Globe, AVIA team up to fight digital piracy

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. and the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) are joining forces to push for legislation against digital piracy.

Globe said fighting online piracy requires not only technology to safeguard original creative content, but also legislation to protect copyright and enforcement.

“Assertive voluntary agreements among stakeholders targeting digital piracy will make it much more difficult for online pirates to facilitate illegal content,” Globe corporate counsel Froilan Castelo said.

“To complement this, we support legislation that will institutionalize the blocking of pirated sites such as the bill authorizing the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to order ISPs to obstruct pirated websites,“ Castelo said.

Globe said digital piracy cripples the creative arts and video on demand industry, taking away millions of dollars from legitimate video and pay TV players.

“It is impossible to understate the severity of digital piracy.  It is the single largest business issue facing the content industry and putting Filipinos at risk of downloading dangerous malware,” AVIA’s coalition against piracy general manager Neil Gane said.

“We fully support the IP Code Amendment bills which allow for a fair, balanced and effective process to block egregious piracy sites and protect the video industry and consumers” Gane said.

Globe has been voluntarily blocking validated illegal piracy sites as part of its #PlayItRight campaign.

The campaign makes consumers aware that piracy websites can be hotbeds for illegal online activities, malware and other cybersecurity threats.

With today’s low cost and easy access to content, the Ayala-led telco said consumers should no longer find a reason to consume pirated content.

“Piracy is a crime, and it is a daunting threat given the ubiquity of the internet. Initiatives that aim to mitigate piracy, if not fully stop this act will make a positive societal impact. What may seemingly be a simple act like going to legal sites to stream a movie instead of downloading a stolen copy has an economic impact on the lives of many people,” it said.