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After a marked decline in online piracy in the 2010s, followed by a significant spike during the covid-19 pandemic, many expected the numbers to drop once things returned to normal. But movies and TV shows are more pirated than ever, despite the best efforts of governments and companies. Why ? That’s what we’re going to find out in this article.
Anti-piracy often relies on technology…but so do pirates.
Technologies are constantly evolving, allowing pirates to stay at the same level as anti piracy specialists, or, sometimes, one step ahead of security measures. For the general public, virtual private networks (VPNs), for example, mask users’ IP addresses, making them harder to trace. They are easy to use and are now widely advertised and know, even without any technological knowledge.
In the early 2000s, when piracy first emerged, downloading a file from the Internet was a huge risk because it was often a means of spreading a virus that damaged computer hardware. Thanks to progress in anti-virus technology, this risk is now minimal, so people are more inclined to use torrents to download their files.
In addition to these tools, illegal streaming platforms offering high-quality pirated content are appearing all the time. These services often mimic legitimate sites, making it difficult for the average user to distinguish them for the average user. Some are even more user-friendly than the legal streaming sites.
The increasing accessibility and sophistication of these circumvention technologies makes piracy much easier.
This year, Netflix decided to raise its prices and introduce ad-included plans, taking a step back from its original USP of cheap, ad-free TV shows and movies. Other companies have followed Netflix’s lead by raising their prices and adding ads to their payment plans.
From now on, if you want access to the most popular ad-free streaming services, you’ll have to pay:
In total, these packages cost almost 600 dollars per year.
Some people have also given up on legal subscriptions altogether, realizing the amount of personal data streaming companies collect almost without control. Thus they prefer illegal alternatives to continue enjoying the content they love.
Piracy of expensive software, such as productivity suites or content creation tools, especially video and image creation tools, is also motivated by financial reasons, especially for students or new professionals who can’t afford to pay for licenses.
Piracy is often perceived by its authors as a form of democratization of access to culture and professional tools. In many countries, legal access to certain content or software is limited, either by geographical restrictions or prohibitive costs. Piracy then becomes a way for individuals to overcome these barriers.
For example, movies or TV shows may not be available in certain parts of the world or may be released with long delays. Similarly, expensive professional software is not always affordable for users in developing countries.
Piracy is therefore seen by some as a means of reducing these inequalities and providing more equitable access to digital resources.This phenomenon has accelerated in recent years, due in part to price inflation, but also to the overall decline in incomes.
On the one hand, people don’t want to miss out on that new show that everyone’s talking about; if it’s not available in one of the subscriptions that this user is already paying for, they’ll easily turn to piracy. On the other hand, people are not willing to pay for something they are not going to use. Some people, seeing the size of libraries combined with the fact that not all interesting content will ever be available there prefer to cut all ties with streaming services and download only the content that really interests them.
And yet piracy in music seems to have decreased to the point of being almost negligible… why? Is it possible to imagine a similar situation in the film and TV sector ?
We will be back mid-july for the second part of our article. For the time being, a posteriori methods, i.e. regular searches for pirated versions and rapid removal of incriminating links, remain the best solution for protecting your intellectual property.
A specialized company with experienced staff and the right tools will be able to help you effectively. If you have a film, series, software or e-book to protect, don’t hesitate to call on our services by contacting one of our account managers; PDN has been a pioneer in cybersecurity and anti-piracy for over ten years, and we’re bound to have a solution to help you. Enjoy your reading, and see you soon for the rest of our article!
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© 2023 PDN Cyber Security Consultant. All rights reserved.