Digital Piracy

Time to Prevent Recurrence of Illegal File Uploads

The nation is suffering from another case of illegal circulation of a film following the spread of pirated copies of the domestic summer blockbuster ``Haeundae'' online in August. Needless to say, digital piracy is tarnishing the reputation of the local cinema industry as well as the entire cultural content business. Illegal uploads and the distribution of cultural contents are also severely damaging to the country.

CJ Entertainment, an investor and distributor of the vampire thriller ``Thirst'' (Bakjwi), said Thursday that they discovered the circulation of pirated video files of the movie though some Web sites in South Korea and the United States on Nov. 9. The incident came less than three months after the ``Haeundae'' case sparked an uproar over the illegal leakage of the hit film, which has been watched by over 10 million people. How could such a thing take place again?

First, CJ Entertainment should take necessary measures to block the further spread of the pirated movie files through cyberspace. Such steps might be seen as belated since some experts had pointed out that the firm should have taken immediate action to delete pirated files and cooperate with major Web operators and file-sharing service providers to safeguard against the crime. It is widely assumed that six hours are enough for a newly-loaded video file, legal or illegal, to spread quickly and become a top-click item on the Internet.

What's somewhat fortunate is that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has promptly started searching for those uploading the movie file by mobilizing its copyrights watchdog agency, aside from police investigations. It is urgent for the government and the law enforcement authorizes to conduct thorough probes into the case so that they can find out how the case occurred and who is responsible for the piracy. CJ is also required to make an internal investigation to check if some producers or insiders were involved in the case.

No one can rule out the possibility that the film might have been leaked in the process of making a DVD file as seen in the case of ``Haeundae.'' The unauthorized upload was made two days before the last half of DVD production of ``Thirst'' was completed. According to the outcome of police investigations, ``Haeundae'' was leaked in the process of producing its version for the disabled. If the possibility becomes a reality, CJ will not be able to avoid criticism that it has continued to neglect setting up a watertight production system to prevent a recurrence of the leakage.

The case teaches a lesson that film producers, distributors, online network operators and Internet users should create a new culture, in which they respect the value of cultural creations and their copyrights. They must not compromise their efforts against illegal uploads and downloads. ``Thirst'' is an internationally acclaimed movie, whose director Park Chan-wook won the Jury Prize, the third-highest honor at the Cannes film festival in May. It was co-invested and co-produced by Universal Pictures of the U.S. And it has been exported to 20 countries. If we don't protect local movies from piracy, who else will?

Digital piracy is blamed for an annual loss of more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in South Korea, which is ranked as the world's most wired country. About 20,000 files of copyrighted contents were reported to have been circulated last year alone. It's time to make all-out efforts to root out digital piracy in order to better promote the nation's cultural industry.