Rand research finds links between film piracy and terrorists

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (Chinese media) - Research by a U.S.

think tank has found links between film piracy and terrorists who depend on

profits from film piracy to support terrorist activities, said a report released

Tuesday.

The Rand Corp. said in the report that while crime

syndicates have added piracy to criminal portfolios that include drugs, money

laundering, extortion and human smuggling, the profits from film piracy have

also been used on occasion to support the activities of terrorist groups.

Rand researchers cited three cases in which film

piracy supported terror groups and warn that such connections could grow in the

future.

In the first case, the Irish Republican Army used

many criminal activities, including film piracy, to support its efforts to drive

the British from Northern Ireland. At least parts of the IRA have continued to

operate as a criminal enterprise that remains involved in counterfeiting

activities following the 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement, said the report.

The second case involves the D-Company, which is,

according to Rand, an organized crime group active for generations in India.

Since the 1980s, it has been a major syndicate involved with film piracy in

India.

The group carried out the "Black Friday" bombings in

Mumbai in 1993, killing more than 257 people and injuring hundreds more. It

continues to advance a political agenda with its actions funded at least partly

by the proceeds of crime.

The third case involves the tri-border area of

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay that has emerged as the most important financing

center for "terrorism" outside the Middle East, channeling 20 million U.S.

dollars annually to Hezbollah, according to Rand.

At least one transfer of 3.5 million dollars was made

to Hezbollah by known DVD pirate Assad Ahmad Barakat, who received a thank-you

note from the Hezbollah leader, the report said. Barakat was labeled a

"specially designated global terrorist" by the U.S. government in 2004.

The report said all the criminal organizations that

engaged in film piracy in these cases also carried out other, more serious and

violent crimes.

In the case of DVD film piracy, criminal groups are

working to gain control of the entire supply chain, from manufacture to

distribution to street sales, consolidating wealth and influence in virtually

every region of the globe.

"Given the enormous profit margins, it's no surprise

that organized crime has moved into film piracy," said Greg Treverton, lead

author of the report and director of the Center for Global Risk and Security at

Rand, a nonprofit research organization in the U.S. "The profits are high and

penalties for being caught are relatively low," he added.

"If you buy pirated DVDs, there is a good chance that

at least part of the money will go to organized crime and those proceeds fund

more dangerous criminal activities, possibly terrorism," Treverton said.

The report detailed 14 case studies of film piracy,

outlining the involvement of organized crime with film piracy in North America,

Europe, South America, Russia and many parts of Asia.

Researchers said the losses from film piracy have

grown, as the expansion of digital technology makes it easier to create

high-quality counterfeit copies of movies.

The Rand report said film piracy can be even more

profitable than drug trafficking or other enterprises commonly linked to

organized crime. For example, a pirated DVD made in Malaysia for 70 cents was

marked up more than 1,000 percent and sold on the street in London for about

nine dollars. The profit margin was more than three times higher than the markup

for Iranian heroin and higher than the profit for Columbian cocaine.

Based on the report, criminal penalties for

counterfeiting worldwide are relatively light and prosecution is sparse. In

France, for example, selling counterfeit products is punishable by a two-year

prison term and a fine of 190,000 dollars, while selling drugs is punishable by

a 10-year prison term and a fine of9.5 million dollars.

Meanwhile, only 134 people were jailed in U.S.

federal courts for intellectual property crimes during 2002, while more than 1.5

million arrests were made for drug offenses nationally in 2003.

The Rand report said counterfeiting levels are not

likely to decline unless governments worldwide commit more resources and create

greater accountability for intellectual property protection. Such a commitment

would need to produce stronger anti-counterfeiting laws, consistent enforcement

against pirating and stronger penalties, including larger fines and longer

prison sentences.