Sociological Perspectives on Media Piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam (original) (raw)
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Social and Technological Forces Supporting Piracy (Book Chapter)
Sociological Perspectives on Media Piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam, 2016
This chapter describes the various intertwining social and technological macro forces which sustain the illegal optical disc piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam. Owing to the limitation of data on Vietnam, the chapter’s analyses focus on the forces which sustain the Philippine piracy trade, particularly on the Quiapo Barter Trade Center Complex (QBTCC) piracy network, the main optical media piracy hub in the country, although it also identifies and analyzes some social and technological forces which sustain piracy in Vietnam. This chapter also provides a social background and profile of the optical disc traders in both countries and the reasons why they persist in this type of trade. It argues that Filipino and Vietnamese traders participate in the piracy business because of some major social, economic, social, and technological factors, in addition to the weak legal, judicial, and law enforcement systems that encourage them to participate in counterfeit media piracy. This includes the “push” factors such as the adverse socioeconomic situations and unstable peace and order situation of some impoverished regions in the Philippines and Vietnam where most of the piracy traders and workers come from. In the Philippines, the war in Mindanao, poverty, and social discrimination against Muslims drive the displaced Maranao and Maguindanao Muslims to migrate to urban centers and engage in optical disc retail piracy as an alternative livelihood. It also includes “pull” factors such as the opening of more trading opportunities facilitated by the Doi Moi (renovation) economic policy of the Vietnamese government, the lure of higher profits in optical disc piracy trade, and the ease of registering and maintaining CD–DVD shops that sell counterfeit discs. The chapter ends with other important factors such as material and social networks that support the persistence of piracy: (1) the technological network (the use of allied digital technologies that facilitate the piracy business operations for traders, particularly the Internet, the cell phone, and other hardware and software digital technologies); (2) the kinship network (the employment of social and kinship ties to manage the illegal trade and protect its secrecy); (3) the ethnic network (the use of common cultural heritage for recruitment of informal workers and protection of trade secret and use of language as deterrence to law enforcement); and (4) the religious affiliation (the uninteneded effect of common religious affiliation which creates a sense of community among traders in the Philippines, hindering law enforcement to penetrate the illegal trade and leakage of the piracy trade secrets to authorities).
Chapter 5 Social and Technological Forces Supporting the Piracy Trade
This chapter describes the various intertwining social and technological macro forces which sustain the illegal optical disc piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam. Owing to limitation of data on Vietnam, the chapter focuses more on the Philippines particularly on Quiapo Barter Trade Center Complex (QBTCC) piracy network, the main optical media piracy hub in the Philippines, although there are some patterns which can be found in both countries. It opens with a general profile of traders of optical disc piracy trade in the Philippines and Vietnam. Then it argues that these Filipino and Vietnamese traders participate in the piracy business because of some major social, economic, and technological factors other than weak legal, judicial system and law enforcement systems that encourage them to participate in counterfeit media business piracy. This includes “push” factors such as the adverse socio-economic situations in the rural areas in Philippines and Vietnam. In the Philippines, the war in Mindanao, poverty and social discrimination drive the displaced Maranao and Maguindanao Muslims to migrate to urban centers and engage in optical disc retail piracy as an alternative livelihood, and “pull” factors such as the opening of more trading opportunities facilitated by the Doi Moi (renovation) economic policy of the Vietnamese government, the lure of higher profits in optical disc piracy trade, and the ease of registering and maintaining a CD-DVD shops that sell counterfeit discs. The chapter ends with other important factors such as material and social networks that support the persistence of piracy: the (1) technological network: the use of allied digital technologies that facilitate the piracy business operations for traders, particularly the Internet, the cellphone and other hardware and software digital technologies, (2) kinship network: the employment of social and kinship ties to manage the illegal trade and protect its secrecy, (3) ethnic network: the use common cultural heritage for recruitment of informal workers and protection of trade secret and use of language as deterrence to law enforcement, and (4) religious affiliation: the common religious identity as Muslims creates a sense of community among traders in the Philippines which obstructs law enforcement and minimizes leakage of the piracy trade secrets.
