Copyright on the Internet

In Russia

Main article: Pirate sites and copyright protection in Russia

In the world

2024: In Germany, a girl was fined €935 for watching a film on a pirate website

In mid-March 2024, it became known that a Russian-speaking girl living in Germany received a fine of €935 (approximately 92.78 thousand rubles at the exchange rate on March 18, 2024) for watching a film on a pirated website. This amount is proposed to be paid in installments for five months.

The girl said that she watched the film "Aquaman" on one of the resources on the Internet. Shortly afterwards, she said, she received a "letter of happiness" notifying her of the fine. It is noted that Russian-speaking users have previously complained about the harsh measures that are in force in Germany against pirates. The amount of fines for the consumption of illegal content usually varies from €900 to €1,500.

Russian-speaking girl living in Germany received a fine of €935 for watching a film on a pirate website

The data of their customers who download pirated copies of video and audio materials or view and listen to them on pirated sites is often reported to the copyright holders by the Internet providers themselves. It is noted that users of torrent services face the risks of tracking. In particular, when working with BitTorrent, the IP address is available to other nodes on the network: this allows you to identify the user and track his activity on the Internet. If illegal activity is detected, copyright holders can contact the provider with a demand to disclose information about the subscriber.

Fines for watching pirated films, including through streaming platforms, are also in effect in other European countries. For example, in Italy, recovery in this case can reach €5,000. According to a report by Muso, which specializes in copyright protection and anti-piracy, and consulting firm Kearney, pirated sites around the world visited more than 141 billion times in 2023. This is approximately 12% more than in 2019.^[1]

2023: Italy passed a law on fines of 5 thousand euros for watching pirated videos on the Internet

On July 27, 2023, the authorities Italy passed a new law aimed at combating piracy on the Internet. Users caught watching illegal streaming video services will be fined €5,000.

It is estimated that about a quarter of Italy's adult population connects to sites that allow you to view videos online - without having to download files to your local computer. Among Italians, illegal Internet television services (IPTV) and channels illegally broadcasting videos from sports events are especially popular. It is against such resources that the new law is directed.

In accordance with the document, the National Regulator for Telecommunications and Copyright on the Internet (AGCOM) is able to identify users of pirated streaming services. After identification, such citizens will be fined €5,000. Thus, the authorities will theoretically be able to replenish the country's budget by billions of euros.

In addition, AGCOM will be able to send demands to providers to block pirated resources. Telecom operators are required to restrict access to such services within 30 minutes after receiving the request. After that, providers must send a detailed report to the prosecutor's office at the court of Rome: it must include detailed information about the actions taken to comply with AGCOM requirements, as well as "any material data" that can be useful for tracking and identifying pirate service providers.

If the Internet provider does not comply with the orders of the authorities, an administrative fine will be applied to the company in the amount of €10,620 to €265,000. Those involved in illegal streaming services face up to three years in prison, plus a fine of up to €15,000.^[2]

2022: US court fines KISS Library $7.8 million for piracy

On December 29, 2021, a US court ruled to close the Ukrainian online book store KISS Library, and also awarded a fine of $7.8 million for copyright infringement. Read more here.

2021

In Malaysia, Internet pirates will be imprisoned for 20 years

On December 18, 2021, the Malaysian House of Representatives passed copyright law amendments that would strengthen the country's deterrent measures against those who facilitate access to pirated content through illegal streaming. The amendments, which cover both hardware and software, could result in offenders jailed for up to 20 years.

Laws that prohibit illegal downloading and downloading of copyrighted content are common around the world, but the rise of streaming sometimes reveals gaps in legislation.

Act 332 has been amended to ensure that the copyright laws applied will ensure more effective and effective protection in line with current requirements and meet the needs of the business community and stakeholders, said Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

The amendments focus on those involved in providing or facilitating illegal streaming. The term "streaming technology" is referred to repeatedly, and this includes computer programs (applications and other software tools), devices (streaming equipment of all kinds) that are used in whole or in part for copyright infringement.

The first section of the amendment concerns those who "commit or facilitate infringement" of copyright by producing streaming technology for sale or rental, importing streaming technology by selling or leasing (including offering, displaying or advertising for sale or rental), and/or owning or distributing streaming technology in the course of the business.

Anyone who violates these amendments will be found guilty of a crime and, after conviction, will be punished with a fine of at least 10 thousand ringgit ($2,377), but not more than two hundred thousand ringgit ($47,545). In addition to fines, there are also penalties in the form of imprisonment, which in the most serious cases can reach up to 20 years.

Those hoping to use the corporate structure as a shield will also be prosecuted. When any offences are committed by a corporate body or a person who is a partner of a firm, everyone from directors to managers will be deemed guilty of an offence and may be charged individually or jointly unless they can prove they did not know and did due diligence to prevent the offence.^[3]

Soaring photo copyright claims in Russia

At the end of November 2021, it became known about a sharp increase in the number of copyright claims for photographs in Russia. The corresponding study was conducted by RTM Group, which provides services in the field of IT, cybersecurity and law.

