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Beyond $ -- more global perils of piracy
March 13, 2009
If you thought that the damages from DVD piracy were limited to massive lost revenues for retailers, studios and all who do business with them, think again.
A new report from global think tank RAND Corp. for the Motion Picture Assn. ties DVD piracy to organized crime and terrorism in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The reason, researchers say, is that bootleg movies have a higher profit margin than narcotics and minimal risk of enforcement.
The report, “Film Piracy and its Connection to Organized Crime and Terrorism,” is available to download for free at www.rand.org/research_briefs/.
Through 14 case studies, the report lays out how film counterfeiting is widely used to generate cash for criminal organizations ranging from the Yi Ging and Jah organizations in the U.S. to Italy’s Camorra Mafia, Pakistan’s
D-Company and Japan’s Yamaguchi-gumi/Yakuza.
Some of the examples are fascinating. Like this one: “The tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay has emerged as the most important financing center for Islamic terrorism outside the Middle East, channeling
$20 million annually to Hezbollah. At least one transfer of $3.5 million was donated by known DVD pirate Assad Ahmad Barakat, who received a thank-you note from the Hezbollah leader.”
And this: “In Britain, 21 illegal Chinese immigrants drowned in the rising tide of Morecambe Bay while harvesting shellfish at night in treacherous waters. The victims had been forced into servitude by a slavemaster whose accomplice was found to have 4,000 counterfeit DVDs, copiers and other equipment used for film piracy.”
Cases chosen for dramatic effect, no doubt, but they do a good job of making the case that piracy is not a victimless crime, and that its victims are far from the media conglomerates that make and distribute movies, and even the stores that sell them. In fact, it is a crime with implications for both public safety and national security.
Proposed solutions include adding organized crime and piracy to the agendas of influential global gatherings such as the G-8; expanding the definition of organized crime to include large-scale counterfeiting; and making piracy a priority offense within law enforcement’s anti-gang strategies.
Posted by Marcy Magiera on March 13, 2009 | Comments (1)
