely out of business.

18. Consequences -
Film pirating laws are different all over the globe and the
consequences for doing so are widely ranged. In the UK it
seems that piracy laws are rather lenient. This article explains
new laws that have apparently been put in place in the UK for
watching pirated movies online.
"the British government has apparently decriminalized online
piracy, and pirates who download illegal copies of movies,
music and games will no longer be punished, as the U.K. has
figured out its actions against pirates were not working anyway.
The government will still send out warning letters to Internet
users who download illegal content, but after the fourth
warning, no further action will be taken. Instead of punishing
people who constantly download illegal stuff, the government,
joint by UK’s biggest Internet providers – including BT, TalkTalk,
Virgin and Sky – will try to convince people to download legal
content by informing them about the sources where legal
content can be purchased.”

19. There are also, more harsh, consequences for
pirating films yourself. This article shows the result in
Sweden for doing said crime.
"A 28-year-old man has been fined 4.3 million
Swedish krona - just over £400,000 - for uploading
one film to a torrent-sharing website.
He was also given a suspended
jail sentence and 160 hours of
community service for uploading
517 other titles."

20. Lowering film piracy ratings
"Your typical illegal downloader – 35 and under, predominantly
male – but those who are older, perhaps new to the idea of
downloading or streaming movies."
However, these consumers, often, do not know that they are
breaking any laws. Education is a key aspect in lowering the rates
of film piracy. Many internet users stumble upon illegally
streaming websites for watching films online and not realising that
by using them, a law is actually being broken. This means that
many of the users of these illegal sites are naive to the laws that
are not being followed and therefore continue to use the site and
others like it thinking that there is no problem in doing so. This
graph shows the level of confidence internet users have when
knowing what is and isn't illegal online. It also shows a
comparison of ages and genders. Adults aged '55+' are shown to
be the least confident in knowing this information; this graph goes
to show the importance of educating internet users into what is
legal and what isn't when online.

21. Sites have been set up to educate the users of these sites so
that they are aware that by watching these movies online they
are, in fact, breaking the law. These sites aim to lower the rate
in pirated film users and therefore, hopefully, lower the rate of
film piracy in general.

22. Conclusion
It seems that although piracy is highly popular in the UK,
not a lot is happening to stop it. This could be down to
the evidence that shows that piracy does not actually
affect the film industry or could simply be that the sheer
amount of illegal piracy being carried out in the UK is too
large to be completely eliminated.
Consumers of pirated films, all-in-all, appear to gain
major advantages over the problems in using illegally
streaming websites or buying a pirated DVD. This
suggests that film piracy will forever be around and is
unlikely to get any less popular any time soon.

23. If you know of any form of film theft and can give
information about it, you can call Crimestoppers at
0800 555 111 or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org,
anonymously and free of charge.

24. Bibliography
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9417/index1.html
http://www.wired.com/2009/03/hollywood-funde/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/270908/the-10-most-pirated-movies-
of-2012/
http://www.dga.org/craft/dgaq/all-articles/1001-spring-2010/internet-issues-
piracy-statistics.aspx
https://www.google.co.uk/
http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/dvd-css/
piracy.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/17/digital-piracy-film-online-
counterfeit-dvds
http://www.kuzdjafilmlopasellen.org/long-term-effects-of-film-piracy.
php
http://www.kuzdjafilmlopasellen.org/short-term-effects-of-film-piracy.
php
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/10/hollywood-director-
piracy-is-necessary-and-doesnt-hurt-revenues
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/movie-piracy-in-the-uk-what-
s-the-film-industry-doing--1190126
http://bgr.com/2014/07/22/anti-piracy-laws-for-illegal-downloads/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25429237