Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) launch new website blocking provisions in efforts to clamp down on online piracy

August 7, 2020 10:51 am Published by

Latest survey sees more than half (53%) of online Thai consumers access streaming piracy websites or torrent sites

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Bangkok 6th August 2020 – On 2nd August the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP), the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)  announced new website blocking provisions for piracy sites which violate section 20 (3) of the Computer Crimes Act (CCA). Under the new provisions ISPs now have 15 days in which to comply with the court orders and blocked sites, which are either redirected or change domain name, can be blocked under the original court order. ISPs which fail to comply with the court order can now be fined under Section 27 of the Computer Crimes Act (CCA).

Meanwhile, a new study of the online content viewing behaviour of Thai consumers, revealed that more than half (53%) of online consumers use piracy streaming websites or torrent sites to access premium content.

The survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and conducted by YouGov, also found that 43% of consumers use an illicit streaming device (ISD) to stream pirated television and video content. These TV boxes allow users to access hundreds of pirated television channels and video-on-demand content, usually with a low annual subscription fee.

Of the 53% of consumers who admit to accessing streaming piracy websites or torrent sites, a staggering 66% stated that they had cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay TV services.

Piset Chiyasak, Vice President of the Intellectual Property Association of Thailand (IPAT) commented,  “The damage to the Thai movie and TV industry caused by online piracy is without dispute. However, the damage done to online consumers is only beginning to be understood. Piracy is a hotbed for malware and consumers face real risks of malicious malware infection such as spyware.  Consumers who buy ISDs or access piracy streaming websites are also funding crime groups, and wasting their time and money when the channels and websites are blocked and stop working.”

Neil Gane, the General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) added, “We applaud the Department of Intellectual Property  (DIP) and Ministry of Digital Economy & Society (DE) for introducing the new site blocking provisions, which  if applied in a time-effective manner, are an important step in migrating consumers back to reliable and safe legal services. Effective site blocking is a key tool in disrupting the availability of piracy websites and the illicit revenues that are generated by the crime groups who operate these sites. It is hoped that the impact of these new site blocking provisions in Thailand will be similar to what we have seen in Indonesia which witnessed a 68% drop in traffic to piracy sites in less than 12 months.”

As a result of enforcing an effective rolling site blocking system, Indonesia has become market leader in IP protection in South East Asia boosting growth of legitimate services. Traffic to piracy sites dropped 68% (August 2019 to June 2020) with traffic to legitimate video sites increasing by  18% within the same period.

 

About the Asia Video Industry Association:

The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is the trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia Pacific. It serves to make the video industry stronger and healthier through promoting the common interests of its members. AVIA is the interlocutor for the industry with governments across the region, leads the fight against video piracy and provides insight into the industry through reports and conferences aimed to support a vibrant video industry.

 

Contact AVIA:

For media contacts and additional background:

Charmaine Kwan

Head of Marketing and Communications

Email: charmaine@avia.org

Website: www.avia.org

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/asiavideoia

Twitter: @AsiaVideoIA

 

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This post was written by AVIA PR