Whoever thought
that a presentation on illegal file-sharing could be so exciting!
Tony Eaton, Executive Director of the New Zealand Federation
against Copyright Theft (NZFACT) and Claire Deeks, Intellectual
Property lawyer, presented a riveting account to WIFT NZ of the
realities facing the industry when it comes to fighting film
piracy. The lengths some of these 'pirates' go to is positively
mind-boggling - submarines which can descend quickly at a moment's
notice and then resurface when danger has passed, transporting
millions of pirated DVDs across the oceans. Anyone who sells,
acquires, copies or distributes copyrighted materials, without
permission, is called a pirate and downloading a movie without
paying for it is morally and ethically no different to walking into
a store and stealing a DVD off the shelf. Sharing it through
peer-to-peer applications or posting it on a forum for downloading
is akin to giving stolen copies to millions of people for free.
Ouch!
"Time to have that
serious conversation with the teenagers in my house", says WIFT ED
Susi. "As of 1 September, when the Copyright (Infringing File
Sharing) Amendment Act comes into force, I don't want to be
harbouring any pirates!"
Claire Deeks has
written an article on copyright for members which is available here.
Claire and Tony get ready to talk about the serious issue of Film
Piracy.