Shedding Light on the Shadow Internet

I have just finished reading an article titled “The Shadow Internet” in January 2005 issue of Wired magazine. The article explained the structure of piracy network through interviews of several insiders. Overall the article was very clear and well written. Still, I have some mixed feeling about how the general public and media corporations’ views of these so-called “pirates”.

As you see, I have once participated in the game of spreading copyrighted goods over the internet. Although I did not take cameras into theatres to record movie sneak previews, but I have captured television shows and converted DVDs.

The first job I have done was with Fox’s animated series “Futurama”. My friend Christopher and I were big fans of Matt Groening’s creation with cynical view of the future. It was broadcasted weekly on Fox here in United States from 1999 to 2003, but it would take several months to show up on foreign television. Many fans in European and Asian countries often have to wait more than 6 months for the show to be broadcasted on their television. Since DVDs of the show were not available at the time, therefore Christopher and I have setup several computer servers in our offices to let fans outside of United States to download and view the show.

At first, we have setup a computer with video-capture card to record the show while it was broadcasted on Sunday nights at 6pm into a large avi file. With video editing softwares such as VirtualDub and Divx codecs, the commercials would be then cut out. It was before TiVo was readily available. The show now is 23 minutes, 320x240 pixels, and its file size is about 50 MB.

Later we met a Kuwaiti student named Osama studying computer science. He has hacked the controller card for the satellite dish and we were able to receive television shows broadcasted for Eastern United States. With the three hours of difference between Eastern and Western coasts, we were able to capture the show, cut out the commercials, compress it into Divx avi file and post it on the computer servers before the show was even broadcast on Fox’s West Coast affiliates.

After our servers went online, 60 million people have downloaded the show within 48 hours. It was success; but our university’s Information Department was not smiling. Eventually DVDs of Futurama were available for purchase and the show was cancelled in 2003, so did our operation.

Another controversy is about the bootlegging of DVDs. I completely understand the argument of bootlegging DVDs may lower the sales of legitimate DVDs, but there are some situations that “bootlegging” is the only way.

For one, different countries would have different censorship standards, therefore movies with controversial content may be banned without any valid reason. The 2001 comedy movie “Zoolander” was banned in Singapore because its plot mentioned assassination of Malaysia's prime minister.

Secondly, DVDs are made specifically for regional zones. DVDs made for China would not be able to play in DVD players that are sold in United States. The only way to view the movie is either watch it on computer via DVD-ROM drive, or convert it into United States’ standard.

I believe bootlegging operations would stop if the prices of legitimate goods are lowered and/or goods are readily available.