According to Kommersant, citing data from RTM Group, by the end of 2021, the number of copyright disputes for photo works will be more than 400 acts, which is 40% more than a year earlier. Experts estimate the total amount of the declared claims at more than 100 million rubles, and the average amount of compensation at 64 thousand rubles (corresponds to the 2020 indicator).

According to the researchers, in 2020 there were 334 disputes regarding copyright with a total amount of claims of 93.8 million rubles. Of these, the courts satisfied 20% of the declared claims for 19.1 million rubles. Violations of photo rights are most often associated with posting them on websites - 85% of cases in 2020. Analysts believe that in 2021 the share of satisfied requirements will reach 40-50%.

Historically, there are a lot of violations of rights in the photo, they can be found on almost any site, said Anatoly Semenov, deputy chairman of the RSPP committee on intellectual property.

That is why the photos were excluded from the grounds for blocking the site by the Moscow City Court: everyone understands that if they are there, we can block everything at once, "he said.

In his opinion, such disputes may affect small media projects, regional media and bloggers in social networks. The publication of a photo without a signature is recognized as a violation even in the case of non-commercial use, for example, when illustrating a post on a social network without an author's signature, the expert notes.

Maria Kunin, head of the sales and commercial projects department of the photo service of Kommersant JSC, says that it is difficult to track violations of anonymous Telegram channels that can publish photos without specifying authorship and pre-purchase of a license, and then quickly delete content when controversial issues arise.^[4]

Introduction of fines for users of pirated online cinemas in Italy

In early September 2021 Italy , they began to fine users and subscribers of pirated online cinemas that used the services. IPTV

The Italian police's financial crime unit in Italy said it had transferred 240 subscribers of pirated IPTV services to prosecutors to take further action on their cases. The suspects were identified after authorities targeted a reseller of unlicensed (pirated) streaming packages.

IPTV has been active since the beginning of 2019, and Italian law enforcement agencies have tried to reduce the availability of pirated IPTV platforms and related services in the local market.

In September 2019, as a result of a large-scale operation, the IPTV Xtream-Codes management service was destroyed, which served about 50 million end users. With the case yet to be decided, authorities have focused on destroying IPTV services themselves.

On September 1, 2021, several local media outlets in the city of Piacenza reported that 240 people, mainly from the city itself, were identified as subscribers to the pirated IPTV platform, using pirated content Sky, Dazn, Mediaset Premium, Netflix and Amazon Prime at a reduced price, €10 per month.

Resellers sell pirated IPTV packages from larger vendors. However, they can keep records (such as first and last names, physical addresses, email addresses, or any payment information) that allow authorities to positively identify their end customers. In this case, everything happened, although the authorities also claim the use of complex tracking methods, including financial investigations and other searches to identify subscribers.

The authorities warn of fines ranging from €2.5 thousand to €26 thousand, as well as criminal violations related to the use of equipment designed to illegally decode audiovisual programs with conditional access.^[5]

Roskomnadzor demanded that Google lift restrictions on the reproduction of the Russian anthem

Earlier, YouTube video hosting, under the pretext of copyright infringement, limited the publication of materials containing the Russian anthem. Blogger Yuri Khovansky^[6] drew attention to this situation^[7].

"Did you know that you cannot sing the anthem of Russia on YouTube, because the anthem belongs to some BMI - Broadcast Music, Inc.? These guys own the rights to the anthem. If you sing a hymn, sing it fake. Because if you sing it on notes, you will have problems with copyright, "said the blogger.

The ILV noted that "the anthem, like other state symbols, is not an object of copyright," and the actions of video hosting are "open and unacceptable rudeness" against all Russian citizens

2020

The European Commission has included VKontakte and Telegram in the list of pirated resources

In mid-December 2020 European Commission , she published an updated list of pirated sites - the "Watch List for Counterfeit and Piracy." For the first time messenger Telegram , the social network "" also entered it.Vkontakte

The list is formed on the basis of reports from groups of copyright holders. They reported that Telegram users, including public channels, "exchange illegal content, in particular music, books, news publications, films and television programs." In addition, subscribers share links to other sites that host pirated content, according to the European Commission.

The European Commission believes that Telegram does not respond quickly enough to pirated content, and VKontakte provides users with the ability to access pirated books and films, including through built-in players.

Book publishers complained about Google to the European Commission

They are unhappy that the company does not remove Ok.ru, Mail.ru, Telegram, YouTube and WattPad applications containing pirated content.

Kommersant reports that the Association for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet has complained to the European Commission about Google because it does not remove applications with pirated books from Google Play. The association represents the largest Russian book publishers. Over the past two years, Google Play, at her request, has blocked 60 mobile applications, but the most popular of them are granted immunity, said Association CEO Maxim Ryabyko.

The press service of Odnoklassniki said that the social network promptly responds to requests from copyright holders and has repeatedly offered the Association to send an exhaustive list of digital prints. This would allow blocking illegal content in automatic mode. The association never provided these materials, so the social network has to work exclusively on requests with a set of specific links.

