User:S33k3r/Copyright infringement of audio-visual works


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Copyright infringement of audio-visual works, often referred to as "piracy", occurs when unauthorized copies are made of music, movies and similar works. Incidence of copyright infringement has grown dramatically since the late 1970s, as technology has facilitated the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted works. Unauthorized copies of original CDs, DVDs and other media are sold for very low prices around the world.

Background
Countries around the world have different laws to apply to music and film pirates. Some found guilty face either fines of varying degrees, and in very few cases can see jail. In other coutries still, pirates are simply not prosecuted, either due to privacy laws taking precedence over economic interests of copyright, or due to overburdening of the judicial system.

However, not everybody sees copyright infringement as a problem. Some see it as a natural evolution of society in conjunction with the rise of the internet, which fundamentally changes the way society operates. Pre-Internet media industry is using business model based on strict control of material licensing. Most commonly used new-media formats lack builtin Digital Rights Management capabilities, and are seen as "evil" by old media because the material can be copied and redistributed without control.

Most of the anti-DRM advocates oppose DRM-enabled material because it forces consumers to use certain hardware or platform thus becoming incompatible with some playback devices or software. The people with these views tend to regard legality or illegality of a duplication as irrelevant, since they are duplicating to achieve compatibility.

In several countries legislation hasn't kept up with the technological progress, and old-media companies are lobbying changes which would favor their existing business model, instead focusing on the benefit of the artist and consumer. Several pro-piracy interest groups have sprung up, particularly in Europe and Latin America. These groups focus on piracy operations without commercial interests using file sharing. In Sweden, pirates formed their own party Piratpartiet to further their cause.

Audio Infringments
In the 1990s, music CDs piracy began and became an international phenomenon, especially in Asia and Latin America. It is estimated that over 100 million CDs have been illegally reproduced for selling. In the case of music CDs case, it is much more difficult to catch pirates. Illegal copies are unlikely to be found at retail stores; the pirates instead sell copies at on-street markets for as low as one dollar.

In 1993 music in MP3 format started to appear on internet. Before copying music online wasn't feasible because 1:1 copy of music cd would require transfering 700MB data, and connections during that time weren't fast enough. But when compression came available, 70MB album was small enough to be downloaded.

Initial popularity of the format was limited due the difficulty of ripping and encoding audio cd in digital format. All available tools operated only from text console. First standalone MP3 players appeared at the end of 1998 and were relatively expensive to the capacity offered. Encoding tools had evolved alot, and were easy to use for mainstream users. Soon after appearance of hardware players, Napster was published. Although MP3 files were already available on IRC and USENET, sharing of MP3 format music peaked on Napster network, which had builtin search functions.

CD piracy affects the Mexican music market greatly, to the extent that some music groups and singers announce their latest releases on television along with messages to avoid piracy. The Argentine and Puerto Rican music industries have been affected as well, and the phrase "say no to piracy" has become a common one among Spanish speaking countries.

Mexican singers, in hopes to turn fans off from buying illegal CD copies, have begun to check CDs before autographing them. Sure tell signs of an illegal copy of a CD are, for example, a blank page directly under the CDs cover. Most legal CDs include photos, messages, or songs lists. Cristian Castro is one of the most famous singers in Mexico who checks CDs before signing them. Singers who check their CDs before signing them, usually sign them if they are legal CDs, but they would refuse to sign pirated copies. Los Tucanes de Tijuana, a ranchera music group from northern Mexico, is the exception: they told a magazine that they sign all CDs fans ask them to sign, on the understanding that some of their fans are so poor that they can only afford illegal copies of their work, but most stars, such as Pepe Aguilar and multiple others, have publicly protested the practice.

Video infringment
The first and most well-known form of pirated movies is known as a "Cam" recording. Early entertainment piracy surged after the advent of the VHS home video equipment. Initially, pirates would use hand-held video cameras to surrepticiously record movies shown at theaters. Owners of video stores would purchase the home-made recordings of popular movies and offer them for sale before the film's official release-to-video date. Differentiating from early VHS copies, Cams today are captured using digital equipment, usually DV cameras. This approach allows faster transfer from camera to computer with better quality.

Beginning in 1998, feature films began to be released on the internet by warez groups prior to their theatrical release. Cam releases were the first to appear, but as these recordings often possess a distinctly low quality, alternative methods were sought. These pirated versions usually came in the form of VCD or SVCD.



A prime example of pre-theatre release was the EViL release of American Pie. This is notable for three reasons:
 * 1) It was released in an uncensored workprint format. The later theatrical release was cut down by several minutes and had scenes reworked to avoid nudity to pass MPAA guidelines.
 * 2) It was released nearly two months prior to its release in theaters (CNN Headline News reported on its early release).
 * 3) It was listed by the movie company as one of the reasons it released an Unrated DVD edition.

In October 1999 DeCSS was released, this program allowed anyone to remove the CSS encryption on a DVD. Though its authors claimed that this software was meant only for playback purposes, it also meant that one could decode the content perfectly for ripping; combined with the "DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha" codec released shortly after, the new codec increased video quality from near VHS (asf files) to almost DVD quality when encoding from a DVD source.

The early DivX releases were mostly internal for group use, but once the codec spread, it became accepted as a standard and quickly became the most widely used format in scene. With help from associates who either work for a movie theater, movie production company, or video rental company, groups were supplied with massive amounts of material, and new releases began appearing at a very fast pace.

When a new release of DivX came out (Version 4.0), the codec went commercial, and the need for a free codec XviD emerged. Today, XviD has replaced DivX entirely. Although DivX codec has evolved from version 4 to 6.4 during this time, it is considered obsolete due the commercial nature of the codec. Compared to XviD, the commercial DivX is capable of handling HDTV resolutions, but open source alternative x264 is being used in scene for high definition material instead.

In 2004, the movie, "The Passion of the Christ", brought film piracy into the public eye, as millions of illegal copies of this movie were found around the world. Several academy titles were also found online triggering an investigation. Watermarks in the films were eventually traced to Carmine Caridi

Release formats used in pirated movies
In scene-related movie piracy, same movie is usually released in several different formats and versions. First versions are usually lower quality, and are eventually replaced with better quality releases as better sources are available.

Here is a table of movie ripping methods and sources, ranging from the lowest quality to the highest. Some sample images are provided for visual comparison. Scene rules define in which format and way each releasetype is to be packaged and distributed.