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Score one for the good guys — even if it’s just a small victory in the fight against the Goliath that is piracy. On Saturday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said they arrested and charged 3 IT professionals in separate operations between July 22 and 30 for infringing on the intellectual property of local media conglomerates.
Nico Angelo Rempillo of Dayangdan, Naga City, Jim Marcelino Bautista of Baragay Cagay, Roxas City, and Mark Marlon Millendez of Barangay Mintal, Davao City were caught while trying to upload and stream TV shows and movies on their own websites, according to a report from Inquirer.net. The accused were charged under the Philippines’ intellectual-property law, which prescribes a jail term of up to 3 years and a fine of up to P150,000 for first offenders.
In a statement, ABS-CBN representative Elisha Lawrence said the network loses millions of dollars of potential revenue from websites that show pirated content.
I don’t need to give a canned, if unnecessary, lecture on why piracy is bad for any business; I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page. Besides, you don’t have to turn to illegal websites to enjoy local and foreign programming on-demand and on your phone or tablet. Not when there are apps like HOOQ and iflix that allow you to legally watch movies and full episodes of popular TV shows for P199 (HOOQ) or P129 (iflix) monthly.
I don’t need to give a canned, if unnecessary, lecture on why piracy is bad for any business. Not when there are apps like HOOQ that allow you to legally watch movies and TV shows for a small monthly fee.
Compared to not paying anything at all, at the risk of a lengthy prison sentence and a hefty fine, the idea of spending the equivalent of a large Starbucks drink seems like money well spent.
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