Has illegal content distribution really hit a still point?

Has illegal content distribution really hit a still point?

17 October 2016

Articles Piracy

Several downloading websites and link farms, such as The Pirate Bay and KickAss Torrents have been shut down. The world of illegal distribution faces more and more threats due to stricter legislation against the practice. However, can we really say that illegal content distribution is coming to an end?

What state is piracy in?

According to Peter Sunde, the co-founder of The Pirate Bay, this decrease in downloaded content is consequence of faulty system. The current system involves storing content in large websites that function as a link farm and where the indexed content can be found. Whereas, others explain this decrease with the appearance of legal VOD sites like Netflix.

On the other hand, Sunde also feels that lack of innovation plays a big role on global pirating status. He goes on to explain that if big websites lack the incentive to try new technologies that would better protect their user’s privacy and guarantee a decentralization of the network, the illegal content distribution industry would grow.

According to the latest report from the British Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the users that use P2P networks to access pirated content download has decreased in 2%, while the visits to legal content access has increased in 44%.

International organisms and their data

In its journey to keep up with the legislation of Intellectual Property, the European Commission has been in discussion of new means to regulate copy rights. Moreover, their spokesperson explained that their purpose is to have websites that display audiovisual content apply harsher technological filters, so as to be able to detect pirated content more easily and, thus, work with the creators to protect their work.

Furthermore, the director of the educational project Open Syllabus and expert in cultural production and pirating from Columbia University in the USA, Joe Karagins, states that the risks each user runs while pirating have increased and cites the many judicial operations that have shut down websites.

Nevertheless, data from the Observatory of Piracy and Content Consumption Habits of 2015, a report published by the Coalition of Creators and Content Industry in Spain, suggest that the percentage of Spanish consumers that accessed illegal content increased in 5% since 2014. To which 62% of the users stated that the original contents were “too expensive”. And 55% that they accessed pirating sites because it was “easier and faster”. That is to say that the triumph of VOD services won’t be possible until they offer a truly complete catalogue.

Karagins goes on to state that he does not see an end to illegal content distribution but rather a reduction of the practice in certain areas. However the need to access illegal content might be diminishing, link farms and mass online storage of illegal content continue to survive.


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