“This is what happens when you go for pirated material.”
We are all benefiting from the online services we access on the internet for our daily business transactions, for communication, for shopping, and for entertainment. We look for what we need with a few keystrokes then a search engine will show the most relevant content, in the speed of light, on our devices.
However, the extensiveness, ease, and speed of accessing digital services and content is being exploited by what some would call the “dark side” of the internet wielding the same technologies and skills of the digital innovators that gave us all these wonderful apps we heavily rely on and enjoy.
For most consumers, the typical concept of value in a product or service, is how much benefit and/or enjoyment is experienced of what has been purchased. Less appreciated is the human and capital resources, and whole ecosystems that need to work efficiently to deliver a product or service. Just the same as brick-and-mortar operations, developing all these innovative online services and digital content was achieved with huge investments and thousands of man hours spent and will need to eventually earn sales revenue to be viable, sustained, and produce more innovations for us consumers to enjoy.
This global surge in demand for online content created a virtually unlimited potential for online piracy websites that illegally stream proprietary content like movies, music, and other shows that were licensed to legitimate streaming platforms that then compensate the rightful owners of the intellectual property with a share of revenue from subscription fees and ads. Like any business, it’s about a system of investors making it possible for innovators or inventors to create new products that will then be purchased by the market, generate profits for the enterprise and employees and then a cycle of growth gains momentum for everyone.
About a decade ago, the big problem was optical media piracy. There were rampant sales of these pirated DVDs that was probably 90 percent if not the whole collection of most homes with DVD players. Laws were passed and enforced forcing DVD pirates to push underground. Eventually lower prices of the originals and the coming of online streaming platforms became more preferred.
The consumer’s natural preference for lower costs plays perfectly into the marketing tactics of online pirates or for any producer and peddler of fake products. Thinking that they are getting a better deal, netizens are lured by these strong click baits and social media tricks that offer all kinds of videos and musical content—hijacking sales from the legitimate intellectual property (IP) owners that should rightfully earn revenues to support the content producers, the programmers, artists, production crew, and a host of linked industries with their own set of employees and dependents.
This is what happens when you go for pirated material. All these stakeholders of connected businesses that actually produced the original content become victims of theft, violating their right for compensation for the intellectual property. You become complicit to this crime and pitch in to the enrichment of online pirates.
The Philippines is one of the biggest losers to online piracy with billions being drained from the economy and thousands of workers in linked industries losing opportunities of what can be a globally competitive industry of digital innovators and media creators.
According to a 2014 study by The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and commissioned by the World Intellectual Property, copyright-based industries have been contributing 14.14 percent to Philippine employment since 2010 and accounted for 7.34 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. But when the lockdowns started in 2020, Online pirates hit hard with an estimated P1 billion in potential revenue losses to local video producers, distributors and aggregators in 2020, (Media Partners Asia).
In a recent statement released by our co-convenor in CitizenWatch Philippines, Atty. Tim Abejo, we are calling on the incoming legislators to step in and take immediate action amending the Intellectual Property Code to give the IPOPHL greater administrative enforcement power and enable the NTC to block sites swiftly. This is similar to how Indonesia has effectively blocked off websites containing pirated material to the benefit of their local creative industry.
The Philippines will also benefit from the IP provisions of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the 10 members of the ASEAN if ratified immediately.
Concurrently, our government should actively support and promote our Philippine content producers just like how South Korea has successfully developed an entertainment industry with a music market estimated to be at $6 billion (IFPI Global Music Report).
We have seen so many sparks of excellence from Filipino talents being recognized with accolades achieved through their own struggle and commitment to their craft. The government should protect these gems of Filipino talent and give them all the support to conquer the fast-expanding digital ecosystem of global consumers waiting for something new to make their lives better and happier.
We can be the leading supplier of this worldwide demand.