ESA's Annual Report Details Its Piracy Prevention Adventures

[J Tyran]

Crime riddled country with cartels that make Russian mobsters look civilized? Dedicate over 300 agents to cracking down on pirated games that nobody would ever buy legitimately because it is roughly a third of the average monthly paycheck! Because guarding corporate America's interests is numero uno even in Mechico!

Its not a case of "lol piracy" these guys produce pirated media in industrial quantities and can make hundreds of thousands of dollars, in years past they have traced the profits and found out they fund criminals and even paramilitary groups and terrorists.

The criminals involved can often be active criminals and catching them is worthwhile as well as interrupting the profit making that funds drugs and criminal acts.

Yes and I have a 7 foot cock. The first thing you always do is put a little link right there below the ridiculous claim of profits from piracy going on to literally fund armies.

Now here is the thing. Yes piracy can be a part of a cartels operations. Along side with human trafficking. However the police is not exactly busting their balls for kidnapping and selling girls into sexual slavery are they? No they are cracking down the doors to get those illegally ripped DVD's. Now if they always had the option of just busting down the doors and rounding them up why are they acting like the ESA's private army? Wouldn't surprise me if they just walked past a truck load of cocaine and ignored it just to get at the games.

You want links? OK,

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/04/real_ira_gets_into_computer/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/jul/13/ukcrime.film
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-02/chennai/30466899_1_dvds-cds-piracy
http://news.cnet.com/Terrorist-link-to-copyright-piracy-alleged/2100-1028_3-5722835.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/buying-pirated-dvd--you-could-be-helping-dcompany/431798/

So there are links regarding Britain, Pakistan, India and Lebanon. The link is undeniable, industrial manufacturing of pirated media puts cash in the hands of organised crime and terrorists. In the developed world it was big in the early 00s but not so much now, in less developed nations with limited internet availability its still huge business and a nice side earner for the criminal gangs. "According to Interpol, the high profits and low risks associated with DVD piracy mean that 1kg of pirated discs is now worth more than 1kg of cannabis resin to criminal and terrorist groups" that was pretty serious and a huge chunk of money. Some criminal gangs may have links to even more unsavory characters, again this is undisputable. Why are you defending this? These people are career criminals that engage in all kinds of criminal acts, they are not a poor kid downloading a game because the prices are too high.



As for the poilce just busting Guadalajara for the pirated stuff thats rubbish and you know it, Guadalajara is almost a warzone. Hundreds of raids take place there and sometimes they actually lose control of the city when cartels set up illegal roadblocks, the police have to wait until they have enough manpower to break through

 

[Gray Firion]

There are intrinsic problems to the entertainment industry in Central and South America, from lack of legislation on the matter, huge taxing on imports or simply the countrys own fate not being entirely it's own (as is the case in Mexico, due to the Cartels).

Regarding piracy and the places where it is "more accepted". This has been stated before by Gabe Newell I think, but if pirates provide a better service than the original companies then people will prefer the pirates. If money is scarce, people will spend it as expertly as possible to get the most out of their bucks. When you have markets where the average price of a game is 120$ due to external reasons (as mentioned above) wouldn't it be better to get rid of those reasons first?

Sure thing, piracy is piracy and theft is theft however you look at it. But if you don't remove the underlying reasons for it, it'll just keep returning. This rule applies to everything else as well: taking care of things at the surface when the root of the problem is still firmly planted is nothing but a stopgap measure that won't work forever.

PS: Extra Credits touched upon this matter with 2 of their videos recently, Emerging Markets I think they were. They raised some pretty valid points too, about the state of the market in South America and what could possibly be done to remedy or change the situation.

That's where I'm drawing from at any rate, I live in Europe and have never went to the Americas so I didn't know anything about those markets before-hand... =X

 

[1337mokro]

Crime riddled country with cartels that make Russian mobsters look civilized? Dedicate over 300 agents to cracking down on pirated games that nobody would ever buy legitimately because it is roughly a third of the average monthly paycheck! Because guarding corporate America's interests is numero uno even in Mechico!

