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From the Newsdesk

ACID Welcomes RUSI Report on Taking the Profit out of Intellectual Property Crime

But will Government listen?

In a keenly awaited publication, this RUSI (The Royal United Services Institute) report looks at how criminals profit from IP Crime, mainly undeterred by penalties, and provides recommendations of how Government, law enforcement’s and private sector stakeholders can help to make a difference.

Download the report (PDF)

Download ‘At a Glance’ (PDF)

The authors, Ardi Janjeva, Alexandria Reid and Anton Masienko preface the report saying the following, “The distribution of copyright-infringing audio-visual content, also known as ‘piracy’, is a major profit-generating crime that offers significant opportunities for criminal gain. The idea that piracy is solely carried out by otherwise law-abiding, opportunistic individuals is no longer tenable. Piracy is an increasingly professionalised crime, yet the current response lacks the required urgency on numerous levels, from an incomplete understanding of pirate business models to the often low priority attached to tackling it by law enforcement agencies, regulators and online service providers and the limited awareness in the financial sector about intellectual property crime.

This report explores how criminals make money from piracy and provides recommendations for how the UK government, law enforcement and private sector stakeholders can decrease the profitability of doing so. Its recommendations are addressed to UK audiences, but almost all of them are internationally applicable. This is particularly true of those aimed at rights holders, the financial sector and online service providers working across multiple geographies.”

RUSI Whitehall Reports

Dids Macdonald, OBE. CEO of ACID said, “The recommendations are very sensible and whilst this report offers the admirable suggestion of a public-private partnership, this must be a Government-led initiative first of all by recognising that IP Crime is just as serious as any other crime. Consumer buy-in to the consequences of IP crime is a first step.” 

The report makes recommendations in 5 areas:

  1. Reducing opportunities to monetise pirate operations through the creation of a public–private partnership for intelligence sharing across government, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, rights holders, online service providers and advertising networks.
  2. Preventing access to infringing websites and services through continued engagement with online service providers, as well as a revision of their responsibilities in the context of KYBC practices.
  3. Disrupting payments for infringing content through engagement with Acquiring banks; Payment service providers; Card payment schemes;  Crypto-asset service providers
  4. Improving financial investigation and enforcement response to piracy, including by creating a single intelligence system accessible to all UK agencies involved in policing IP crime that can be used to develop a better understanding of amounts of money made at various stages of the piracy supply chain
  1. Reducing user demand for infringing content by educating consumers on associated risks, such as fraud, malware infections, scams, high-risk advertising and malicious redirectors.

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) is the world’s oldest independent think tank on international defence and security.

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