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Journalism of Courage
The number of visits to the pirated sites rose in 2021. A joint report published by Akamai and MUSO shows that global demand for pirated content skyrocketed between January 2021 to September 2021. India recorded 6.5 billion visits to piracy websites, the third-highest after the US (13.5 billion) and Russia (7.2 billion).
According to the report, a total of 132 billion visits to piracy websites were logged in 2021. While 61.5 per cent of consumers who visited piracy sites accessed them directly, and 28.6 per cent actively searched for them. The report titled: “State of the Internet” also revealed that during the first nine months of 2021, pirated websites dedicated to movies, TV shows, music, software, and publishing-related copyright infringement were the most actively searched for.
“As content developers get better at guarding against piracy, criminals are adapting their methods to access protected content,” said Steve Ragan, security researcher at Akamai and author of the report. “The impact of piracy goes far beyond stolen movies and other content. The real cost is behind the scenes, leading to the loss of livelihood for those who work to create the movies, films, books, and software we all consume and enjoy.”
The report added that there were over 67 billion TV piracy visits, which is roughly 50 per cent of all pirate site traffic. The publishing category is in second place with 30 billion visits (23 per cent), followed by films with 14.5 billion (11 per cent) and music with 10.8 billion (8 per cent). Software piracy closes the ranks with 9 billion visits (7 per cent).
“Working collaboratively to deeply understand the latest trends within piracy’s ever-changing ecosystem is key to forming effective anti-piracy strategies, as opposed to combating piracy in silos,” added James Mason, CTO of MUSO.