Its not a case of "lol piracy" these guys produce pirated media in industrial quantities and can make hundreds of thousands of dollars, in years past they have traced the profits and found out they fund criminals and even paramilitary groups and terrorists.

The criminals involved can often be active criminals and catching them is worthwhile as well as interrupting the profit making that funds drugs and criminal acts.

Yes and I have a 7 foot cock. The first thing you always do is put a little link right there below the ridiculous claim of profits from piracy going on to literally fund armies.

Now here is the thing. Yes piracy can be a part of a cartels operations. Along side with human trafficking. However the police is not exactly busting their balls for kidnapping and selling girls into sexual slavery are they? No they are cracking down the doors to get those illegally ripped DVD's. Now if they always had the option of just busting down the doors and rounding them up why are they acting like the ESA's private army? Wouldn't surprise me if they just walked past a truck load of cocaine and ignored it just to get at the games.

You want links? OK,

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/04/real_ira_gets_into_computer/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/jul/13/ukcrime.film
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-02/chennai/30466899_1_dvds-cds-piracy
http://news.cnet.com/Terrorist-link-to-copyright-piracy-alleged/2100-1028_3-5722835.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/buying-pirated-dvd--you-could-be-helping-dcompany/431798/

So there are links regarding Britain, Pakistan, India and Lebanon. The link is undeniable, industrial manufacturing of pirated media puts cash in the hands of organised crime and terrorists. In the developed world it was big in the early 00s but not so much now, in less developed nations with limited internet availability its still huge business and a nice side earner for the criminal gangs. Some criminal gangs may have links to even more unsavory characters, again this is undisputable. Why are you defending this? These people are career criminals that engage in all kinds of criminal acts, they are not a poor kid downloading a game because the prices are too high.

As for the poilce just busting Guadalajara for the pirated stuff thats rubbish and you know it, Guadalajara is almost a warzone. Hundreds of raids take place there and sometimes they actually lose control of the city when cartels set up illegal roadblocks, the police have to wait until they have enough manpower to break through

Very good did you actually read them? The link about terrorists states it's an allegation, not a confirmation it says nothing more than the people selling the shit have affiliations with some groups. Now given the American Intelligence bureau's record they went to War with Iraq because of terrorists from Iran. It's just one letter who gives a crap, however I'd say it's not the best record if you ask me. Especially when it is not conclusive.

The one in India is a 3 sentence long piece about an actor making wild claims that people pirating films are funding terrorists because those are made in Pakistan, so all Pakistan people must be terrorists? How nice of you to say by indirectly quoting this article... well that one barely a paragraph of an allegation backed up with nothing. The other one about India basically repeats what I said. Criminals profit from it so it's obvious to move into that industry. They also tie it to D-Company by stating a report that is linked nowhere on the site.

The only one I will grant you is the IRA. Which then asks the question... why are/did they not cracking down on the IRA? They supposedly know in which factories the damned things were being made but I saw a story not about a raid, but just casually reporting it again without links to official documents or anything else. It sounds to me like you picked the 5 first google hits and slapped them on as evidence.

It still raises a nice question though. Why not invade the IRA's bloody factory? I mean the cartels are roughly as well armed with machine guns and are equally ruthless though their motivations are different. Why would the ESA be able to get 300 cops to perform raids and bust down doors in Mexico. However the same thing cannot be done in Ireland?

Pesos and Corruption is probably the answer.

 

[J Tyran]

Which then asks the question... why are/did they not cracking down on the IRA?It still raises a nice question though. Why not invade the IRA's bloody factory?

Because noone wanted to derail the Northern Ireland peace process in all likelihood, since the cease fire and the introduction of Republicans into the Assembly and other political bodies the authorities have been acting with kid gloves in the province. Even when there has been the occasional small car bomb or sectarian assassination by splinter groups the approach has been softly softly with good reason. Both Republican groups and Unionists have turned their efforts into all kinds of criminal activity, largely for self interest instead of furtherance of a political agenda. Drugs, racketeering, organised prostitution have all been identified. Arrests and raids do take place but any operation has to be carefully planned and executed because of the risk of stirring up sectarian tensions and the belief of state oppression.

