Frenchie Shore est la nouvelle émission de téléréalité qui mise sur le sexe et la vulgarité pour exister et capter des parts de marché. Le programme est diffusé à la fois à la télévision (MTV) et sur le net (Paramount+). De quoi faire lever quelques sourcils à l'Arcom, le régulateur audiovisuel ? [Lire la suite]

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With millions of monthly users, BitTorrent’s reign at the top of the file-sharing seemed unstoppable in 2007, but the French government had other plans.

Presented to the Senate in June 2008, what would later become France’s Hadopi law envisioned a crackdown on peer-to-peer file-sharing via a ‘graduated response’ mechanism, with around eight million local BitTorrent users the primary targets. The Hadopi agency created to administer the new law was initially kept busy but in the background, file-hosting and video streaming platforms were providing a taste of things to come.

By 2011, once-dominant BitTorrent indexing sites found themselves suddenly outnumbered by ‘one-click’ hosting and similar sites including 4shared, Megaupload, Mediafire, Rapidshare and Hotfile. As the threat grew, rightsholders deployed the pejorative term ‘cyberlocker’ to describe ‘rogue’ file-hosting services, while BitTorrent-focused anti-piracy outfits found their peer-to-peer monitoring tools somewhat less relevant.

The inherent technical genius of the BitTorrent protocol means it continues today, silently moving around large files to millions of users. At the same time, the way internet users consume content has been transformed. Three years after BitTorrent traffic hit an all-time low in 2015, pirate streaming platform Openload was generating more traffic than Hulu and HBO Go.

Meanwhile, dedicated pirate IPTV services were hitting the mainstream, shifting the market once again and leaving Hadopi and successor Arcom with a decreasing pool of pirates they could monitor directly. Consisting mostly of those still using BitTorrent, the pool excluded users of streaming sites, illegal IPTV providers, file-hosting platforms, and VPN services.

Arcom Credited for BitTorrent Slump

In official documents published as part of the French 2024 budget bill, Arcom’s twin role as both audiovisual/telecoms regulator and anti-piracy agency accompanies accounts of recent achievements and those attributable to the infamous “graduated response” program.

“The graduated response, for its part, makes it possible to fight against illicit practices on a peer-to-peer basis,” reports Clair Landais, the government’s secretary general with responsibility for the protection of rights and freedoms.

“If, in 2010, more than 8 million Internet users used peer-to-peer for criminal purposes, the efforts of Hadopi and now Arcom to put an end to these practices have made it possible to reduce them by almost by 75%. In 2022, 2 million Internet users have illicitly consumed peer-to-peer content, or 22% of Internet users engaging in illicit practices.”

While the history books provide much-needed nuance, Hadopi and now Arcom’s efforts to reduce piracy go beyond enforcement. The regulator aims to educate the public on the importance of supporting legal services while encouraging the availability of those platforms in the marketplace.

“Building on these encouraging results, due to the constant progression of the legal offer, in particular subscription video on demand (VOD) services and music streaming offers, combined with the anti-piracy policy led by the public authorities and rights holders, the latter adjust their actions in the fight against peer-to-peer,” Landais notes.

This version of events suggests the massive reduction in BitTorrent piracy led to the creation of legal video platforms. In reality, the availability of attractive legal content also played a key role in the reduction of piracy rates and continues to do so.

Arcom’s Piracy Blocking Program

Referrals to the ‘graduated response’ scheme have been trending down since 2016, with an 11% decline in 2022 alone. The report predicts the trend will continue, with another 10% reduction in 2023 followed by a modest 5% annual reduction from 2024.

The earlier highlighted shifts in consumption leave Arcom with plenty of work to do. The threat posed by illicit IPTV services means the fight against live sports piracy is a priority, along with Arcom’s site blocking work and its ongoing game of cat-and-mouse with domain-hopping mirror sites.

According to Arcom data, during the whole of 2022 the regulator received 85 referrals from four sports rights holders (two publishers of audiovisual programs and two sports leagues), covering ten sports competitions, which led to the subsequent blocking of 767 domain names by local ISPs. That was merely a warm-up.

“During the period January-July 2023, the use of this system increased. Arcom thus received 85 referrals— but in only seven months – from the same four sports rights holders (two publishers of audiovisual programs and two sports leagues), covering ten sports competitions, for a total of 1,318 domain names effectively blocked by ISPs,” the report continues.

“Given the effectiveness of the system and its high use by rights holders, a maintenance, or even an increase in the number of blocked domain names, would bring the total to around 700 number of domain names blocked for the last quarter — approximately 2,000 domain names blocked for the whole of 2023,” the report predicts.

Arcom says that on average the processing time for sports rightsholders’ referrals is currently 3 to 5 days, but that may decrease beginning in autumn 2023 and more widely in 2024, following the effective implementation of automation tools.