The chief analyst Russian Association of Electronic Communications Ghazaryan Karen believes that large Google applications will not be removed from the store - requests from copyright holders are incorrect and do not contain information about what exactly needs to be removed.

2019

Liquidation of Moonwalk CDN

On October 25, 2019 Group-IB , it announced that the liquidation of Moonwalk CDN (Content Delivery Network), one of the pirates providers video content for Russia the CIS, led to the closure of two more CDN - HDGO and Kodik. The end of the "Big Three Pirated CDN," according to Group-IB experts, has already damaged 90% of Russian streaming web resources broadcasting pirated video content, but the vacant niche may be occupied by other players in the near future.

In early February 2019, Group-IB Anti-Piracy specialists publicly spoke about the work of the pirated CDN provider Moonwalk, which had been operating for two years. At the peak of its activity, Moonwalk aggregated 42,807 films (of which 14,549 were serial titles) and provided pirates with a convenient technical service that allows them to automate the placement of illegal content on the pages of pirated sites. The cost of monthly maintenance of such a CDN infrastructure was about $100 thousand, and the income of the attackers was in the millions of dollars.

In October 2019, as a result of a joint operation of international anti-piracy organizations BREIN, MPA and ACE, CDN Moonwalk was liquidated. The blow to the technical infrastructure of the service caused a chain reaction: problems began with the delivery of video content from two other large pirated CDN - HDGO and Kodik, which shared servers with Moonwalk in the Netherlands and worked as part of an "exchange agreement." For example, Kodik immediately lost almost half of the content - 8,000 out of 17,000 series, and HDGO at the time of its closure had a base of more than 25,000 films - of which 60% were films and 40% of series. As a result, HDGO ceased to function on October 18, and after it on October 23 Kodik, the last pirated CDN of the "Big Three," ceased to exist.

According to Group-IB estimates, as a result of the collapse of Moonwalk, HDGO and Kodik, up to 90% of Russian pirated online cinemas were affected. The company's experts note that the Big Three was aimed mainly at the audience of Russia and the CIS, although Moonwalk in the near future planned to enter the pirate market in Brazil and collected a base of 2,000 films in Portuguese.

According to Group-IB Anti Piracy, as of October 2019, there are about 10 pirated CDN of providing video content for Russia and the CIS countries. It is worth noting that pirated CDN are a purely Russian phenomenon. Earlier in 2019, Group-IB reported that 80% of pirated films and 90% of TV shows in Russia are streamed. Most Russian online pirates continue to use smaller pirated CDN. Some offer web modules that automatically populate sites with posters and movie descriptions, and in some cases even provide unique reviews.

Watching the heightened struggle with CDN content repositories, pirates are looking for other ways to monetize. The vacant niche, according to Group-IB Anti Piracy experts, will be occupied at first by pirated content aggregators. So the company's specialists note a sharp increase in player installations from the YOHOHO CDN aggregator.

The situation is commented on by Dmitry Tyunkin, Deputy Head of the Intellectual Property Protection Department of Group-IB:

YOHOHO is not a pirated CDN provider, it only aggregates films and series from the remaining pirated CDN afloat and gives the user the desired content through its player. After the "Big Three" ceased operations, users drew attention to the player, although it was previously present on the pages of portals. This led to an increase in the number of YOHOHO player placements. Obviously, pirates are trying to "close holes" caused by disabled CDN.

Group-IB specialists summarize: in the short term, the closure of Moonwalk will help significantly contain the business of pirates and reduce the distribution of pirated copies in Russia. However, in the long run, Moonwalk, HDGO and Kodik will occupy a profitable place. Since not all players were blocked at the same time, they still have time to redistribute the pirate market and reorganize.

91% of Russians prefer pirated content

On September 26, 2019, it became known that the majority Russians (91%) prefer to download from Internet pirated films, TV shows, music and others, and content not buy them, despite the fact that in this way they violate the law and risk infecting theirs. computer harmful ON The main reason is the high cost of legal content (75% of users complain about this). This conclusion was reached by the company's specialists ESET based on the results of a survey conducted in September 2019.

Of the 2 thousand survey participants, more than half (52%) admitted that they download unlicensed games from the Internet, 43% watch pirated video content, 34% prefer to listen to music online for free, 19% use unlicensed programs, and 14% of respondents illegally read e-books. It is noteworthy that many users prefer several types of illegal content at once.

In addition to the high cost of paid content, users refuse it in favor of pirated content also because legal services do not meet their requirements (34% of respondents reported this). Another 16% complained about the inconvenience of payment methods. A quarter of the respondents do not pay for legal content "for ideological reasons," which^[8].

In Australia, a court ordered providers to block 76 sites

The anti-piracy organization Village Roadshow has won a legal battle that will require Australian providers to block access to 76 overseas sites, Mediasat reported in June 2019.

Village Roadshow filed suit in December 2018. The organization was supported by companies such as Universal, Disney, Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia and Paramount. The court took several months to reach a fair verdict. As a result, the measures insisted on by the plaintiff were approved.