Piracy Cultures Editorial Introduction
What are "Piracy Cultures"? Usually, we look at media consumption starting from a media industry definition. We look at TV, radio, newspapers, games, Internet, and media content in general, all departing from the idea that the access to such content is made available through the payment of a license fee or subscription, or simply because it's either paid or available for free (being supported by advertisements or under a "freemium" business model). That is, we look at content and the way people interact with it within a given system of thought that sees content and its distribution channels as the product of relationships between media companies, organizations, and individuals-effectively, a commercial relationship of a contractual kind, with accordant rights and obligations. But what if, for a moment, we turned our attention to the empirical evidence of media consumption practice, not just in Asia, Africa, and South America, but also all over Europe and North America? All over the world, we are witnessing a growing number of people building media relationships outside those institutionalized sets of rules. We do not intend to discuss whether we are dealing with legal or illegal practices; our launching point for this analysis is that, when a very significant proportion of the population is building its mediation through alternative channels of obtaining content, such behavior should be studied in order to deepen our knowledge of media cultures. Because we need a title to characterize those cultures in all their diversity-but at the same time, in their commonplaceness-we propose to call it "Piracy Cultures." 1 The Editors would like to acknowledge the work of Miguel Afonso Caetano and Arlene Luck in making this special section possible. Manuel
Chapter 3 The Government's Attitude towards the Informal Sector and Piracy
The government attitude towards the informal sector in piracy-laden countries in Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam has been ignored in media piracy studies. Investigations often focus on the deficient copyright laws and law enforcement. This chapter explores the relationship between the supportive and non-hostile government policy towards the informal sector and the difficulty of fully formalizing the optical media business, specifically the optical media retail piracy trade, as demanded by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and corporate lobbying groups such as the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). To provide a context to this connection, this chapter first provides an overview and clarification on the definition and measurement of the informal sector, citing some current issues and problems encountered by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and researchers in dealing with this term. Then using some secondary data, it proceeds to illustrate some important contributions of this sector-that includes the informal of optical media retail piracy trade-to the overall economy of Southeast Asian countries, particularly to those of piracy-laden ASEAN countries. Generally, it argues that the supportive or tolerant attitude of the Philippine and Vietnamese governments as reflected in their legislation and programs toward the informal sector, supports informality in business and thus provides a friendly environment for informal employment and trade such as the optical media retail trade to flourish in the informal sector. Emerging economies such as the Philippines and Vietnam see the important role of the informal sector in employment generation and economic growth. Thus, they see no urgency to expedite the full formalization of businesses of the informal optical media trade and comply with the IPR demands of the U.S. and the USTR.
Piracy Cultures| “Free Culture” Lost in Translation
International Journal of Communication, 2012
Analyzing groups such as the Brazilian fans of the television series "Lost" and their independent streaming and subtitling activities, this article discusses the relationships among virtual communities of fans and the implications for distribution, access, and exchange of content produced by cultural industries. It defends the view that the flexibility of a worldwide network of fans, fragmented and disseminated on a global scale, allows their actions to operate not only as catalysts of the discussion around access and distribution of cultural products, but to challenge power levels, compressing hierarchies through as-yet-unimaginable forms of participation. It argues that the activities examined are part of a new design of interdependence of media such as TV and the Internet and that the role of groups such as the "Lost" fans studied are fundamental to the discussion of the flow of media products in a globalized society. El sentido común, el sentido comunitario, es un bichito duro de matar. (Common sense, sense of community, is a tough bug to kill.) ~Eduardo Galeano Em princípio o consumo não é mal, o mal é não poder consumir.
Chapter 6 Corruption and the Nonenforcement of the Optical Media Law
The persistence of the optical disc piracy trade in the Philippines and Vietnam, two Southeast Asian countries consistently listed in the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Special 301 watch lists as piracy hotspots in Southeast Asia, is sustained not just by the lack of law enforcement but by the inaction of some law enforcers and government officials who are in alliance with illegal piracy traders and other illegal protection groups. Piracy reports often view the persistence of optical disc piracy as caused by nonenforcement of law. But nonenforcement is not always fueled by lack of regulation. Ironically, in some situations where corruption is involved, the presence of law enforcement, often results in nonenforcement. By strategically taking no enforcement action, “corrupt” enforcers intentionally permit illegality and piracy. In this case, the enforcement system is colonized—borrowing Habermas’ term—by illegal networks, leading to collusion between law enforcers and illegal traders. Thus, the replication and sale of counterfeit discs in these two countries could not be attributed only to the lack of law enforcement but, above all, to corruption and conspiracy by those who are enrolled in the illegal trade. Using documentary and ethnographic data, giving more emphasis on the Philippine situation owing to some limitations of data on some aspects of the trade in Vietnam, this chapter analyzes sociologically some social patterns and cases of corruption, particularly bribery, and how they result in some forms of nonenforcement of the Optical Media Law in the Philippines and Vietnam. Ultimately, this chapter argues that what the Optical Media Law says “it is” may not be what “corrupt” law enforcers and other illegal groups say “it is” in actual social practice.
Al-Ahkam, 2021
This article aims to determine the enforcement of the MUI Fatwa Number 1 of 2003 concerning Copyrights for Muslim merchants selling pirated VCDs and DVDs in Market 45, Manado City. A qualitative method with observation, interview, and documentation techniques was used to analyze the data. Of the six Muslim traders interviewed, the results showed that the MUI fatwa enforcement was ineffective due to the lack of socialization and evaluation of merchants. Also, the merchants did not stop selling pirated products because they lacked religious understanding and awareness and lived below the poverty line. At the same time, the authors' economic rights become a barrier to the public in accessing the product because it is valued beyond the ability of consumers. This study suggests that the MUI ought to pay attention to the economic balance between the authors' economic rights and the public, such as merchants.