You’re watching a movie and when you’re enjoying it most you see a message slide on the black band. And the message says that the movie is copyrighted and that any unauthorized copy or distribution will be prosecuted according to the law. If you’ve ever watched a move in a cinema, then you’ve seen that message. Also, if you ever watched a movie filmed by a guy with a camera in a cinema, then you’ve seen it as well. That message that is supposed to fight piracy is 30 years old this month, and the Interpol are the ones who came up with it. And you’ve seen it everywhere, on DVDs, on movies from some sites and in plenty of films.

Do you think that message actually ever bothered everyone? Yes, the people that legitimately watch the movie, other than that, pirates will duplicate the movie whenever they want. And you know what’s worse? 30 years ago it was a lot harder to do something like this, but today, all you have to do is go to a cinema with a camera hidden somewhere and just press play. Then, you put it on your PC, and that’s where the Internet comes in.

A pirate first uploads a movie on his PC, then some of his friends get it, then it’s uploaded on a Torrent site and some people will share it on DC++, or Kazaa, or eMule or who knows what other program. It will get distributed to thousands, maybe millions, while the original pirate does almost nothing else. And also, it is impossible to backtrack. Who can find the original pirate, when so many people have illegal copies of one movie?

I have no idea if the people that first came up with the Net were thinking that it was going to help crime so much, and especially piracy.