Now Australian ISPs need to block 76 sites that are accused of distributing pirated content. The court ordered to immediately block the following resources:

01torrent.net, 1movies.nl, 1movies.biz, 1movies.pl, 1movies.ch, 1movies.is, 300mbfilms.co, 9putlocker.io, afdah.info, afdah.to, arawatch.video, cafehulu.com, cartoonson.tv, cartoonsons.com, dafreetv.net, dafree2.com, tvdafree.com, filmlinks4u.is, gamatotv.co, gamatotv.me, gostream.site, greek-movies.com, iomovies.to, kat.tv, monova.to, 2movierulz.com, movierulz.ht, movierulz.gd, movierulz.pl, 2movierulz.ms, 2movierulz.st, movierulzfree.me, moviewatcher.is, moviewatcher.io, o2tvseries.com, onlinemoviewatch.org, onlinemoviewatch.to, otorrents.com, putlocker0.com, putlocker0.fyi, putlockerr.is, putlockers.co, putlockers.movie, putlockers.net, putlockers.tf, putlockers.id, putlockers.tv, putlockertv.ac, putlockerstv.se, putlockertv.ist, putlockertv.to, rainierland.is, scr.cr, seehd.pl, series9.io, solarmoviex.to, speed.cd, srstop.in, srstop.online, streamlord.com, swatchseries.to, tamilyogi.nu, tamilyogi.fm, tamilyogi.cc, toonova.net, toptvshows.co, toptvshows.io, torrenting.com, tt.smallfoot.me, torrentking.eu, torrentking.to, torrentking.site, torrentleech.org, torrentwal.net, torrentyeah.com, uwatchfree.online, uwatchfree.info, uwatchfree.se, uwatchfree.tv, watchcartoonsonline.la, vtv16.com, watchonline.red, woohay.com, xpau.se, yify.is, yifyhdtorrent.com, ymovies.tv, anime1.com, animedao.com, animeheaven.eu, animehub.ac, animeland.us, animeland.cc, animepahe.com, animerush.tv, chia-anime.tv, dubbedanime.net, horriblesubs.info, hotanime.me, justdubs.org, justdubsanime.net, kickassanime.io, nwanime.tv, toonget.net.

Providers are required to ensure the technical side of the lock within 15 working days. For failure to comply, they face a fine, which will increase every day of delay.

24% of French Internet users use pirate services to watch television content

On May 28, 2019, it became known that according to the study, 24% the French Internet of users use the services of pirates to watch television. content 77% of them do so at least once a week.

The study was carried out at the end of 2018 by the French anti-piracy agency Hadopi, Telecompaper reported. 17% of respondents surveyed admitted that they specially visited pirated sites for illegal viewing of TV programs. 14% used either media platforms for viewing - for example, Youtube or. social networks 5% got the opportunity to illegally view using IPTV the -addition or. program applications

Earlier, Telecompaper reported that the share of people who watch videos via broadband connections continues to grow in France, and the share of those who use traditional TV continues to fall. If at the end of 2017 the French 52% watched TV on Internet networks, then at the end of 2018 they were already 54%. The share of those who watch on-air TV decreased by 1%, those who watch satellite TV - by 2%.^[9]

European "Link Tax" and "Load Filter" adopted

A package of European copyright laws, mostly known as a "link tax" and a "download filter," was passed in March 2019 by 348 votes of MEPs to 274. EU member states must integrate new laws into national legislation within 2 years.

The two most controversial articles of the new laws are Article 11 and Article 13 (which in the most recent version of the legislation received number 17). Article 13, which requires automatic filtering of copyrighted content. It, according to opponents of the law, will lead to the introduction of download filters that will scan all user content before uploading it to the site. The law does not explicitly require such filters, but critics argue that their implementation is inevitable, as site owners will seek to avoid penalties. The cost of introducing such filters will give advantages to the American technology giants. That is, according to critics, the law will lead to the opposite result. Article 11 - a tax on links - could lead to the closure of news aggregators. But Google said that details are of great importance in implementing the law, and the company looks forward to working specifically with politicians, publishers, creators and copyright holders.^[10]

Europe gripped by street protests over bullying internet laws

Mass actions "for saving the Internet" are taking place throughout Europe in March 2019. Tens of thousands of people protesting against copyright reform in the European Union took to the streets of cities. As critics of the reform note, it will entail more and more restrictions on freedoms on the Internet^[11].

In Germany alone, protests have been taking place for several weeks. According to Deutsche Welle, at least 40 thousand people took part in the protest, and in Berlin - 30 thousand people. The police, however, counted 10 thousand protesters.

Along with the Germans, residents of Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland and Estonia expressed their disagreement with the new EU reform. The total number of protesters is being specified.

The essence of the protest

The EU authorities began discussing the reform of copyright law back in 2016, but in three years the final decision was never made. The corresponding proposal was submitted by the German politician Gunther Oettinger from the CDU party (Christian Democratic Union of Germany), who in 2016 served as EU Commissioner for Digital Policy and Economics. The next consideration of the changes will take place on March 26, 2019 in the European Parliament.

