Edinburgh, Scotland - March 21, 2000
The international recording industry and enforcement authorities should join forces
to stop the alarming spread of CD and software piracy across the world, an influential
conference of law enforcement officers was told today.
The call came from Jay Berman, chairman of IFPI, the organization representing
the recording industry world-wide. IFPI is participating in the 3rd
International Conference of Criminal Intelligence Analysts (ICCIA) in
Edinburgh. The conference marks the first time the music industry and law
enforcement have come together at such an event to publicly discuss their
common concerns.
Berman said, "Intellectual property piracy is the big global growth crime of
today. It is backed by sophisticated, organized crime syndicates; it is
nurturing the drugs trade and other forms of serious crime; it is robbing
governments and economies; and it is undermining the belief in the rule of
law. The only possible way to fight it is to form a partnership between the
recording industry and enforcement authorities, so information is shared and
enforcement can be made more effective.
"We now have incontrovertible evidence that criminal gangs involved in music
piracy are also involved in other kinds of serious crimes such as drugs and
firearms, credit card fraud, money laundering and violence.
"The pirates are investing vast amounts of money in music and software piracy
- and they are lured by the perception that music piracy is a low risk, high
return, business. Together, we have to put an end to that perception."
Pirate music sales, predominantly of CDs, are estimated to be worth $4.5
billion. There has been a massive proliferation in pirate traffic in the last
three years, spurred by the involvement of organized crime syndicates and a
huge manufacturing over-capacity in optical discs. Russia, Ukraine, Brazil,
Hong Kong, Israel and Italy are among the countries most affected.
ICCIA is organized by the National Criminal Intelligence Service in the UK and
is the premier event for law enforcement agencies world-wide, attended by over
600 professionals in the field. The event provides a crucial forum for
serious crime investigators to look at potential problems in the future and
examine ways of combating the increasingly international operations of
organized crime. Sophisticated intelligence gathering and analysis, and
cutting edge technology are needed to combat the problem.
Industry Response
IFPI's member companies concluded in 1997 to build up a global enforcement
structure to tackle the problem. Three years on, IFPI has developed the
in-house background intelligence, and resources capable of supporting the
police and prosecutors responsible for enforcement.
Iain Grant, head of IFPI Enforcement Department said, "The music industry now
has at its disposal a team of professionals with strong law enforcement
backgrounds working in a highly coordinated global network. We are building
databases for intelligence and analysis, and have a newly developed forensic
facility."
There has been increasing evidence of the involvement of organized crime in
music piracy in the past two years. Most recently in the UK, a year-long
investigation by IFPI and City of London police resulted in six members of a
Russian syndicate being arrested in January this year. In addition to seizing
thousands of illegal music CDs, police officers uncovered one of the largest
forged credit card manufacturing facilities seen in the UK.
Such cases are becoming more commonplace around the world. The growing
sophistication of such smuggling operations was underlined by the discovery of
a submerged, air-tight craft entering Hong Kong waters from Macau, specially
modified to transport pirate optical discs -- a favorite technique of drug
smugglers.
International Music Piracy - Key Facts
- Globally it is estimated that one in three recordings is a pirate copy.
- The illegal music market is worth an estimated US$4.5 billion a year.
- In its annual piracy report of 1999, IFPI highlighted 20 countries now
in its high band category of a piracy rate of 50%, compared to 14 the
previous year. They included Ukraine. Israel and China.
- Optical disk manufacturing capability stands at over 16 billion units, having
quadrupled in the past five years -- massively exceeding legitimate
demand.
- In many countries copyright legislation is inadequate, and sanctions
and fines are too insignificant to deter pirates, bearing little
relation to the profit potential and are simply viewed as a cost of doing
business.