It still raises a nice question though. Why not invade the IRA's bloody factory? I mean the cartels are roughly as well armed with machine guns and are equally ruthless though their motivations are different. Why would the ESA be able to get 300 cops to perform raids and bust down doors in Mexico. However the same thing cannot be done in Ireland?

Pesos and Corruption is probably the answer.

Large scale busts like that are a daily event across Mexico, in this instance they are reporting the bust of a counterfeit media operation. that doesn't mean other never raids took place, they most certainly did. Mexico has thousands of soldiers and police officers on the streets in constant anti cartel operations. Stopping that production was a valuable objective, sure it benefits the ESA and money may have even changed hands. The fact is though shutting that operation down cost that cartel money and material and took some criminals off the streets for a while, all thats worthwhile in itself.

 

[Aggieknight]

While I'm not impressed away by the high cost of games in Mexico (understand why...it's still stupid), I am at least happy that we actually have piracy that I can get behind enforcement on.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Can someone explain to me the thought process behind selling goods at a higher price in poorer countries?

My guess? Import/export fees cause a higher cost of distribution mandating a higher end cost for the consumer in order to keep the same profit. Along with monetary inflation and exchange rates.

But that's just my guess.

Yup exactly right. But of course people seem to forget that it costs money to ship things to far away places, and that governments tax items that enter their countries.

Can someone explain to me the thought process behind selling goods at a higher price in poorer countries?

It guarantees that they stay poor while pandering for the wealthy 1%.

No it is because sellers in foreign countries would be selling the games at a loss, because it costs so much to get them imported because of government taxes on said imports.

It's economics, not some plot by the rich.

 

[zinho73]

Can someone explain to me the thought process behind selling goods at a higher price in poorer countries?

My guess? Import/export fees cause a higher cost of distribution mandating a higher end cost for the consumer in order to keep the same profit. Along with monetary inflation and exchange rates.

But that's just my guess.

Yup exactly right. But of course people seem to forget that it costs money to ship things to far away places, and that governments tax items that enter their countries.

Can someone explain to me the thought process behind selling goods at a higher price in poorer countries?

It guarantees that they stay poor while pandering for the wealthy 1%.

No it is because sellers in foreign countries would be selling the games at a loss, because it costs so much to get them imported because of government taxes on said imports.

It's economics, not some plot by the rich.

Economics is a plot by the rich.

Import taxes exist to stimulate the internal market. When your internal market does not produce what is being imported, the high taxes are simply denying the product to those without the means to pay a lot.

Taxes usually go to feed a corrupt government that does nothing to improve the situation. Meanwhile, ordinary people recur to piracy, contraband, theft or credit debt.

God forbid a sensible law regarding imports to fuel a part of the economy that is stagnated, generating revenue, creating legal jobs and other things that might alter the status quo of a lot of people.

 

[zinho73]

I live in Brazil and I'm able to see up close how piracy is integrated in our daily lives. Do you want a solution?

Accessibility, great prices and pro-consumer relationship.

Steam has convinced a lot of people that I know to keep away from pirated games, more than anything else.

If the price is right, people will always prefer the secure channels, with warranties, online service and all that fluff.

But a 100 bucks for a game (that offers no local servers for multiplayer and has no subtitles in our language) is simply too much. If you can even find a place that can sell you a legal copy!

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Maybe if they didn't charge so much for games and inflate the price of games in certain countries, they wouldn't have such insane piracy rates. Just a thought

Precisely what I'm thinking, but that's what you get when you have short-sighted fatcats in charge. They never ever understand anything that isn't "bottom line".

 

[feha]

That sweep netted 194,000 pirated games and a similar number of blank discs.

Wait, so in mexico it is illegal to have empty cd-r's or cd-rw's?