Pirated-Entertainment Sites Are Making Billions From Ads (bloomberg.com) 63
Websites and apps featuring pirated movies and TV shows make about $1.3 billion from advertising each year, including from major companies like Amazon.com, according to a study. From a report: The piracy operations are also a key source of malware, and some ads placed on the sites contain links that hackers use to steal personal information or conduct ransomware attacks, according to the online safety nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance and the anti-piracy firm White Bullet Solutions. While law enforcement officials have sought to stop some of the online criminality, the groups identified at least 84,000 illicit entertainment sites.
The study underscores just how tough a problem piracy is for both Hollywood studios and companies that distribute digital ads. The situation has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left more people watching films and television shows over the web, where criminals have a greater chance of successfully targeting victims. "Piracy causes direct harm to creators and others who lose income when their content is stolen," the authors of the report wrote. "And major brands face reputational risks when their advertising appears on illicit websites."
The study underscores just how tough a problem piracy is for both Hollywood studios and companies that distribute digital ads. The situation has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left more people watching films and television shows over the web, where criminals have a greater chance of successfully targeting victims. "Piracy causes direct harm to creators and others who lose income when their content is stolen," the authors of the report wrote. "And major brands face reputational risks when their advertising appears on illicit websites."
Hardly (Score:5, Insightful)
People savvy enough to download IP without getting caught, also block trackers and use ad-blockers.
Re:Hardly (Score:5, Insightful)
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We've had this story here a couple of years ago: https://arstechnica.com/tech-p... [arstechnica.com]
tl;dr just copy a song infinitely straight into
Lost sale if unavailable in your country? (Score:2)
People stealing music and movies through these sites are a lost sale.
When the authorized channel says "Not available in your country", how exactly is an infringing copy a lost sale?
Cop math (Score:2)
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One can also pirate content, then, if it doesn't suck, buy it on physical media. That way you get the movie/show, and the creators get paid.
In the long run, you also don't get shafted when the streaming service folds, or the content gets "edited" for political reasons, or to squeeze in more commercials, or because someone just wants to ruin it, like George Lucas is famous for. You can also rip it to your media box or transcode it to watch on your phone. Physical media is great.
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Except for the increasingly difficult and in some cases never-eventuating physical media. :(
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Increasingly difficult to procure I intended.. Maybe I should pay attention to the "Preview" before I post.
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Oh look at me, I went to a site link, or downloaded a piece of software and ran it. I am some great computer hacker!
Here is the thing, you don't need to be really Savvy to download IP, and chances are you are not going to get caught doing it, because often getting caught you won't have the money to pay the fine anyways.
However if I were the IP holder, I would target the advertiser, who is advertising on the heals of illegal activities. So they are complicate in the actions.
Plus they have money to pay the f
I support this solution (Score:3)
Agreed. The only way to stop these evil pirates is to cut off their income. IP holders should be encouraging the use of ad blocking plug-ins. Throw some of that Hollywood money around to promote ad blockers or bribe Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox to enable ad blocking by default. That'll show those nasty old pirates.
Where is the money, really? (Score:2)
Boy, that was a feeble FP. Feebly moderated as "Insightful", but still a feeble mumble.
Lots of things to look for in a discussion on this topic. A couple of them were touched on, mostly tangentially. But mostly not at all.
Most important omission is who runs the ad networks providing the money. That should point at the google and Facebook since they dominate online advertising, but somehow they got overlooked in the summary and the discussion. (The summary and the story do mention Amazon. Barely.) YouTube is
Revenue Stream (Score:5, Insightful)
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Serving what? Ancient movies no one watches?
$1.3b isn't a lot of money for hollywood. Even in 2020 alone, they still made over $80b across theatrical and streaming. And that's domestic takes only, if you add international it's double.
So $1.3b in a year would be the theatrical takes of anywhere between 1-4 blockbuster movies, and
30+-year-old movies not yet on DVD (Score:2)
Serving what? Ancient movies no one watches?
I'm talking about movies and TV series from 1989 and older that still haven't been officially released on DVD in the United States or Canada. Some examples:
- Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (English language dub of Les mondes engloutis)
- Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night
Re: Revenue Stream (Score:2)
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Doubt it will happen, with all the geographical segmentation they do, whereas a pirate streaming site will serve pretty much the whole world.
Same reason why some shows are only available in certain countries via streaming (netflix, hulu, etc).
Unless they decide to do international releases always, there will always be pirate streaming sites filling that niche.
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I think we used to have the tech for this... at Blockbuster. Maybe somebody
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But you can.
You can buy TV show son DVD, movies are available on DVD, Blu-Ray
Re: Revenue Stream (Score:2)
Except when you "buy" digital copies, you are only renting them until the IP holder pulls off that service. I usually buy movies rather than renting them as I tend to watch old films that are only a dollar or two more, but I've had a few now that Amazon has pulled off my list, and I'm back to pirating now because of that.
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Group consensus. (Score:1)
This is Slashdot. You want the party line now, or later?
Look posting this story is like going to Ponderosa and convincing everyone eating meat is wrong.
Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:5, Insightful)
If people are pirating today with the highly available nature of on demand it means either
a) you are pricing your content too highly and some people will pirate to save money but would purchase if they couldn't.
b) they were always going to pirate and if they couldn't would not purchase it otherwise.
Group (b) you have to live with, can't stop and wouldn't be counted as a lost sale as you would not have made it anyways. If you are really worried about group (a) then drop your costs in hoping to lure in more subscribers or renters.
It's 2021, if you haven't "solved" piracy by now you simply won't based on the fact that I would easily say group (b) is 80% of people pirating it kind of is solved.