Tackling Mirror Sites

So-called mirror sites (blocked platforms that subsequently reappear online) are handled under Article L. 331-27 of the Intellectual Property Code introduced in October 2022. During the last quarter of 2022, Arcom received 22 referrals from four rights holders, covering 45 domain names.

Between January and July 2023, Arcom received 32 referrals from three rights holders, covering a total of 182 domain names. The administrative rules for blocking mirror sites are more complex, generating a two-month delay before they can be reported to Arcom.

The regulator says it usually processes files in eight or nine days but since blocking of IPTV services requires advanced verification, some requests may take longer to handle. Overall, current mirror site processing time is approximately 14 days.

“This is the reason why the average time for notification of blocking measures for sites illicitly broadcasting sporting events and competitions or mirror sites was set, provisionally, at 10 days for 2023 with an overall trend towards a reduction in this deadline over the period 2024-2026 with a target of 7 days,” the report concludes.

The full report, first reported by NextInpact , is available here (French, pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Un amendement a été adopté à l'Assemblée nationale, dans le cadre d'un projet de loi visant notamment à réguler la pornographie sur Internet. Son objectif : imposer un écran noir sur tous les sites X tant que les internautes français voulant y accéder n'ont pas prouvé qu'ils sont majeurs. [Lire la suite]

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The World Cup only takes place every four years so when the opportunity to see the world’s best players arrived again last year, an estimated 1.5 billion eventually tuned in to see the elite square off in the final.

Millions cheered on the French national team as the defending champions pursued glory against Argentina. After the French lost in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, for some it became a tournament to forget. For French telecoms regulator Arcom, the end of the competition signaled the start of research to determine how citizens consumed World Cup 2022 and how France benefited from it financially.

World Cup 2022 – Audiovisual Broadcasting Review

Published this week, Arcom’s study reveals that more than six out of 10 French people watched or listened to at least one live match during the World Cup, a figure that rose to 73% in respect of all content, including replays, match analysis, and behind-the-scenes reporting.

Of those who watched live matches, 90% did so from home, with television the medium of choice for 96% of respondents. Around one in five football fans watched at least one match on a smartphone, with 14% and 7% viewing on computers and tablets, respectively.

Most Fans Watched Matches for Free

Football is traditionally seen as a sport of the people, with national teams serving their countries and citizens rather than their usual corporate paymasters. For these and similar reasons, some countries have laws or regulations in place that prevent the whole of the World Cup from being locked away behind TV subscription packages.

In France, all matches played by the national team must be broadcast on a widely accessible system, at no charge to the public. The same applies to the opening match, semi-finals, and the final, regardless of which teams are playing.

Free TV broadcaster TF1 won the rights to air these games in 2022 and, as a result, 87% of those who watched live World Cup matches did so on TF1, legally and for free.

Paywalls Guarantee Piracy

Of the 64 matches played in the tournament, 36 matches were broadcast exclusively by beIN Sports. Since users of beIN must have a subscription, piracy of World Cup matches was effectively guaranteed when more than half the matches in the tournament were placed behind a paywall.

According to the study, 18% of live match consumers said they’d watched matches using a paid service. Of all live match consumers, 8% reported watching games using illegal platforms, with 5% using live sports streaming platforms or pirate IPTV applications, and 4% using social media, a figure roughly on par with illicit consumption during the rest of the year.

The conundrum for Arcom is that if it decided to crack down on the most prolific football pirates by demographic, it would also be cracking down on the fans most likely to spend money on legal content.

“The 15-34 age group, the leading group of illegal users (12%), are also the most inclined to use a pay option (26%),” Arcom reports.

Numerous studies have drawn similar conclusions over the years after finding links between the most engaged consumers and their consumption of content from both legal and illegal sources. A report from the EU last week found that 60% of pirates also buy content legally.

Paywalls = Profit

In the short term, the answer may lie in site-blocking measures. During the World Cup alone, France ordered the blocking of 83 domains in connection with football piracy.

Arcom hasn’t indicated if that had any effect on piracy levels but a small observation might be that if half the games weren’t behind a paywall, site blocking wouldn’t even be necessary. The flip side is that 15% of people who watched live matches took out paid subscriptions to do so and beIN Sports did very nicely out of that.

“Entirely dedicated to the 2022 World Cup, with daily coverage from 10 a.m. to midnight and all matches broadcast live, beIN Sports 1 benefited strongly from the competition from an advertising point of view. Total gross daily investment for the channel on match broadcast days amounted to around 16.1 million euros,” Arcom reports.

Arcom’s report can be found here ( 1 , 2 , pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Insatisfaits par les services de streaming et leur multiplication, voire pour des raisons idéologiques, nombreux sont ceux qui continuent d’avoir recours au piratage. [Lire la suite]

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Une nouvelle campagne contre le piratage sera diffusée à partir de juin. Elle reprend les codes de la psychiatrie, en mettant en scène trois personnes qui essaient de ne pas replonger dans les méandres du piratage. Comme des addicts. [Lire la suite]

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The insidious nature of a developing addiction often takes people by surprise, regardless of the substance involved, but especially when it’s freely available, all over the internet.