The reform implies the modernization of copyright law with an eye on modern digital technologies, including, among other things, the global network itself. Most of all, the protesters are dissatisfied with the articles of reform under numbers 11 and 13. Article 11 obliges news aggregators and social networks operating in the European Union to pay the media for the use of their materials. The size and frequency of material contributions by the governments of European states have not yet been discussed.

As for Article 13, if adopted, liability for copyright infringement by users will fall directly on web resources. These will be social networks and other popular portals that host copyrighted content.

Internet providers around the world have blocked about 4 thousand pirated sites

According to The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), to date, in 31 countries, Internet providers have blocked about 4,000 pirated sites and more than 8,000 domain names. The MPAA believes that blocking sites has been effective, but not an ideal copyright protection tool, writes Torrentfreak. Blockages have become the main way to counter the industry of pirated resources: they are applied throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Most of the blocked sites are in Portugal and Italy (944 and 855, respectively). At the same time, in the Netherlands and Lithuania, there is only one blocked site^[12].

In different countries, according to the MPAA, they use various mechanisms for blocking pirated sites. In Italy, Russia and Portugal, administrative blocking procedures are in place. In total, in about 42% of cases, sites are blocked in administrative cases, in 53% - civil and 5% - criminal cases.

The MPAA emphasizes that they do not consider blocking a panacea that can eradicate piracy completely. But this is an effective mechanism that reduces its level and often pushes users of illegal resources to switch to law-abiding services.

The European Union has agreed on a draft copyright directive

The European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission agreed in February 2019 to adopt a copyright directive, according to which Facebook, Google and other similar corporations will have to pay copyright holders to use their content. Vedomosti writes about this with reference to the press release of the European Commission^[13].

The draft document, in particular, assumes that companies will have to obtain licenses for video clips and songs before they are published. If the author opposes distribution, they will be obliged to do everything possible to block this material. Media publishers, in turn, will have the right to demand compensation from online services that post large excerpts from their publications.

The directive was first proposed back in 2016. The European Parliament may adopt an agreed version of the document in April-May, and in this case, the EU member states will have 24 months to bring their local legislation in line with it

Russian defeated American copyright holders

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lost the case against Russian Flvto.biz services and 2conv.com in court. The owner of the projects was accused of piracy, and the RIAA demanded that both sites be closed, reports Digital Music News^[14].

In court, the RIAA represented the interests of international music copyright holders, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and others. Russian services have come under the gaze of the association for the reason that they allow you to download audio tracks from videos on popular video services, including YouTube. At the time of this writing, the Flvto.biz and 2conv.com sites were functioning successfully.

The case against Flvto.biz and 2conv.com was handled by the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. All aspects of the case were dealt with for several months, but as a result, the court rejected the claim due to a lack of jurisdiction.

In other words, the Eastern District Court of Virginia does not have the necessary authority to hear the case against foreign entities. This fully applies to services, since the operating company Flvto.biz officially registered in Russia.

2018

Italy's economy received less than 455 million euros due to piracy

In 2018, gross domestic product () GDP Italy could be 455 million euros more if there was no pirated consumption in the country. content This became known on August 14, 2019.

Such data are contained in the study Pointer Brand Protection. The main conclusions of the study in the form of infographics were published by Serie A of the Italian Championship.

The study says that in 2018, Italy recorded 578 million cases of consumption of pirated content. Of these, 22 million fell on sports events - this is 52% more compared to 2017. In addition, due to pirates, the Italian treasury received less tax revenues in the amount of 203 million euros.

Pirate consumption is part of a black-market economy that fuels criminal organizations and undermines the work of the very organizations whose activities can be supported by fans. This research is a timely reminder that the problem is getting bigger and that brands should retaliate if they want to influence this situation,

According to Ipsos, 37% of Italians in 2017 consumed illegal content at least once a month, which is 2% less than in 2016,

According to Parks Associates forecasts, American OTT services and pay-TV operators in 2019 will receive less than $9.1 billion due to the activities of pirates. In the fall of 2018, the vice-president of the board of the Sygnal Association, Anna Sloboda, said that Poland's annual gross domestic product (GDP) could have been 700 million euros more if not for the activity of Internet pirates. According to the estimates of Rambler & CoAlexander Mamut, in 2017, Russian companies "working in the audiovisual field" received less than 70 billion due to the actions of ^[15].

Android set-top boxes banned in Singapore

In November 2018, the High  Court of Singapore issued a ruling according to which Internet providers must block access to applications in set-top boxes that allow watching films, TV programs and sports broadcasts. Mainly we are talking about consoles on the Android TV platform.

The court made such a decision at the request of Singnet, Fox Networks Group Singapore, NGC Network Asia, Fox International Channels (US) and The Football Association Premier League.

YouTube opposes Internet copyright directive

On November 13, 2018, information appeared that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki opposed the copyright directive in the Internet era, which is expected to be adopted in the European Union. In her opinion, platforms like YouTube cannot comply with the proposed adjustments, which Wojrzytski wrote about in her blog. Read more here.

In Europe, approved a suffocating law on copyright on the Internet

The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approved amendments to European copyright law, the BBC reported in June 2018. Experts interviewed by the publication believe that these amendments could "change the nature of the Internet"^[16].

