Piracy is still a huge problem for the movie industry. Many people argue that it isn’t stealing, but it is. Illegally downloading a movie is just the same as picking up a movie DVD from a store and walking out without paying for it. You’d face fines and jail time for that. There’s a reason it’s a crime.
Why and How Piracy is a Crime
In 2014, The Wolf of Wall Street was illegally downloaded approximately 30 million times. What would have happened had these pirates actually paid for this movie? That year, the cost of a movie ticket was about $8, making the total theft about $240 million. When you pay for a movie ticket some of the money goes to the theater and some goes to the studio. For the sake of argument, let’s say, for example, the money gets split 50/50. That brings the total theft from the studio, in this case, Paramount Pictures, to approximately $120 million. That loss increases depending on how many people actually saw the pirated version. Add $8 per person for the movie ticket they didn’t pay for. Due to the high number of pirated copies of The Wolf of Wall Street, the studio barely broke even. Have you seen the movie (legally, I hope)? It’s a great movie! Unfortunately, because of these thefts, the film crew, filmmakers, and the studio didn’t make much money off of the movie. That doesn’t leave much left to make more awesome movies. The less pirating there is, the more money there is for studios to make more movies and hire everyone needed to make those movies (actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, personal assistants, costume designers, makeup professionals, hair stylists, and more). The fewer movies legally bought and paid for = less money for the entire crew. Less money = fewer taxes paid and lost future jobs.
Now that that’s explained, let’s take a look at this new trend of piracy sites luring users with free movies. What do they get out of it all? Right now, money. That’s the way it always is, isn’t it? So, if the crime of stealing someone else’s property doesn’t thwart you from pirating movies, maybe this new trend will.
Why Piracy Sites Are Luring You in
Downloading free movies isn’t just illegal. Going to the websites that offer these “free” movie downloads are providing more – free malware, which is malicious software that gets into your computer and steals your private information and spies on your browsing habits. Your information is big money for these thieves – about $70 million a year for malware makers just to install the software, according to the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) and RiskIQ, and that doesn’t include any money made from identity theft, ransomware, and other scams. William MacArthur, threat researcher at RiskIQ, an external threat management startup headquartered in San Francisco, states there are many motivations as to why hackers want to get malware on personal computers.
These motivations include:
- To obtain personally identifiable information
- Get logins and passwords
- Utilize the infected computers to use it for other nefarious purposes like for DDoS attacks or to carry out additional hacking using it as a proxy to hack other things in order to mask identity/location.
- Another use is for ransomeware, locking the device and then demanding a fee to release it.
- Facilitate illegal transactions like human trafficking, child porn, drug dealing through hosted trading sites or on the dark web.
These online pirates know just how to put up a website fast, get as many people to download that awesome new movie that’s out, and start getting personal information via malware that is downloaded along with the movie. In a report released by the DCA, you are 28 times more likely to be exposed to malware when visiting content theft sites (torrent sites) than when visiting normal websites. Forty-five percent of malware is distributed via piracy sites. Downloading free movies or even streaming free content, such as the Olympics, is very dangerous.
Piracy and the Law
One internet safety group, the Digital Citizens Alliance, or DCA, have made the public aware of the dangers of downloading illegal content, specifically that you will face jail time and fines, and the same goes for the pirates producing these websites. However, these cyber criminals are smart, and they have everything planned out. When caught, law enforcement shuts down the websites, and new ones pop up. The Department of Justice arrested the owner of KickAssTorrents in Poland last week and seized all associated domain names. It didn’t take long for clone sites to pop up. Unfortunately, the laws are different in each country, but in some places like Thailand, there are few, if any, laws prohibiting the free sharing of copyrighted content, according to MacArthur.
Hosting Companies’ Responsibility
Each website hosting company has their own set of acceptable use policies and terms of use policies. If the hosting company discovers a webmaster violating these contracts, they will jump into action. Web hosts do try to discover and shut down piracy sites, but the task is difficult.
Web hosts do try to discover and shut down piracy sites, but the task is difficult. Web hosts scan website accounts for illegal content and malware, but the problem is getting them shut down before anyone uses them.
MacArthur explains that most hosting companies rely on users and researchers to report malware farms and piracy sites. Unfortunately, the process time can take months, and by the time they get to them the hackers have moved on to another website.
Google does a good job keeping pirated movies off of YouTube. Google provides legitimate studios with content IDs so when the real movie is uploaded the Google tool detects it, and marks it as safe. When a pirated movie is uploaded (with no content ID), Google’s tool detects it automatically and instantly blocks it. Unfortunately, pirates find loopholes.
How You Can Help
- Report any piracy site you see to the website hosting company.
- Share this post with your social media so your family and friends can learn about online piracy and how it affects everyone.
- Report piracy to the MPAA’s 24-hour tip lines.
- Report anonymously to CopyNot.
- Contact the FBI by submitting a tip online.
What Can You do to Avoid Malware?
First and foremost, avoid piracy sites. Pay for your movies, shows, books, and other content through reliable sources such as Amazon, Google Play, and iTunes. Use an anti-virus software to scan your computer to check for malicious software and safely get rid of it.
Your browser should be able to detect any website trying to execute scripts, stop the script from running, and alert you. Firefox has an add-on that does just that. It’s called “no-script”. You can install this add-on with these six steps:
- Click on the menu button in the upper right-hand corner
- Choose Add-ons
- Select search
- Search for no script
- Choose a no-script add-on
- Install
That’s it! You’re better protected now. If the warning message comes up about a script running or an unsafe website, choose to leave that website.
Another option to avoid malware is by installing an anti-malware service. With anti-virus software and the no-script add-on you’ll be 99% safe, but, as MacArthur warns, it’s the other 1% that we should be worried about. To cover that other 1%, install an anti-malware software. MacArthur recommends Malwarebytes.
Now you know why malware exists, the damage piracy and ransomware does, and how you can protect yourself. Have you been affected by malware? Do you think malware is a problem?
