Avast, Matey: Fighting Pirates In China

from the arrrrrrrrr dept

We've noted how instead of relying solely on lawsuits, entertainment companies are actually attempting to innovate in China to get around piracy. Now, one company works for record labels and movie studios as a hired gun, hunting down the people that run file-sharing sites and instead, of suing them, trying to get them to become licensed, paid services. A consultant in China says part of the problem there is that there are few legitimate channels for people to use, so they turn to piracy, pointing out how there's just one movie theater for every 450,000 people in the country. It's an issue that transcends just China, though: when there's a lack of attractive legitmate channels -- whether they're too expensive or their content has too many restrictions -- people will turn to less legal alternatives. Shutting down service after service won't do any good unless people are given a reasonable legal alternative.

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