OBS Presents the Digital Piracy Report

Internet is the only Solution for Digital Piracy

• 6 out of 10 Internet users declare that they access illegal content on the Internet
• 390 million illegal downloads in Spain during the last year
• It goes from controlling storage to regulating traffic
• Music in streaming surpasses in billing to the consumption of digital discs
• The new generations do not perceive piracy as a crime but as a right to free access to art

In recent years, as technology has mutated into vague forms. And has abandoned physical media, with the creation of the virtual digital universe, piracy. As a phenomenon has also undergone many mutations.

Technological evolution is fast and intense enough to create new forms of economy, society, and culture that have emerged and are promoted, equally quickly, in a universe of digital networks that, in turn, forms an almost infinite web of interactions and dependencies.

Digital piracy exists for the industry and some authors. Still, it is not such for hundreds of millions of users who consider it normal to access digital content in an open and freeway.

Any of us can be a digital pirate without knowing it or without considering it. But this evidence forces us to set the limits of crime, starting from the user’s active profit and its consequences on the economic system.

Causes of Digital Content Piracy

First, many users are unaware of the burden of malpractice or illegality that lies in sharing pirated products. This ignorance spreads, in a viral way, the consumption of these products.

On the other hand, piracy has unquestionable economic benefits in literature, music, or cinema. The user accepts piracy as a standard way of accessing a work’s enjoyment, cheaper or free of charge, with minimal quality losses.

Furthermore, technological evolution does not have an immediate legal replica in terms of regulation. There are legal loopholes that take time to be covered, which becomes an opportunity for the practice of piracy. And constitutes a business with wide profit margins due to its low cost of production.

The Key to the Industry is in Streaming Broadcasts

Today, we find content on the Internet that we can consume within the network just by having adequate connectivity.

In attendance is an excellent migration of users who until now consumed the products through downloads. Who currently use the new services located in the cloud, such as the case of Pureplay or Spotify. These applications have generated great acceptance by users, and They have become, in a short time, the main competitors of Google or Apple.

During the past year, streaming music services surpassed digital disc consumption in billing. While companies such as Spotify, Pandora Rhapsody, and Youtube increased their uses by 29%, CD sales fell by 12.7%, which placed online services first, according to the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA).

For example, even though the television series Game of Thrones beats the download record year after year, it is evidence that pirates are moving away from them and prefer streaming through exclusive pages.

In the United States, the same year, 57.8 million visits to pirated material pages were calculated, constituting 12% of the total streaming volume. Interestingly, 78.5% of these visits occurred from computers, thus contradicting the trend of mobile platforms.

The Power of File Sharing

It is important to note that, beyond all these reasons (moving to the cloud, streaming instead of downloading, the proliferation of mobile devices, improved connectivity), a significant factor in the spread of piracy is the use of social networks.

The sharing file or file sharing has evolved to the point that today, links (shared link sharing ) and passwords instead of files, especially in social networking groups, leave sharing limited files to the book.

The Solution to Digital Piracy

Dissemination campaigns should focus on creative rights, explain the factors that promote piracy. And orient the message towards social effects, rather than profits lost by corporations and punishments. In this way, nobody is you will feel guilty but aware of the problem.

Another front in the fight against piracy is Internet service providers’ commitment, who dominates access to websites that store pirated content. The involvement of OTT (Over The Top Content) is essential to control the development and dissemination of these pages.

It must remain remembered that many offenders use search engines of these providers to find the material they require. In this sense, it has stood agreed with Internet providers at a high level in some countries. Another critical aspect of the fight against piracy lies in the data protection and management industry’s technological development. To the extent that the impact of piracy has become more significant and sustained over time, and as a function of the evolution concerning online consumption, the control of connectivity and access has become more critical. It’s no longer just about controlling the storage; it’s about regulating traffic.

It is evident that, since the appearance of the Internet, the cultural environment has mutated towards forms of collective enjoyment of cultural assets. Once again, we insist on the need for the industry to offer products at reasonable prices. And with sufficient capacity to seduce consumers so that they do not consider the effort of accessing pirated products for the simple fact that the paid work is better or better.

In any case, the dilemma lies between the limits of the protection of intellectual property rights, on the one hand. And the essence of the Internet universe understood as an open and free space for communication. Yes, indeed, little can remain done from the field of technology or from the regulation of intellectual property to resolve inequalities in access. And enjoyment of content in some regions of the planet where economic development is limited for much of the world. It is no less accurate than the reduction of organized piracy by multiple factors that will have to be put into the agreement if the problem is solved.

Conclusions

The main mistake we could say was the industry, which did not guide its distribution formulas in customer loyalty until recently. Still, on the contrary, they imposed prices and deadlines without linking the user.

All this indicates that content distributors will have a difficult time with these new generations who do not perceive piracy as a crime but instead as a right to free access. Or as a way to remain outside a quota system that they consider an unfair imposition.

The digital generation is also a highly mobile generation that wants to enjoy things immediately and in the community. The digital world is essentially dynamic, and regulation always pursues technological changes. And also is a world that knows no borders, no format, or language limitations. Anyone can jump a wall through a link. In this context, establishing a global governance system in distributing content that accommodates corporations. And users alike is an almost impossible task.

Governments will have to decide between preserving the freedoms of users in the digital environment and their protection as consumers. Or ensuring the content industry’s functioning and the cultural and creative environment. Which generates thousands of jobs and extensive contributions to the GDP.

The profile of the consumer of pirated material is no longer that of an individual who accumulates copies in physical formats. But has changed towards that of an individual who finds in the community free access to the materials. He wants to consume immediately.

It is also worth considering the role of social networks in the dissemination and spread of pirated content. Once again, belonging to a community without too many rules or conventions facilitates this access.

About the prosecution of piracy, it becomes clear that aggressive legislation has little or no success. In any case, it is about creating a new social contract between institutions, creators, industry. And consumers that adapts to the new ones—conditions imposed by technological advances.

In the absence of social consensus to consider piracy a crime, there are technological limitations in a dynamic. And high-speed environment, preliminary design of legal protection mechanisms, and the need to guarantee individuals’ freedom and privacy. And the little or no capacity of the states to establish a common front to face the problem from a global perspective.