We are talking about controversial Article 13, which will make web resources responsible for user content that violates copyright, and Article 11, which prescribes to charge Internet platforms for links to news. Article 13 was approved by 15 votes to 10 and Article 11 by 13 votes to 12. The next step towards the adoption of the amendments should be a vote directly in the European Parliament, which will be held in July.

The American non-profit organization Creative Commons, which defends the free distribution of content, called the committee's vote "a black day for the open web."

Article 13

Article 13 could potentially end the existence of memes, remixes and other content created by internet users. The article makes websites responsible for the compliance of content that users publish with copyright rules. To implement it, sites will need some kind of content recognition systems, through which all texts, audio recordings and images published on the resource will pass.

Article 11

Article 11 was also approved, which requires online platforms to pay publishers a reward if they link to news publications by those publishers. We are talking about links that quote a headline or a short piece of news. Online platforms include social media, search engines, blogs, and even non-profit projects such as Wikipedia.

Article 11 has already received the unofficial name "tax on references." It is assumed that the norm will help support small publications. At the same time, users will more often be redirected to the main pages of news resources, and not directly to publications.

The regulation is aimed at limiting the power that tech giants such as Facebook or Google have over news publications, writes the BBC. However, these companies will be able to afford to pay for all links, or simply agree with large media, or apply ignoring tactics to publishers, so the new rule will strangle mainly smaller platforms, including European ones, preventing them from growing to the size of Facebook and Google and compete with them, writes Motherboard.

Critics of this amendment also say that it does not explain with all clarity what kind of paid reference should be, so governments will be able to manipulate this norm in order to restrict freedom of speech.

American provider decided to turn off heating to Internet "pirates"

The American Internet provider sent a threatening letter to its customers, in which it warns that for "pirate" activities it will leave its customers at home without heat^[17]."

We are talking about Armstrong Zoom, a provider that has more than a million customers. The company operates in the northern United States, where severe cold sometimes reigns in winter. Smart thermostats are very popular among local residents, which can be turned on and off remotely and thereby save on heating.

In its letter, Armstrong Zoom promises malicious violators of other people's intellectual property rights to downgrade the class of service to a minimum.

2017

Audiovisual industry in France lost €1.18 billion in a year due to piracy

Illegal consumption of audiovisual content in France in 2017 cost the industry €1.18 billion - 10% less than in 2016, according to a report by Ernst & Young, a consulting and analytical firm. At the same time, one of the largest affected parties is the state, it lost €408 million last year and €430 million the year before last^[18].

At the same time, the number of consumers of unlicensed content in France decreased: if in 2016 there were 11.6 million, then in 2017 - 1 million less.

According to analysts, 22% of viewers of pirated content are ready to switch to SVoD services if unlicensed content is unavailable - in 2016 there were 10%. In general, 56% of pirates plan to reduce illegal consumption, 25% - to abandon it, and only 4% - to increase.

The price factor remains one of the main reasons for piracy. 40% of respondents said legal proposals are too expensive. They also noted that sports content is becoming more expensive: in 2016 it was considered too expensive by 46%, and in 2017 - 53%. The amount that consumers are willing to pay for a subscription to the SVoD service increased from €6.09 in 2016 to €6.69 in 2017, writes Advanced Television.

The European Commission named the directions for the development of the fight against Internet piracy

The European Commission introduced a number of new copyright protection measures in the fall of 2017. In particular, Brussels proposed encouraging the voluntary refusal of companies from advertising on pirated sites, the introduction of new technologies for combating piracy based on blockchain, as well as the dissemination of detailed recommendations regarding the interpretation of current legislation. In addition, the importance of providing targeted support to third-country authorities to deploy the fight on a global scale was noted, writes Mediasat^[19].

According to a member of the European Commission, voluntary agreements between industry representatives can have a greater effect in the fight against counterfeit goods and piracy than lawsuits. To reduce funding for pirated sites, you need to work with two main target groups - advertisers and payment systems.

For the first time, the use of blockchain technology to combat online piracy, which can be used to track the unauthorized use of audiovisual works, was put on the agenda. In addition, the European Commission has issued a new guide on the interpretation of the IPRED Directive on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of 2004. In particular, the guide provides recommendations for sending requests for blocking sites and highlights the problem of filtering information downloaded on the network.

ABI Research: Piracy inflicts $6- $8bn loss on providers each year

Video piracy - copying and selling copyrighted content - has been a problem since the advent of VHS tapes in 1979 and the beginning of the era of video recording, says research firm ABI Research. However, piracy has once again changed its form: it has gone beyond pirated set-top boxes and captured the sphere of redistribution of content in broadband networks.

Among the most common forms of piracy today are the use of Kodi consoles with special firmware, live streams on social networks, torrents with exclusive TV series and films, distribution on the Internet through file gateways, and illegal password transfer. Service providers receive between $6 billion and $8 billion in profits annually due to piracy.