While an occasional copy-and-paste is known to alleviate boredom, peer pressure at a vulnerable moment can lead to a whole file or even an entire folder being permanently copied to a USB stick.

Most people feel no ill effects but for thrill-seekers, the instant high is over in moments, triggering a vicious cycle of increasingly risky copying and diminishing returns.

A new campaign unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival aims to raise awareness of this addiction and how creators end up suffering the consequences.

“Protecting Creation Against Piracy: Can We Go Further?”

Revealed during an anti-piracy roundtable at the Festival on Saturday, the campaign is the work of two French government agencies – CNC (National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image) and ARCOM, the new anti-piracy/audiovisual regulator in France.

CNC CEO Olivier Henrard and ARCOM’s Denis Rapone unveiled the campaign with support from Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association.

“The ambition of this campaign, with a slightly offbeat tone, is to encourage more and more Internet users to change their habits in favor of practices that respect creation,” ARCOM notes.

“In 2022, 86% of French Internet users aged 15 and over have consumed at least one cultural good online, films, series, video games, music, etc.”

Recovering Piracy Addicts in Therapy

The campaign features a series of spots set to appear on television, cinema, radio and social networks, from June 15, 2023. They reveal the struggles of recovering piracy addicts as they transition from illegal to legal content with the help of Isabelle Champart, a certified anti-piracy coach/therapist.

It appears that with guidance from Isabelle, French piracy addicts will make a full recovery and have no further use for her skills. Here’s a sneak preview of six slots, with general translations from French under each.

TV and cinema spots

CNC and ARCOM film spot (all addicts)

Hector: “It’s been two years since I stopped everything, no relapse!”
Sam: “I loved this little thrill, the feeling of it being forbidden.” Isabelle: “And Now?”
Sam: “Now I’m back in line, coach. One movie or TV series per night, legally.”
Isabelle “You see, there is life after piracy.”

Clementine: “I think about it all the time!” Isabelle: “The key is breathing.” Clementine: “I still want it.” Isabelle: “Ah yes?”
Isabelle: “That’s good.” Hector: “Yes, I’m holding on.” Isabelle: “Bravo!”
Hector: “I’m hanging in there.” Isabelle: “Yes, I understand”
Voiceover: “Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

CNC and ARCOM film spot featuring Hector

Hector: “It’s true, I was hanging out on the internet a bit last week. I came across some cracked codes…but I didn’t crack!” Isabelle: “Bravo!” Hector: “I stood my ground” Isabelle: “I am proud of you.” Hector: “I’m holding on” Isabelle: “This is good.”
Voiceover: “Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

Anti-piracy awareness campaign: CNC and ARCOM film spot featuring Sam

Isabelle: “As soon as you’re on the verge of cracking, you put these mittens on. Try to go pirating wearing these.”
Sam: “It’s well designed! Thanks coach!”
Voiceover: “Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

CNC and ARCOM film spot featuring Clementine

Clementine: “I think about it all the time, I need to…..”
Isabelle: “I need you to relax. The key is breathing, and in the exhalation, we reject the urge.”
Voiceover: “Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

Radio Spots

CNC and ARCOM Radio Spot 1

Isabelle: “Hello, I’m listening!”
Caller: “Hello, I’m about to pirate a movie, I’m going to crack. Help me!”
Voiceover: “We don’t need a coach for everything in life. Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

CNC and ARCOM Radio Spot 2

Isabelle: “Want to put an end to piracy? I am Isabelle Champart, certified anti-piracy coach. My revolutionary method, you will hold all the cards and never need a coach again to stop pirating. Thank you to you who support creation by watching your films and TV series legally.”
Link

Compared With Similar Campaigns, Not Bad At All

Given the reaction (read: mockery) to traditional anti-piracy campaigns, it’s good to see a light-hearted approach executed with sophistication – not a bulldozer. Any campaign that begins with an air of superiority leading to blame, and then hammers that home to ensure everyone gets the message, ends up being part of the problem.

That certainly isn’t the case here.

While piracy itself doesn’t usually amount to an addiction, there’s no question that for some it’s a deeply ingrained habit. Even people who subscribe to legal services but still pirate on occasion report instinctively searching unlicensed resources first. It’s doubtful they need professional help but they may need a little more time.

Image credit: Pixabay/ TheDigitalArtist

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Faciliter le blocage des sites porno. C'est ce que doit permettre un futur projet de loi. L'autorité de référence pourrait ainsi exiger des FAI et des moteurs de recherche d'agir sans devoir passer d'abord par un juge. Celui-ci pourrait toujours être sollicité, mais après. [Lire la suite]

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Le blocage se rapproche pour deux sites pornographiques, YouPorn et RedTube. En parallèle, une autre action est lancée contre trois nouveaux sites X (Heureporno, Folieporno et xHamsterLive). [Lire la suite]

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