First and foremost, My friends and I agreed that piracy is a CRIME.  It should not be done and it should not be encouraged, no matter where you look at it.  People who are into these kind of business/activity should be treated as criminals and should be punished to the full extent of the law.  Piracy losses totalled in billions worldwide resulting to job displacements and has become a deterent in technological innovation.

First in our agenda is a discussion on where these pirated films, music (VCD/DVD) and computer softwares are coming from?  Before you can create duplicate copies, you must have a source.  I've seen pirated films that were taken directly inside moviehouses, that means someone is allowing someone to bring in a camera inside the theater and record the film.
 
How about pirated copies that were made from films that were intended for review or for screening purposes?  How did the pirates got a copy of this?  For computer softwares, who are leaking the programs into the internet for downloads even before it's released in the market?  Company insiders or the developers themselves perhaps?

Next agenda is why pirated copies is so popular to the buying public?  Cheaper price is the main reason, not only for the films/music but also for the VCD/DVD players.  Original VCD players are now available for around Three Thousand (P3,000.00) pesos, and a Thousand pesos for imitations.  Original DVD players is around Five Thousand (P5,000.00) pesos, and Three Thousand (P3,000.00) pesos for imitations.  Very affordable even for the average consumer.  Another contributing factor is all players can now play multi-regions DVDs, both orignal and imitations. Unlike before, you need to have separate players for specific regions.  Because of these developments, sales of VCD/DVD players has skyrocketed.  In other words, even appliance manufacturers benefitted from the business of piracy as well.

The topic shifted to the implementation of our IPR and anti-piracy law.   How determine is the government and other concerned groups to stop piracy?  While it's true that information campaigns, raids and collaboration efforts were intensified, how many pirates were actually convicted and jailed?  None as far as we can remember.  Cases were settled and fees were paid.  As they always say - Piracy is a business, but fighting piracy is even a bigger business.

Should the consumer be punished or be blamed for patronizing pirated films/music/softwares?  We all said NO.  Consumers simply bought the product and paid for it, they did not steal it.   Consumers couldn't care less about the effects of piracy, all they care about is how to have cheaper forms of entertainment right from the comfort of their living rooms.  For a family of five, going to movie theaters will automatically cost them Four Hundred (P400.00) pesos or Five Hundred ( P500.00) pesos for seats in orchestra or balcony section respectively. 
A DVD pirated copy will cost them only Seventy-Five (P75.00) pesos or even lower.  Punishments should be given to those who create the product.  If nobody creates it, nobody can sell it and nobody can buy it.  Spare the vendors and the consumers is the consensus of the day.

Does this mean Filipinos don't value quality anymore?  I don't think so.  I visited video stores recently and was surprised to see consumers buying original VCDs in bulk at Seventy Five (P75.00) pesos each.  This goes to show that quality is still the main priority of Filipinos over cost for as long as it's reasonably priced.  The same thing can also be done for music.  Try offering an audio CD where consumers can select only the songs they want and charge them Ten (P10.00) per song.  Mark my word that this kind of service will sell like hotcakes.

How do we now stop piracy given the situation?  Original products have one advantage, and that is quality.  The advantage of pirated products is cost.  All the companies needs to do is to combine the advantage of both - price their products competitively, a little bit higher than pirated products but not so high that consumers can no longer afford it.  Companies should also use technology like cryptography, anti-ripping software and broadcast flags to fight piracy.  Just a reminder, use technology moderately enough to protect you against piracy and not to the extent of preventing technology innovation.

Alvin Toffler, author of ThirdWave, FutureShock and PowerShift said that the control of knowledge has become the principal means to create wealth and power.  Whoever has the knowledge has the power.  As it is right now, it seems that the pirates have the knowledge, the upper-hand, and the power over the legitimate producers/creators.  So far, they were able to crack all sorts of protection technology can offer.  The challenge for the industry is to come up with something that is unbreakable.

Technology allows users to share, transfer, and record movies, music, and software as easy as you can imagine at a very low cost.  It is happening, reality is now.  Almost all appliance can now be connected to the internet,  Multi-function MP3 players and mobile phones with sharing capabilities are also available.  Companies should accept the fact that all they can do is to minimize/control piracy.  To stop it is a tall order and an almost impossible dream.  With advancements happening so fast, fighting piracy will even become more difficult.  So might as well join them if you can't beat them.  It's better to earn something out of it than earn nothing from it.  The choice is all yours.

To my jounalist friends, I'm looking forward to our next gathering.

Am logging off for now.  God Bless us all!!!