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Analysis Of Pirated Movies : A Blessing In Disguise

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Pirated Movies: A Blessing in Disguise The problem won’t go away. In fact, it’s getting worse. “Piracy is devastating to our business!” said Arianne Fraser, CEO of the Highland Film Group. Although she is an independent filmmaker who struggles to finance her projects, major Hollywood studios with plenty of money agree with her. They contend that piracy is theft and must be stopped. Anti-piracy laws have failed, though, so what can filmmakers do? Maybe they need a new point of view. Pirated movies may be illegal, but their existence has economic and social benefits for the public as well as for the movies’ creators. Filmmakers are not convinced by this argument, explaining that the loss of revenue from piracy doesn’t just affect the bottom line. According to Gareth Neame, executive producer of “Downton Abbey,” piracy reduces the value of original works. That, in turn, prevents good films from being made at all, unless they are potential blockbusters whose box office revenues can sustain the alleged losses generated by piracy. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claims its industry loses $250 billion per year to piracy, along with 750,000 American jobs. Studies show, however, that consumers don’t care. A survey conducted by Irdeto, a provider of digital security technologies, confirmed that most people know piracy is illegal. Only 19%, however, said they would stop watching pirated content because of the supposed financial losses caused by

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