Stop piracy

No, I am not referring to piracy on the high seas, though that is also a subject I would like to write on some time. I am focusing on the rampant and shameless piracy of copyrighted works and software in this paradise island of ours. Walk along the crowded sidewalks of Pettah and you will see dingy huts selling DVDs for - hold your breath - for all of Rs.50.

Sheathed in plastic, with a cover note ripped straight from the original DVD, these DVDs (usually a recorded no-brand DVD-R with no disc art) sometimes contain up to eight movies. What you get is lower than VHS resolution. The same goes for music, with MP3 CDs containing hundreds of copyrighted songs in all three languages going literally for a song. It is not only Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie who are ripped into MP3, but also Amaradeva and Victor Ratnayake. Clearly, the pirates are not leaving anyone alone from Hollywood to Bollywood to Kollywood.

So this ugly scene must be limited to the pavement, right? Wrong. Go to any shopping mall in the City and the so-called 'Original DVD' shops openly sell counterfeit DVDs for a more respectable amount of money, say, Rs.200 for a movie with a DVD case. It is very easy to spot these fakes - wrong spellings on the cover is the number one give away, but there are many other indications as well, apart from the price. It is a scene that angers me every time I see it. Why cannot the authorities clamp down on this manifestly illegal business ?

Pirates are always one step ahead. They moved swiftly from VCD to DVD and now, they are moving into Blu-Ray, the latest high-definition format. In fact, I was shocked the other day to find seemingly genuine Blu-ray discs at a shop in a premier shopping mall. The price? Just Rs.1,500 for latest titles. Fortunately, I can instantly differentiate between the genuine article and the fake one and it did not take even 10 seconds to conclude that they were fake. The cover art was wrong in every one of them, for starters. But the potential consequences are frightening, given that the format is just a couple of years old.

The story continues inside. The DVD is usually of very bad quality that will 'crack' after a number of playings, the 'DTS Digital Surround' soundtrack is tinny at best, and the subtitles are horribly wrong. These discs can ruin your player, period. I bought my region free DVD player exactly 10 years ago, when the format was still in its infancy and it is still giving me hours of entertainment. One reason could be that it has never ever played a fake DVD or CD. Every digital one and zero that its red laser had read belonged to a genuine DVD, VCD or CD.

A recent news item highlighted that the Police had raided several video dens and confiscated hundreds of porn VCDs and DVDs. We must commend the Police for taking action against these video store owners as they are a prime source for contaminating young minds. But didn't it occur to them that the entire collections of these dubious video shacks are 100 per cent illegal ? This is indeed pathetic and worse, I have seen policemen eagerly purchasing counterfeit CDs from these shops.

Allowing piracy on this scale is positively damaging to our economy.

First, almost all of these discs are smuggled in, depriving the Government of any revenue. There is a healthy black market behind the whole operation and the underworld too has been known to meddle in. Our stand with3

regard to international copyright conventions can also be called into question, thanks to the open display and sale of fake DVDs, not to mention software. Windows Vista Starter for Rs.200, anyone ?

But what are the alternatives ? There is only ONE shop in the whole of Colombo that sells genuine DVDs and Blu-rays. And the prices are way beyond the wallet of a middle-class movie lover, with DVDs starting at Rs.1,800.

But wouldn't people buy genuine products if they were cheaper ? We can take a cue from India, where the latest (original) titles are usually priced at Rs.300 (VCD), Rs.600 (DVD) and Rs.1300 (Blu-Ray). These prices are not beyond the reach of your average Joe and hence, there is less compulsion to head towards the pirate bay. I am certain that more people would buy genuine DVDs if they were in the Rs.800-1000 price bracket here.

There should be a dialogue between the (Hollywood/Bollywood) movie studios and Sri Lankan authorities on this issue. It has to be a process of give and take - we will eliminate piracy but they too must step in to fill the void, legally. In other words, consumers must be given an alternative if piracy is eliminated.

A Sri Lankan company or companies should come forward to clinch local distribution rights for Region 5 DVDs and Region C Blu-rays, so that they can be affordably priced. To be frank, I have only three Region 5 DVDs in my collection and I have not yet seen a Region C Blu-ray, so Hollywood too has to commit itself to our region in a bigger way. There is a world beyond the United States and the UK.

True, mushrooming video shops do provide employment to thousands of youth all over the country. They do not necessarily have to go out of business if piracy is stopped. They can become legal outlets for copyrighted content. Preventing piracy can thus become a win-win situation. The consumer gets genuine content for a reasonable price and the shops will benefit too.

It was recently reported that online movie piracy is also increasing. Sadly, Hollywood should blame itself for this situation. If you care to look, the latest movies can be downloaded for free on the Net - illegally, of course. Now, I do appreciate the enormous costs associated with these movies and that the copyrights have to be protected.

But then, why do those living outside the United States run into a wall every time they try to LEGALLY download a movie on Amazon or any other legal site ? Hollywood studios have their DRM (Digital Rights Management) codes embedded in the download stream to prevent multiple copying, so why worry ? Are all those living outside the US potential pirates ? This warped thinking has to stop. We live in a Global Village, after all. By blocking legal downloads to other countries, Hollywood only creates more pirates.

I am frustrated by the extent to which Hollywood takes its cherished DRM - the other day, I wanted to transfer the legally obtained Digital Copies of the Tom Cruise WW II drama Valkyrie and Clive Owen-helmed thriller The International to my iPod Touch via iTunes. I keyed in the 16-digit transfer code on iTunes, but iTunes would not recognize it simply because I am living in a country other than the US. Thankfully, I could successfully transfer both movies to my PC. It is time that Hollywood makes legal downloads open to all citizens of the world at affordable rates, with the option of burning them to DVD, SD cards or USB drives. Physical media too must be priced according to the economic conditions of each region. That is one step that can reduce online and even retail piracy. By the same token, the region coding on DVDs and Blu-Rays is incompatible with the age of the Internet, when we can order content from any part of the world.

It is true that Hollywood has taken some steps to reduce piracy. Most movies are now released on the same day worldwide, thus depriving the pirates a chance to sell shoddy 'camera copies'. The cinema-to-DVD window has been minimized, with Region 1 DVDs appearing just a couple of months after the theatrical run. They are then released to Video on Demand and premium satellite movie channels. But Hollywood must implement suitable physical and online distribution systems in all parts of the world to defeat pirates.

People are hungry for entertainment. They like to unwind with a movie or a song album after a hard day's work. Watching a two-hour movie on free-to-air TV takes around four hours thanks to advertisements, so people would rather go in for paid content. Right now, they are getting a vastly inferior product, be it from the sidewalk or the shopping mall. This picture has to be changed, literally.

The authorities must intercept shipments of counterfeit DVDs and destroy them.

Those duplicating such DVDs locally should be apprehended. Copyright laws must be respected and implemented. Any taxes on legal physical media must be reduced. Governments and law enforcement authorities around the world must get together to tackle audio-visual and software piracy. The piracy of intellectual property is a serious crime, almost on par with narcotics trafficking. Let us leave no room for it.