India among top 10 nations in internet movie piracy

India is among the top 10 countries in the world where illegal file sharing of Hollywood movies takes place, according to a latest research report prepared by Envisional for the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

As the rate of internet piracy for films could go up even further with broadband penetration rising, MPA (along with some Indian film studios) is in talks with internet service providers (ISPs) for curbing the menace.

According to the MPA study ‘Internet Piracy Landscape Audit’, the two main internet piracy methods used in India are the file-sharing network ‘bittorrent’ and web-based file hosts ‘cyberlockers’.

The report adds that the recent Hindi film Kaminey is estimated to have been downloaded over 3.5 lakh times on bittorrent with around two-thirds of the downloaders located in India.

India is fourth in terms of proportion of downloads for six recent Western movies through bittorrent. The US is on top with 17.2% of such downloads, followed by Great Britain at 10.7%, Canada at 8.3%, India at 6.5%, Australia at 4.6%, Brazil at 3.7%, Philippines at 2.9%, Poland at 2.8%, Portugal at 2.6%, Malaysia at 2.3% and the remaining 205 countries of the world at 38.6%. China is not in the top 10 internet piracy list.

Speaking to DNA, MPA president & managing director (Asia-Pacific regions) Michael C Ellis said that as a first step, ISPs in India would be persuaded to send notices to those subscribers who are indulging in internet piracy.

In some countries, such as the UK, 70% of those who received such notices said they would stop piracy as they knew that they were not anonymous any longer and that they were under watch.  The move is part of a graduated response programme that MPA has launched in many countries and plans to initiate in India as well.

After the first notice, if the piracy continues, a second notice would be sent, saying “We know you have done it again”. Consumers will then be directed to some legal download sites or any other paid mechanism. But if the violation continues, “There will be an increased level of sanction”, said Ellis. For instance, there could be disconnection by the concerned ISP for a certain duration. The idea is to escalate the level of sanctions to deter people from internet piracy.

The proposed 3G (third generation) telecom service is expected to increase internet connectivity manifold, and that too may help internet piracy to grow in India. That’s yet another reason for the film industry to start the anti-piracy campaign in the country. “With the right legislation, anti-piracy opportunities will increase,” said Ellis. However, he added that legislation can never keep up with technology.

India has around 70 lakh broadband subscribers, and the number grew 51% between June 2008 and August 2009, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Digital pilferage
Recent Hindi film Kaminey is estimated to have been downloaded over 3.5 lakh times on bittorrent.

India is fourth in downloads for six recent Western movies through bittorrent.

The main piracy methods used in India are ‘bittorrent’ and ‘cyberlockers’.