Belgian audiovisual sector joins to fight illegal downloads

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The Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) and the Belgian Federation of Cinema's are going to work together with film producers, distributors, cinemas and directors in the fight against the illegal downloading of films and series. BEA said the cooperation will do this in a humorous way, through the subtitles. In general, people who view illegal content normally watch subtitles often made via simple text files within the 'community'. Communication agency TBWA devised a way to provide such files with subtitles, highlighting the behaviour of the illegal downloader throughout the film or programme.

Samuel L. Jackson, for example, will speak directly to the illegal viewer in The Hitman's Bodyguard and say people should not make any illegal downloads. The subtitles of, among other films, Logan Lucky and The Foreigner have also been edited. These edited subtitles have already been downloaded 10,000 times in a few weeks.

The participating parties point out that stricter legislation is needed to tackle illegal downloading. According to them, there is a direct link between piracy and the difficulty in bringing Flemish content to the public.

Approach in NL

The approach of illegal TV offerings in the Netherlands is now bearing fruit, reports NLconnect, the branch association of TV providers, including cable companies. In the 18 months to November, about 80 percent of the illegal providers went offline.Film distributor Dutch Filmworks (DFW) wants to tackle individual downloaders of illegally uploaded film content. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) has given its accord.