There is a lot going on today with piracy issues, especially in the music field. US and Europe governments are trying to set regulations and finding ways to prevent the file sharing on the Internet of videos and music. When I was reading this article, the first thing that came to my mind was: If piracy is difficult to control in developed countries, what’s left for third world countries, for example my country: Venezuela.
In the streets of Caracas, you can see people standing in highways selling pirate videos during rush hours. There is also a famous street (La Guairita) well known by the “Caraqueños” because of the availability of every single movie and even just released movies in burned DVD’s. The main public university of Venezuela, (Universidad Central de Venezuela) has a section full of stands selling pirate software, movies, video games and music. Piracy is practically legal in Venezuela. There are actual stores inside malls selling piracy and there are even online business based on piracy. You can see it by yourself checking pidetupelicula.com website, this is a delivery service of pirate movies, games and music, the movies’ price in US$ is around 2$ and they can include in your order some snacks and drinks…
This is just a little example of how piracy is spreading rapidly in my country and in all over the world. Governments can set regulations and fines. But the speed of technology is faster and people will eventually find a way to copy and share the files physically and virtually. In my opinion this is a big challenge for the entertainment industry, try to develop new alternative and ways of making money and not to depend on CD’s, DVD’s. And the big governments’ challenge is to make people conscious of the harm and consequences of piracy.
Wow! It’s definitely amazing that people can illegally sell pirated movies, DVDs, and music on a web site and not get caught! What happens in Venezuela on the streets of Caracas, also happens in the United States. There are actually people that go from business to business (for example a hair salon or barber shop) with a bag with pirated movies, DVDs, and music and sell it. There are markets everywhere in the world that sells illegal goods, but I agree how can the government truly regulate it?
ReplyDeleteNo doubt why Venezuela has the highest piracy index of Latin America. The national government does nothing to change this…you can even see police officers buying pirated movies and CDs in those stores. There is no leading example and the most harmed are our artists. Some groups may think that illegal file sharing could help them to become famous very fast. This could be beneficial…for a while. After the big boom they would find themselves unable to make profit or even cover their costs from their work. Take a look to My Blog where I discuss more about Music Piracy.
ReplyDeleteYou bring many memories to my mind. Piracy in Venezuela is exactly as you described. Its existence is well accepted as a common behavior and it isn't negatively portrayed in any way. However, it is important to recognize that piracy is a worldwide problem. It is interesting to see how different governments approach the same problems and still there isn't a country that has successfully combat piracy. Let's hope that when a solution is reached in a country, Venezuela will easily adopt the same approach when it comes to piracy.
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