New MPA Piracy PSA Released for Holiday Season

The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) has partnered with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and its global content protection arm, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) to launch two new public service announcements that inform consumers about the many harms they face when viewing pirated movies and television shows.

Tell us in the comments section below what you think about these two videos.

Video #1

In this first video the man starts playing a movie and his wife comments, “I didn’t even know this was out yet.”  He replies, “It’s not, but I have my ways.”  The lady says, “Are you sure that’s safe?”  The man comes back with, “I have a VPN, we’re good.”

After the initial back and forth between this couple, a female voice-over explains that doing this opens up users to malware, privacy problems, and the guilt of funding crime syndicates.  While she is speaking, burglars are stealing items within their home.

Video #2

In the second video, Jim Mancuso (National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center employee) warns people about the risks of streaming pirated content.  He cites credit card fraud, malware, or worse.

My Thoughts

We’ve covered the risks of using these unverified streaming services and apps for years.  There’s definitely some truth in what these videos portray but the first video really ramps up the fear-mongering.  The user can always take security precautions when dealing with questionable streaming platforms.

Users should NEVER input a credit card into any questionable website regardless if it’s a streaming site or not.  There’s usually alternative payment methods such as cryptocurrency or PayPal which allow for a middleman between you and the service.

Also, how is the end-user able to discern between what’s legal or not?  There is no way for the customer to verify the legality of streaming services that they encounter on the Internet.  Heck, Google gladly accepts ad dollars from unverified IPTV services which leads the general public to believe they are secure and legal.  Why does the MPA allow for that?

Here’s an example of one of those Google Sponsored IPTV services.

BestIPTVUS – A Google Sponsored IPTV Service

It’s also important to never provide any personal information to organizations that don’t have the reputation of an online retailer such as Amazon, etc.  This is one reason why I switched to StartMail as my email provider.  It gives me the opportunity to create aliases so I’m not proving my real email address to websites that I don’t trust.

What do you think about these two new videos being pushed by IPR and the Motion Picture Association?  Tell us in the comments below.