Film Piracy

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

Statistics

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

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!

Short TermThe 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.

Long TermAs 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.

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.

AdvantagesHowever, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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."

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.

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.

ConclusionIt 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.

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.

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