60 SPORTS FOCUS Content Piracy
Words by Neal Romanek
ur fully connected digital ecosystem seems to promise the ability to watch anything you want, whenever you want. The idea is so pervasive that whenever people encounter a bit of friction – whether it’s a paywall or just an inferior streaming service – it doesn’t take much to push them into seeking an illegal way to view content. So, what really are the big negative effects of content piracy? We hear scare stories (“Piracy funds the Taliban!”) and while some of these may be exaggerated, the truth is that large-scale content piracy has become a profitable side business for organised crime. Film Piracy and Its Connection to Organised Crime and Terrorism was a high- profile 2009 report by US military advisory think tank the Rand Corporation, (rand. org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9417), which concluded: “There is compelling evidence of a broad and continuing connection between film piracy and organised crime.” Of course, it’s the Rand Corporation’s job to find and assess enemies, and 2009 was a time even more paranoid about terrorism than our own, so it’s unlikely the Rand report would conclude: “Content piracy is relatively harmless; don’t worry about it.” However, the report offers 17 case studies that note how “buying and selling
pirated films is not a victimless crime”. The report adds: “Because profits are huge, the cost of entry minimal and the risks relatively low, organised-crime groups worldwide use counterfeiting to fund serious criminal activities.” The organised crime groups listed include everything from Chinese triad gangs to the yakuza to Spanish child abduction rings and UK gangs. Three of the Rand Corporation case studies seek to show that terrorist groups have also received income from content piracy. The average viewer of pirated content tends to think the financial impact of content piracy is on ‘fat cats’ at studios or networks, and it is hard to muster sympathy for a large company in a foreign country. But the attitude may change when they understand the money put down on an illegal stream of a major live event is actively funding an organisation working against the public good. Written a decade ago, the Rand Corporation report focuses on the DVD market. It warns: “Criminal groups are working to gain control of the entire supply chain, from manufacture to distribution to street sales.” As the DVD wanes and fully digital delivery and streaming takes over, piracy has changed, but not abated. In an escalating arms race, sophisticated DRM and watermarking technologies are
Content piracy is as old as Shakespeare, but its profits can go to some pretty unsavoury places. Inspector Marlene Álvarez Vicente follows the money to track down piracy at its source
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