Look, I agree with @jokoanwar and others on piracy. But let's talk why people pirate.

It's because
a) there is no service that is available on their area
b) there is no service that doesn't treat them (consumers) like shit
c) there is no service with the convenience they need

Those three are something that, as much as I hate to admit it, Steve Jobs understands when Apple build iTunes. Because he was a pirate and owned a lot of bootleg Bob Dylan and The Beatles recordings.

Pirating is easy, for most of the part. There's no DRM, no geo-restriction, no some stupid difference with the version users want because some copyright hoola-hoop of fucked up ness.

Back before the ages of iTunes, Spotify, Youtube....buying and owning media online is a huge pain in the ass. The legal alternative, to quote the old Steve Jobs, treats you like a criminal. So much so you don't really own the content the same way you go buy original physical copy

And, it was an eyesore to use. The reason why back in early 2000s Napster was more popular than the legal alternative Warner Music and Sony offer because it was easy to use.

People want something that is easy to use and you know, just works.

But things changed. Services like Spotify and Netflix makes it easy to consume and enjoy media. Sure you don't 'own' your Spotify and Netflix catalogue, but you could still buy the digital version of the things you want to watch / listen easily on iTunes and Google Play.

But even when those service that are easy to use, still posses some challenges.

For example, in Indonesia you need a credit / debit card that is able to do online transaction to subscribe to Netflix. And not everyone has that.

It's not convenient.

And to absolutely shit on it's local equivalent here (you know who you are, all of you), nothing comes close to Netflix when it comes to responsiveness especially on smart TVs and web.

So that's another strike on the "convenience" score.

Now this reply makes a perfect segueway to the next part; there's no service available or one that doesn't treat them like shit due to shitty copyright laws.

And the media industry is at fault for this. https://twitter.com/auliaackckck/status/1265602643897905152?s=20

Even juggernauts like Apple had fought like hell against DRM on their music files because of the stubbornness of music executives that wants to control ownership. And let's not get started on Disney's scummy move to extend copyright law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act?wprov=sfla1

Also in the age of internet, we honestly need more robust internet and copyright laws that removes geo-restriction because honestly that's some big bullshit, especially now we starting to see the start of streaming wars

Disney+, HBOMax, Hulu and Peacock wouldn't be available in a lot of countries at launch and even some 2-3 years in the future for some countries.

Do I blame people who live in those countries for pirating content that is not even available in their country?

No.

It's those service and the respective copyright fault anyway. The Internet allows global discussion on many things and there are a lot of people who doesn't want to miss the hype of a global / Internet phenomenon of a series.

Sooooo if they are smart and realize the profit potential of having a global phenomenon series like The Mandalorian, but makes it only available in the US.

Tough luck, people will pirate it. Boohoo.

And oh, about the "ownership" part? Yea that's also a real problem with DRM. There are some edge cases where piracy has become the only way to preserve and archive some games.

There are games that you couldn't simply pay anymore like Devotion, an amazing game that you couldn't get legally anymore because the publisher pull the game away from Steam due to...a peculiar controversy. https://www.pcgamer.com/devotion-the-taiwanese-game-removed-from-steam-is-being-preserved-by-harvard/

Or games you couldn't play or buy anymore because the hardware doesn't exist anymore. Like games from old console systems, thus you rely on emulations and digital ROM...which Nintendo tried to ban until they realized that there's a market for this. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/spark-404-1.4811760/why-piracy-is-the-best-way-to-archive-old-school-video-games-1.4812741

I haven't seen an equivalent edge cases in film industries, other than in countries where censorship runs deep like China.

Or to bring an example to home, films such as "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence"

Come on, don't shit yourself. The film is not available on theatres and any attempts to do legal publci screening of it here gets ormas'd.

The only way to watch it is to sail the high seas.

And there are who are against services like Spotify and Netflix because it makes you never truly own the content you enjoy. Some people still prefer to have direct ownership of the media they consume.

And these "streaming exclusive" don't exactly get physical releases everytime.

Plus, I haven't even touch the issue of physical access to these services. Banyak daerah yang sampai sekarang ga punya bioskop, atau toko film / musik original. Banyak usaha untuk membawanya secara legal masih geriliya dan terbatas di tingkat komunitas.

So...yea. It's not as black and white as "people pirating bad :(". There are nuances in this topic. But if you are one of those people who pirate content that are available in some convenient legal platform and proud of it for some reason, go fuck yourself.

Guilt tripping people because they pirate by showing harsh film production conditions (of which I hope those workers were fairly compensated) isn't going to work. We need to reflect on a more robust solution to combat piracy.

It's not gonna be easy, but who says it will?

1) Copyright reform advocacy. We need copyright law for our country that works not just for the creators but consumers, and work on bilateral or multilateral cooperation with other countries so geo-restriction can die for good.

We need copyright law that works for the internet era where things can easily becomes memes or the next viral Tiktok music (The Remix Era). We need copyright law that supports fair use of content.

Not only that but we need more Indonesian creators to realize that archaic copyright is not always the solution. @CC_ID is honestly a great community that support a more open copyright/licensing.

B) Advocacy for a more friendly system of content ownership online.

DRM Free initiatives such as GOG and iTunes has worked wonders for the consumers, and even if we couldn't get the industry here to agree on that...at least don't treat your paying consumers like criminal.

This is such a low bar here considering a major book publisher in Indonesia watermarked ebooks you can legally buy through Google Play Books.

And honestly, that is a bullshit practice that needs to be stopped.

C) advocacy for access. Like look, Netflix is cool as shit but here in Indonesia, there are a lot of small town / cities here in Java and outside of Java that don't even have physical access such as film theatres. This needs to change.

And I am not just talking about the commercial dimension of this.

We need to strengthen our libraries and give our libraries access to more forms of content and media. More books to borrow, more films to borrow and more CDs to borrow.

And most of all, more libraries.

Aaand that's it. Would those solutions and advocacies above stop piracy in it's tracks? No. Would that reduce piracy?

Yes. Absolutely. Here's a personal anecdote of mine.

I used to pirate films, musics and games until services such as Steam, Netflix and Spotify makes it easy for me to enjoy content legally. Banking service like Jenius also makes it easier for me to buy niche things digitally or physically.

And I have stop pirating, sort of.

There are things that are region locked and wouldn't even come to Netflix or Spotify and whose physical copy wouldn't even ship to Indonesia.

Or extremely old game titles that makes it difficult to own it legally because it's not available on Steam or other legal marketplace.

Or for an extremely specific case, I can't even buy the digital currency to gain access to the DLC legally anymore. I am looking at you Mass Effect 2.

Or it is region blocked for some reason and you couldn't even bypass it through VPN to enjoy it 'legally'.

And when that's the case, as the old Steve Jobs once said, it stops being users/consumers problem and become a service problem.

But if its available legally? Shit I will pay for it. If I don't have the money for it yet I know it is available legally right now, I would just wait.

And you should too. Apalagi kalau bicara konten lokal, jangan ngebajak lah kalau bisa diakses atau dibeli secara legal dengan mudah.

Last but not least, seriously screw Disney. Their "copyright extension" lobbying makes Mickey Mouse, who debuted in 1928, wouldn't be a public domain until 2024.

That's bullshit. Copyright shouldn't last a century.