Video Pirates

[DanG]

Absolutely true...I used to distribute and licence R18's, and one of the very first things I did was to contact F.A.C.T, the people who investigate claims of video piracy and so on, as I didn't want tapes I was paying good money to licence and put through the BBFC to turn up in some Soho pirate outlet (which never seem to get shut down...strange!). I was informed that they do not deal with adult product, or anything much outside of the major UK studios/distributors...apparently they are something of a pet agency which looks solely after the interests of their ostensible paymasters, and it's not open to anyone else.

So, as far as I'm aware, outside of Trading Standards, who show very little interest in pirated adult material and instead go for the licenced stuff, there seems to be very little in the way of enforcement for pirates to worry about. You're probably in more danger if you're selling pirates of the latest Harry Potter than you are if you're selling porn, unfortunately...

[marcusallen]

Dan is quite right in that who the hell is on our side?
Certainly not the Authorities (You are also very correct about strange things going on in Soho -not just sex shops either).

Some of us have had experience of pirates coming to our knowledge and then taking appropriate action but at the end of the day, what would it take? A Hit Squad touring the countryside and trolling the newspapers?

As long as Joe Public seeks a bargain then pirates will exist. We can only hope that having got their fingers burned once, they will desist in future and buy correctly - but I would not put my last bottle of scotch on it.

VERY smart encoding might help - any genii out there?

[Peter Woods]

Marcus, no matter how smart the encoding, there'll always be someone who can crack it. As with both music and mainstream films, I don't believe piracy can ever be prevented completely.

I think it's a little unfair to blame the punters, though. Sure, there would be no piracy if everyone bought their porn from a licensed sex shop but that simply isn't feasible or convenient for many people.

I agree that it's high time that the authorities did something for the adult industry, rather than treating it with contempt.
Since T/S cannot act against the punters, they should come down hard on the dodgy traders (who are not at all hard to find).

Peter

[videokim]

Hi second that Ruscle the fetish market would be a better option for most,
still we will all carry on as best we can & as long as the authorities let us making films for the public.

Kim

[Lizard]

We go into Town every Sunday, I know Manchester like the back of me hand, but apart from Tib st, I,m not aware of any 'Markets' open on a Sunday, unless he,s refering to the one at the side of the Arndale that sells books. I will investigate, there are a few shops up Shudehill that sell adult films, but not licenced for R18 afaik.

[Deuce Bigolo]

I agree boot sales are the obvious one which any punter should know
are illegal.Personally I would never buy from them simply because of not knowing what you are really getting

I was actually referring to internet sites in OZ that supply a full original product but at half the price or less.Its impossible to know wether their illegal or legal operations.

Its seems the authorities only act when the public tells them where to look
especially if the operations are based in the 2 Australian territories

cheers
B....OZ