"Content providers must change their anti-piracy approach from a device-centric - specifically, conditional access systems (CAS) and digital rights management (DRM) systems - to a comprehensive service-oriented approach using state-of-the-art anti-piracy tools," advises ABI Research Vice President Sam Rosen.

The list of the most important tools for combating piracy includes a system for watermarking on the principles of the session, monitoring piracy in real time, aimed at identifying the facts of pirated consumption of content, localizing them, as well as suppressing them by stopping the activity of the source of such content or disconnecting it from the network. Other tools include managing password sharing, as well as working with other content providers on the market to take effective measures to combat piracy. The authors of the ABI Research report "Protecting Content and Watermarking It" predict that by 2022, about $400 million, or about 33% of DRM market revenues, will go to service-oriented revenues or derived from activities equated to a service (aaS).

Sites devoted to news coverage and the world of technology often take a very ambiguous position in relation to piracy. For example, the New York Times assures its audience that "the government is unlikely to prosecute you" for transferring their passwords to anyone, and TechRadar puts Kodi consoles on a par with OTT consoles such as Roku and Apple TV.

The topic of piracy often appears in the headlines - suffice it to recall, for example, reports that the next episode of "Games of Thrones" from HBO before the start of its official broadcast on television or distribution by order. According to Rosen, HBO suffered from pirates in several planes - including cyber security issues and leaks at different stages of the production chain. It is encouraging that both in the case of a leak in the HBO production chain and in recent cases with the pirated distribution of British Premier League content, content rights holders very quickly went to the courts, and the courts, in turn, took immediate action, demonstrating better cooperation and urgency than the past.

Despite the importance of protecting all types of content related to OTT and pay-TV, there is currently a significant increase in investment in new types of content in the video ecosystem, for which the danger of piracy is much higher than that which took place in the past. Investments in the production of exclusive content, early releases in the VoD system and the creation of Ultra HD content create conditions under which only providers of certain platforms operating in the market gain access to content. This encourages users to turn to pirates in cases where they cannot find the content they need on their favorite platform or consider it too expensive. By 2022, approximately 32% of all revenues in the field of pay TV and OTT will be associated with these types of content.

World studios team up to fight piracy

Leading representatives of the global film industry founded an association to combat piracy on the Internet. The anti-piracy Alliance included thirty companies, including HBO, Netflix, Amazon, BBC, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sky, Twentieth Century Fox and other powerful market players. Including from Europe and Asia, the newspaper Kommersant writes.

The association will work in conjunction with the American Association of Film Companies, preventing the appearance of pirated copies on the Internet and interacting with law enforcement agencies in various countries to investigate cases related to piracy.

In

2016, users downloaded illegal copies of films 5.4 billion times through torrent trackers. According to estimates by copyright holders, due to piracy, the American film industry loses about $6.1 billion each year.

Hackers stole new Pirates of the Caribbean

In May 2017, it became known that hackers stole the studio's film Disney and are demanding a ransom from it, otherwise threatening to publish the stolen goods. Most likely, we are talking about the new Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney refuses to pay this ransom and is trying to solve the problem with the help of law enforcement.^[20]

Walt Disney executive director Bob Iger admitted that unknown attackers gained access to a yet to be released film studio. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Iger made his confession when speaking at a meeting with ABC in New York. The information is confirmed by several sources of the publication. Iger noted that the attackers demand a huge ransom in bitcoins and threaten to release on the Web first the first five minutes of the film, then the first twenty, and there the entire film, if their requirements are not met.

Disney is currently preparing the films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Cars 3 for release. Pirates is due to be released on May 19, 2017. "Cars" will be released on June 16. The premature leakage of any of these films is fraught with large financial losses for their creators, since it is the first few days of distribution that determine whether the costs of creating a film will be recaptured or not. All films in the Pirates of the Caribbean series are characterized by very high budgets. The last film is no exception: according to some reports, the budget has already exceeded $320 million, which is 70 million more than originally planned. The film's failure at the box office will be a very painful blow for Disney.

Until recently, there were rumors that hackers were able to steal a rough version of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but it turned out that this was not true.

Earlier in 2017, hackers stole and posted most of the episodes of the new, not yet released season of Orange is the Hit of the Season on The Pirate Bay. The attacker, who calls himself on Twitter thedarkoverlord, tried to get the distributor company to Netflix pay a large ransom, but was refused, after which he published 10 episodes of the series.^[21]

According to thedarkoverlord himself, he still has several unreleased films and TV series at his disposal, so several more films and TV companies may soon face blackmail attempts, as UTA, ICM and WME previously faced.

Hollywood is often attacked by hackers, but extortion of this kind is something new, "says Dmitry Gvozdev, CEO of Security Monitor. - The fact that so far film studios refuse to pay is rather good news. However, it is worth at least one of them to succumb to how ransom attacks will acquire the character of an epidemic. But in this case, it is possible to use the trendy topic of hacking to promote your product. It's right for filmmakers to put a separate article in the budgets of their products to ensure cybersecurity, and, possibly, advertising hacking.

