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Story: Survey: One in four has downloaded an illegal film

Posted by: Anonymous (Friday 9 July 2004, 11:19 AM)

Absolute claptrap! What an outrageous claim!

Whomever at the MPAA made the claim that 1 in 4 people on the internet have downloaded a movie clearly had no understanding of the piracy problem.

Firstly, movies are huge and downloading them isn't an easy task, even on broadband. I accept that US broadband speeds are much higher than we get in the UK, but even then, I can't for one minute imagine that a quarter of people could be bothered to do this.

Secondly, movies downloaded from the net are usually encoded with a very lossy codec, like DIVX (there *are* free movies you can download) and are nothing like the visual or audio quality you get with a commercial DVD. What's the point in downloading a third-rate copy?

Thirdly, a lot of the copied movies I've come across have been pre-release stuff. Pre-US release. So where's that coming from? The only answer is sources inside the movie business, either copying screeners or copying the digital masters prior to film duplication.

Finally, they never seem to look at the real problem. The piracy threat does not come from the average home user downloading a movie.

It comes from organised criminal gangs and to a slightly lesser extent, terrorist networks (yes, that happens here in Blighty - the next time you're offered a copied DVD remember that it could be funding the next terrorist attack).

There are numerous groups in Eastern Europe, the Far East and even closer to home that are making a fortune from this illicit industry. It's much easier than selling drugs or smuggling alcohol or tobacco and the punishment if they get caught is much lower.

These guys have the money to buy professional duplication equipment and they run off DVDs by the tens of thousands. These are then sold through various channels, including market stalls and small shops. Sometimes it's not just the movie itself that gets pirated... some groups have set up very sophisticated networks to duplicate the cases and promotional material also, so that it looks just like the legitimate article, including the security holograms - even the professionals at FACT have a hard time telling them apart. This is the real problem.

What's actually happening is that FACT et al. are having a hard time catching the real crooks, so they're going after the soft targets - the people who can be influenced by legal threats, unlike the criminal gangs.

The MPAA and the movie studios, which drive groups like FACT, have reduced the amount of funding for anti-piracy continually but expect more prosecutions - clearly this isn't working, so they need to be seen to be doing something.

There has been a crackdown in many countries on the sale of multi-region DVD players, ostensibly 'to prevent piracy'. Now, if I buy a Region 1 DVD in the US, the studio are still making their money, I'm not ripping anyone off. The only loser is the UK retailer - but I buy plenty of R2 DVDs here, so they're not losing out by much. So why clamp down on this otherwise legal activity? So they can milk us for money - the aim is to make each global market pay as much as possible.

Personally, I go to the movies less often for these reasons:
- It's expensive
- I can legitimately *buy* the DVD within six months for less than the price of two cinema tickets and a few drinks
- There aren't that many films I really really want to see anymore
- I have a better sound system than many cinemas, probably because it's set up correctly
- My sofa is more comfortable than cinema seats
- I don't have to put up with other people (generally kids) talking through the movie or selling drugs from the back of the room (have you been to a London cinema lately?)