I just came across this hilarious news and thought it was necessary to post it before I headed to gym. The Motion Picture Association of America is stepping up its war against piracy in emerging markets including the Gulf and South East Asian markets with the release of a report which claims film piracy is funding global terrorism. The report, entitled Film Piracy, Organised Crime and Terrorism, was compiled on behalf of the MPA by US non-profit security analyst RAND Corporation. It cites evidence of involvement in piracy by various groups branded terrorist organisations by the US government, including Hezbollah and D-Company, the latter of which reportedly had operatives based in the UAE in the 1990s and was responsible for the Black Friday Mumbai bombings in 1993, which claimed close to 1,000 casualties. By the early-2000s, the report claimed D-Company “dominated every step of the Indian filmmaking process and so was able to control most of the region’s piracy”. Furthermore, it claims D-Company continues to generate massive revenues from the production and distribution of counterfeit Bollywood and Hollywood DVDs in the Gulf and South Asian regions. This report makes me wonder whether the Taliban fighting in Swat and the frontier province are being funded by film piracy and if they are than I am very much hopeful they won’t be planning a take over lollywood film industry for funding.
The report further argues that regional governments should enforce Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) under World Trade Organisation obligations to represents the best strategy for combating terrorism funding derived from piracy activities. “Five factors bear on the effectiveness of IPR policies: strong government and political will, good legislation, fair and consistent enforcement, deterrent sentencing, and willingness to experiment with innovative solutions,” all of these can not be applied to the dynamics of Pakistan Government for a long time to come.