Media companies just aren't satisfied with most of the profits, they feel entitled to all the profits, imaginary or otherwise.
Re:Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:5, Insightful)
A few years ago I discovered a for me new artist, that had already been dead for 5-20 years. I wanted this artist's music, and was prepared to pay for it. But no matter where I looked, it could not find it. Except of course on the bay of pirates. So of course I "pirated" the music, and I don't feel bad about it at all.
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A few years ago I discovered a for me new artist, that had already been dead for 5-20 years.
But... but... without copyright that artist won't have an incentive to make more!
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Slightly less cheeky: Without postmortem copyright, the author's estate would have no incentive to finish the author's unfinished works for publication nor to adapt them to newly invented media.
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I have found a third reason [people might chose] to pirate things: there is no legal way to pay for what you want. [example: Dead artist whose music is no longer available]
Another pathology is older work (or older versions of a work) that has been removed from circulation or butchered by deletion and/or alteration of scenes.
Some recent examples include Warner Brothers' suppression of Pepe le Pew for alleged sexism and glorification of rape (to the point of destroying the original artwork) and Foghorn Legh
Re: Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:2)
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I have found a third reason to pirate things: there is no legal way to pa for what you want.
there's also a fourth: sometimes, the pirated version is the best version.
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Bang on the money.
Most people really don't want to resort to pirating content - it's a PITA and a total minefield, especially for those new to it.
Yep, it's a textbook case of "first world problems" - "But I want to watch that show and it isn't available on my XYZ streaming service!"
The thing is, the crazy thing is, that people are willing to go and buy an expensive coffee for like $3, $4, $5 each day - something consumed in 10 or 15 minutes, but balk at the thought of a new streaming service that may cost t
Re: Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:2)
The problem is that it's $5 on demand but with a lifetime of being part of their database and you can't skip the copyright rambling.
On a pirate site you'd get the movie file and with no added buggery you can watch it.
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I think this is where Disney+ nailed it, they kept the cost reasonable.
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It's even more reasonable if you don't subscribe at all!
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People who don't live in the Land of the Free and are therefore forbidden from viewing content because lawyers.
And... group d:
People who don't feel like subscribing to a dozen different streaming services just to get the few shows and movies worth seeing.
Oh, and let's not forget group e:
Those who simply can't find a move/TV show anywhere, because it isn't a blockbuster current release. I have no idea where to find episodes of MASH, for example, for legal streaming.
Gosh, here's
Funny smell (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean like YouTube? (Score:4, Interesting)
How many countless billions is YouTube itself making from people just uploading pirated content? There is A LOT of stuff up there.
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Go and look at some of the "pirated content". Almost all of it is tagged as belonging to certain "license holders".
That means that Disney, Warner etc are getting paid for having their videos on Youtube. The stuff gets uploaded, Google's algorithm works out who owns the rights to the material, and the rights owners get an email. They can choose to have it taken down, or to leave it up and monetise the videos.
If you don't believe me, go and find some studio versions of Jimi Hendrix songs on Youtube. Then come
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Go and look at some of the "pirated content". Almost all of it is tagged as belonging to certain "license holders".
Google does find a lot of it, and tag it and link to a real source... but you have to think Google is making quite a bit more money froths than they are passing on.
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but you have to think Google is making quite a bit more money froths than they are passing on.
We don't have to guess, we can go and look the numbers up:
YouTube is moving all of its content partners to the standard 55-45 advertising revenue share
https://variety.com/2013/digit... [variety.com]
YouTube takes 45%, the content partners get 55%.
Yeah it's called YouTube (Score:4, Insightful)
Talking about ads and prices... (Score:5, Funny)
How much did the MPAA pay for this one?
That's a big list (Score:5, Insightful)
From the summary:
"...at least 84,000 illicit entertainment sites."
I'd like to see this alleged list. I'm willing to bet the vast majority of those sites are little more than re-directors to a main site, or just a trap for the unwary.
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I'd like to see this alleged list. I'm willing to bet the vast majority of those sites are little more than re-directors to a main site, or just a trap for the unwary.
Here's a link to the report. [digitalcit...liance.org] They didn't include a full list, but there are many examples.
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I skimmed the 45 page report, they list about 1 site a page (give or take)
a far far cry from 84,000 sites....
I have a great idea (Score:2)
I'm just glad that most porn sites (Score:2)
don't have ads. Well except maybe at the beginning and the end. (Think of the billions they could earn with earwax remover and douche commercials)
There are a few "producers" that toss in randomly timed ads for other services but I tend to skip those.
And just for the LOLS, 1.3 billion isn't in any way "billions"
I'm streaming mostly netflix with a dose of peacock. Once sportsball season starts, I'll actually probably pay to watch my favorite team
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Ads? Oh yeah (Score:1)
Billions (Score:2)
Yeah, the skys are just filled with W4r3z folks flying around in their private jets.
Combined, maybe approaching what could be 'close' to a billion dollars-MAYBE.
But I have a feeling that that this report is "cooking the books", so to speak.
And legal companies do millions too... (Score:2)
...only they do creating false companies to divert benefits so they don't have to pay taxes (that would cover your health, repair your roads, etc.) or even pay the actors (some actos payment is based on benefits from the movies).
A good example is Harry Potter movies that they had the IMPUDENCE to say they LOST MONEY with them.
Took me while... (Score:1)
...to find the right combination of adblock, tracker blocking and careful management of noscript to be able to use one of these sites properly. Sometimes I turn some of them off, too, to look for new scambaiting opportunities. They're pretty great for that.
I'm poor and cannot afford the stuff. (Score:1)