Ibosiola et al. (2018)

Source Details

Ibosiola et al. (2018)
Title:	Movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Exploring Illegal Streaming Cyberlockers
Author(s):	Damilola Ibosiola, Benjamin Steer, Alvaro Garcia-Recuero, Gianluca Stringhini, Steve Uhlig, Gareth Tyson
Year:	2018
Citation:	Ibosiola, D., Steer, B., Garcia-Recuero, A., Stringhini, G., Uhlig, S., and Tyson, G. (2018) Movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Exploring Illegal Streaming Cyberlockers. Available: http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~tysong/files/ICWSM18.pdf (last accessed: 11 June 2019)
Link(s):	Open Access
Key Related Studies:	Ding et al. (2011) Sanjuas-Cuxar et al. (2012) Lauinger et al. (2013a) Lauinger et al. (2013b) Farahbakhsh et al. (2013)
Discipline:	O34: Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
Linked by:

About the Data
Data Description:	Data were gathered from three indexing sites (putlocker.is, watchseries.gs and voldy.cr) and 33 prominent cyberlockers using monthly crawls on all published videos therein. Data were also obtained regarding the characteristics of the videos themselves, such as release date and genre. Thereafter, the study examined corresponding takedown notices against the cyberlockers using the Lumen database.
Data Type:	Secondary data
Secondary Data Sources:	Lumen putlocker.is watchseries.gs voldy.cr
Data Collection Methods:	Web analytic (online user trace data)
Data Analysis Methods:	Descriptive statistics (counting; means reporting; cross-tabulation) Correlation and Association Regression Analysis
Industry(ies):	Film and motion pictures Television programmes
Country(ies):	Global
Cross Country Study?:	No
Comparative Study?:	No
Literature review?:	No
Government or policy study?:	No
Time Period(s) of Collection:	January - September 2017
Funder(s):

Abstract

“Online video piracy (OVP) is a contentious topic, with strong proponents on both sides of the argument. Recently, a number of illegal websites, called streaming cyberlockers, have begun to dominate OVP. These websites specialise in dis-tributing pirated content, underpinned by third party indexing services offering easy-to-access directories of content. This paper performs the first exploration of this new ecosystem. It characterises the content, as well the streaming cyberlockers’ individual attributes. We find a remarkably centralised system with just a few networks, countries and cyberlockers under-pinning most provisioning. We also investigate the actions of copyright enforcers. We find they tend to target small subsets of the ecosystem, although they appear quite successful. 84%of copyright notices see content removed.”

Main Results of the Study

The study finds that cyberlockers use a different distribution system than their P2P counterparts, evidencing a centralised “all eggs in one basket” approach. Over half of all content (58%) is hosted within only two autonomous systems. This represents a high risk approach to hosting infringing content, and as such individual operators host multiple replica websites in order to evade legal action.

Of complaints issued against cyberlockers, the study finds a small number of aggressive enforcers are responsible for the bulk of complaints, with the top 10 complainants issuing 96% of all reported URLs. Mostly the complainants are comprised of large content producers (e.g. Fox, Walt Disney) or third party anti-piracy companies (e.g. Rivendell), who use a bulk approach to enforcement.

The study cautions that cyberlockers are not exclusive copyright infringement zones, with some films observed being over 100 years old. In this respect, older content is less aggressively pursued than more recent content, with only 6% of pre-1950 films having their links removed.

Policy Implications as Stated By Author

The study does not make any explicit policy recommendations, but encourages future research on the relationships between cyberlockers.

Coverage of Study

Coverage of Fundamental Issues

Issue	Included within Study
Relationship between protection (subject matter/term/scope) and supply/economic development/growth/welfare
Relationship between creative process and protection - what motivates creators (e.g. attribution; control; remuneration; time allocation)?
Harmony of interest assumption between authors and publishers (creators and producers/investors)
Effects of protection on industry structure (e.g. oligopolies; competition; economics of superstars; business models; technology adoption)
Understanding consumption/use (e.g. determinants of unlawful behaviour; user-generated content; social media)

Coverage of Evidence Based Policies

Issue	Included within Study
Nature and Scope of exclusive rights (hyperlinking/browsing; reproduction right)
Exceptions (distinguish innovation and public policy purposes; open-ended/closed list; commercial/non-commercial distinction)
Mass digitisation/orphan works (non-use; extended collective licensing)
Licensing and Business models (collecting societies; meta data; exchanges/hubs; windowing; crossborder availability)
Fair remuneration (levies; copyright contracts)
Enforcement (quantifying infringement; criminal sanctions; intermediary liability; graduated response; litigation and court data; commercial/non-commercial distinction; education and awareness)