p2pnet news view | MPAA News:- Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism!

Now that’s a title! And it’s a precursor to what we can confidently expect from Hollywood as it launches a new all-out, no-holds-barred, bombardment on the Obama government.

Who funded the ’study’? That’s right. Hollywood’s MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), which has been unsuccessfully beating the ‘movie pirates are behind everything bad in the world’ dead horse for many years.

But with a new administration in power, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney clearly felt it was incumbent upon them to introduce new fodder to be quoted ad nauseum by the lamescream media and at various government hearings to absolutely prove America depends absolutely on Hollywood maintaining healthy (for Hollywood)  profitability.

‘Knife and spear fights; robberies of bystanders, including families at bus stops’

FP OC & T (for short, and as first spotted by TorrentFreak) heads up a Rand Corporation ’study’ (with “RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors” at the top) by Gregory F. Treverton, Carl Matthies, Karla J. Cunningham, Jeremiah Goulka, Greg Ridgeway and Anny Wong and it states, flatly and unequivocally »»»

• In Italy, a former Mafia boss turned government witness outlined how the Camorra, at times working in cooperation with Chinese and Taiwanese triads, generated millions of dollars from counterfeiting, including film piracy.
• In Malaysia, the Ang Bin Hoey triad has engaged in turf battles to maintain control over lucrative piracy markets, battles that resulted in knife and spear fights; robberies of bystanders, including families at bus stops; and assassinations of rival gang leaders.
• 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.
• 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. Barakat was labeled a “specially designated global terrorist” by the U.S. government in 2004.
• In Russia, pirate syndicates are routinely tipped off by corrupt police officials prior to raids and have been permitted to run their businesses on government property and even from prison. Organized-crime figures involved in piracy have been known to resort to violence against rivals. Alleged pirates Ayrat Sharipov and Yevgeny Ladik and anti-piracy investigators were murdered, and an attempt was made on the
• life of the head of the Russian Anti-Piracy Organization.

Wow! Now that’s an introduction!

And in case you didn’t get it, “DVD piracy” has a, “higher profit margin than narcotics and minimal risks of enforcement, is attractive around the world as an element of criminal portfolios that also include drugs, money laundering, extortion, and human smuggling,” says the ’study,’ citing 14 case studies which, ” provide compelling evidence of a  dispersed, and continuing connection between film piracy and organized crime”.

No question, then. Movie pirates are responsible  for the world’s ills!

Not only but also, “three of the documented cases provide clear evidence that terrorist groups have used the proceeds of film piracy to finance their activities”.

Three of the 14 cases? That nails it.

But wait! The authors admit their “evidence” is “limited,” suggesting, “further investigation is a timely imperative”.

“Limited” and “further investigation,” eh?

But, but, doesn’t this report prove with 100%, carved-in-rock, solid-gold certainty that movie pirates are paying for Organized Crime and Terrorism, or tourism, as George W. Bush used to call it?

Nope. It means more work for the FBI, CIA, SPCA, Homeland Security and, of course, the RIAA’s DoJ, on behalf of the Hollywood studios.

Because if you throw in  a dash of, “established evidence for the broader category of counterfeiting-terrorism connections,” the  study results are “highly suggestive”.

They are? Of what?

That, “intellectual-property theft – a low-risk, high-profit enterprise – is attractive not only to organized crime, but also to terrorists, particularly opportunistic members of local terrorist cells”.

Ahhhh! And the table below, “summarizes the criminal groups examined in this report, their bases, and the range of crimes they commit,” the implication being movie pirates and movie piracy keeps these gangs going.

The report notes the main difference between organized crime and terrorism is “motivation – financial gain for the former and a political agenda for the latter”.

NO! Really !?

And then, in another blinding flash of insight, “the motivations of a group’s members can change over time in reaction to changed circumstances,” observe the six-member Rand team which produced the Hollywood study, going on

For example, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a terrorist group that once supported itself in part with the proceeds of crime, devolved into a criminal group, while India’s D-Company appears to have morphed from a traditional criminal syndicate motivated by money to a terrorist group motivated by a political agenda funded at least in part with the proceeds of crime. As set forth in this report, both the IRA and D-Company have used film piracy to help fund their activities.

Ah SO!

Not only but also, “The evidence assembled in this report testifies that counterfeiting is a threat not only to the global information economy, but also to public safety and national security. It represents a call to cooperation in the battle against intellectual-property theft for law enforcement and governments around the world.”

But there are answers, to wit »»»

Increased Political Will. Governments worldwide should commit resources and establish high-level accountability for intellectualproperty protections, adding organized crime and piracy to the agenda of influential global gatherings such as the G-8 and the Davos Economic Summit, conducting periodic legislative hearings and publicawareness campaigns, and sharing intelligence with industry-led antipiracy efforts.

Strong Legislation. The legal definition of “organized crime” should be expanded to include large-scale counterfeiting tied to other criminal activity. Laws should be enacted to grant investigators greater authority to sustain investigations, conduct surveillance, and obtain
search warrants.

Consistent Enforcement. Authorities should be provided with guidelines for ways to trace back up the production and distribution chain. This requires processing cases quickly to reduce the risk that informants will be intimidated, and it means enhancing international cooperation to mirror the borderless nature of criminal networks.

Deterrent Sentencing. The current light sentences for piracy provide neither deterrents to crime nor incentives to cooperate with authorities. That should change with increased understanding of the powerful links between piracy and organized crime. Key piracy cases should be fought in the organized-crime or money-laundering divisions of prosecutors’ offices. Strong application of money-laundering and other statutes can work to reduce the financial appeal of these crimes. In addition, piracy should be made a priority offense within anti-gang strategies.

Innovative Solutions. Customs and immigration forms (and any enabling laws or regulations, if necessary) should be amended to include language prohibiting the importation of counterfeit goods. It is also important to enlist the financial community in spotting piracy syndicates’ money-laundering tactics; to improve standards for transportation documents; and to increase public awareness of the consequences of intellectual-property theft. Governments should also consider making large-scale piracy an extraditable offense.

Adds the Rand ’study’:

“There is a clear need for additional global intelligence gathering and sharing to further illuminate the scope and nature of the connections between piracy and organized crime. And the mandate is clear for policymakers and law enforcement around the world to revisit the common but erroneous assumption that counterfeiting is a victimless crime.

Now you know. And you also know who’ll be expected to pay for it all.

Click here to see the full ’study’.

Jon Newton – p2pnet

March, 2009

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under MPAA News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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