Belarus tops the list of the most pirated countries

The anti-piracy technology company Muso has prepared a list of countries whose users most often visited pirated resources. According to Quartz^[22], it is clear from the rating that residents of countries with the lowest average income are more likely than others to go to resources with counterfeit content. In the first place in terms of the number of visits per user was Belarus^[23].

Most of the countries from the former Soviet Union were in the top 10. For example, after Belarus, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine and Latvia are located. The table also shows the gross national income per capita.

Of the dozens, only Israel and Singapore are knocked out. As for the latter, Western media are perplexed: how could the fourth richest country in the world end up in this ranking? Are its residents stingy to pay a meager amount for themselves compared to Belarusians and Ukrainians for legal online services like Netflix.

A graph of the dynamic change in the popularity of pirated sites was also presented.

Australia: Pirate Content Consumption Gradually Declines

The number of Australians consuming pirated content is gradually declining, according to analysts at Creative Content Australia. In 2016, the share of movie downloads decreased by 1% compared to the previous year and amounted to 14%, the share of downloads^[24] fell by 3%^[25] is^[26].

In 2015, 14% of respondents said they watched pirated video broadcasts on websites, while in 2016 there were already 11% of such users. The total share of pirated film broadcasts in various ways decreased from 13% to 9%.

1% reduction in piracy and counterfeiting will increase the OECD economy by $30 billion

The global market for counterfeit and pirated products and services ranged from $923 billion to $1.13 trillion in 2013, according to estimates by Frontier^[27]. This is almost equivalent to the size of the entire economy Spain in 2015^[28]

The economic consequences of the activities of pirates in terms of displaced business, tax losses, unrealized investments, etc., amounted to $737-898 billion.

According to the agency, the suppression of this illegal activity will have tangible consequences. Thus, a decrease in the volume of piracy and counterfeiting by one percent would give an additional $30-54 billion to the growth of the economy of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development only in 2017.

Every third user in the US watches pirated content

A study by Irdeto^[29]found^[30] 74% of American consumers consider the production and distribution of pirated videos illegal. 69% also agree that streaming and downloading such content is illegal. Despite this, almost a third (32%) of respondents noted that they watch pirated video.

During the study, respondents were told that piracy leads to financial losses for studios, therefore, they cannot invest in new content. However, 39% of those surveyed said that this information does not affect their desire to watch pirated videos. Only 19% said the financial damage from piracy could stop them from watching such content.

Many consumers do not fully understand the negative effect piracy has on the media industry. When users watch illegal videos, studios lose money that could be invested in creating new content, and at the same time criminal organizations receive income.

24% of consumers of pirated content are more interested in TV shows. Another 24% are trying to look for films that go to cinemas. 18% are interested in copying DVD and Blu-ray films, 10% in sports broadcasts, 9% in content from Netflix, Hulu and other OTT platforms.

2016: German providers hand over data to copyright holders

Germany In developed a surprisingly simple and extremely effective way to combat illegal content. The fact is that German providers transfer data to their copyright holders for 300 thousand of their customers monthly, according to the newspaper Kommersant"." Thanks to this measure, in Germany in three years there was a decrease in online piracy by 20%. Using the personal data of the owners of illegal content (music, programs, films, etc.), copyright holders send letters to violators with a proposal to pay compensation from 300 to 1200 euros - and, which will seem strange to a Russian person, most often receive what they are looking for without long judicial formalities.

A similar way of fighting became possible after changing German legislation: now only a request from the court has become enough for the provider to disclose all the necessary information, although earlier it was necessary to withstand many years of lawsuits, and the court did not always rule in favor of copyright holders in the issue of disclosing customer data.

2013: Copyright Alert System in the United States

In the United States, in February 2013, the Copyright Alert System, developed by Internet providers back in 2011 as part of an agreement on counter-piracy, entered into force. Under the terms of the agreement, if the provider notices the fact of illegal download of products, up to six warnings are sent to the user, followed by sanctions at the discretion of the provider. Thus, the user can reduce the speed of the Internet, constantly redirect it to a page demanding to contact the provider, who can conduct an explanatory conversation with the client about copyright or take other measures at his discretion.

2010: The UK and France Experience

In the UK, since 2010, a soft warning system has been practiced - a user downloading illegal files first receives a warning, and only in the event of a relapse can a restriction be imposed on him by the provider - in the form of a decrease in speed or a temporary shutdown of the Internet. Heavy fines - up to £ 50 thousand are only for those who use downloaded content for commercial purposes.

The Dadvsi France law applies to copyright issues, according to which a fine of up to €300,000 and/or up to three years in prison is imposed for distributing pirated content. Initially, in addition to the owners of torrent resources and file-sharing networks, the sanctions of the Dadvsi law were proposed to be applied to ordinary users, but later they were considered too harsh and refused to punish users.

See also

• Online Video (Global Market)
• Online video (Russian market) Online cinemas
• Pirate sites and copyright protection in Russia
• Stop Online Piracy Act
• Software Licensing
• Pirated Software in Russia and the World (Unlicensed Software)
• Computer law
• All-Russian Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• AAPA (Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance)
• Blocking sites and applications in Russia
• Intellectual property (patents)