(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Nov. 13)

Digital Piracy
Time to Prevent Recurrence of Illegal File Uploads

The nation is suffering from another case of illegal circulation of a film following
the spread of pirated copies of the domestic summer blockbuster ``Haeundae'' online
in August.

Needless to say, digital piracy is tarnishing the reputation of the local
cinema industry as well as the entire cultural content business. Illegal uploads and
the distribution of cultural contents are also severely damaging to the country.

CJ Entertainment, an investor and distributor of the vampire thriller ``Thirst''
(Bakjwi), said Thursday that they discovered the circulation of pirated video files
of the movie though some Web sites in South Korea and the United States on Nov. 9.
The incident came less than three months after the ``Haeundae'' case sparked an
uproar over the illegal leakage of the hit film, which has been watched by over 10
million people. How could such a thing take place again?

First, CJ Entertainment should take necessary measures to block the further spread
of the pirated movie files through cyberspace. Such steps might be seen as belated
since some experts had pointed out that the firm should have taken immediate action
to delete pirated files and cooperate with major Web operators and file-sharing
service providers to safeguard against the crime. It is widely assumed that six
hours are enough for a newly-loaded video file, legal or illegal, to spread quickly
and become a top-click item on the Internet.

What's somewhat fortunate is that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has
promptly started searching for those uploading the movie file by mobilizing its
copyrights watchdog agency, aside from police investigations. It is urgent for the
government and the law enforcement authorizes to conduct thorough probes into the
case so that they can find out how the case occurred and who is responsible for the
piracy. CJ is also required to make an internal investigation to check if some
producers or insiders were involved in the case.

No one can rule out the possibility that the film might have been leaked in the
process of making a DVD file as seen in the case of ``Haeundae.'' The unauthorized
upload was made two days before the last half of DVD production of ``Thirst'' was
completed. According to the outcome of police investigations, ``Haeundae'' was
leaked in the process of producing its version for the disabled. If the possibility
becomes a reality, CJ will not be able to avoid criticism that it has continued to
neglect setting up a watertight production system to prevent a recurrence of the
leakage.

The case teaches a lesson that film producers, distributors, online network
operators and Internet users should create a new culture, in which they respect the
value of cultural creations and their copyrights. They must not compromise their
efforts against illegal uploads and downloads. ``Thirst'' is an internationally
acclaimed movie, whose director Park Chan-wook won the Jury Prize, the third-highest
honor at the Cannes film festival in May. It was co-invested and co-produced by
Universal Pictures of the U.S. And it has been exported to 20 countries. If we don't
protect local movies from piracy, who else will?

Digital piracy is blamed for an annual loss of more than 2 trillion won ($1.7
billion) in South Korea, which is ranked as the world's most wired country. About
20,000 files of copyrighted contents were reported to have been circulated last year
alone. It's time to make all-out efforts to root out digital piracy in order to
better promote the nation's cultural industry.

(END)