Government agency Optical Media Board supports #PlayItRight campaign

[Len]

The Optical Media Board (OMB) expressed recently its full support to the #PlayItRight anti-piracy advocacy of Globe Telecom by helping educate the general public against malware, cyber security threats and access to illegal digital content and torrent sites.

Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said that the support of OMB, a government agency dedicated to combat piracy, is a big boost to the #PlayItRight campaign. “We are grateful to OMB for recognizing our advocacy on anti-piracy. Our partnership will reinforce our educational drive against the illegal distribution of copy-righted content to a greater reach,” Cu explained.

“The internet has become the main source of almost all the copy right infringement content nowadays and we need all the help we can get. We are encouraging the OMB to invite other stakeholders as well such as the cinemas to collaborate with our education drive to target the moviegoers,” Cu added.

OMB Chair & CEO Atty. Anselmo B. Adriano said that the biggest problem of OMB is the big market for pirated videos out there because people don’t know why they should not buy pirated materials. “In as much as we try to be creative in our enforcement and disrupt the distribution chain and the retail chain for pirated video, there is still a big market for it. This is why we need to target the market through education. This is the reason why we are partnering with other organizations and companies like Globe to push for more education,” Adriano exclaimed.

The OMB will also actively participate in the Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) of Globe that teaches responsible use of the internet to children in public schools by including illegal downloading of illegal content online in the training module.

The OMB has been successful in curbing out pirated movies, music and software in DVDs nationwide and educating the public against illegal cam cording in cinemas through the years. The OMB is created pursuant to Republic Act No. 9239 under the Office of the President to regulate the production, use and distribution of optical and magnetic media in the country.

Having partnered with global and local content creators and distributors for its content business, Globe has taken an active role in promoting legitimate sources of online content. In 2017, the company launched the #PlayItRight advocacy to help the entertainment industry curb piracy and protect intellectual property rights.