Jowat Magazine 2013-01 EN

P|4 Progress Pirating, understood in the widest sense as raiding the property of others, is impertinent, depressing, and internationally banned. It has, however, been given a free hand now, and by an institution of stan- ding: the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to this, the Caribbean State of Antigua and Barbu- da may operate a web portal for the sale of material protected by copyrights (films, music, books, etc.), without the necessity to purchase the respective licences from the owners of these rights in the US. This judgement followed in the wake of a trade war with the USA, who had placed heavy sanctions on the online betting industry registered in Antigua. To offset their damages, Antigua and Barbuda plan to permit access to US media for 5 $ per month on the state-owned website, to compensate for the losses of income generated by the trade barrier. Pirates everywhere! How can corporate assets be protected against raids? When this news item came over the tickers a the end of January 2013, even the members of the (political) Pirate party in Germany rubbed their eyes in astonishment: Not even the fundamentalists among the Digital Natives are dreaming of such a “cultural flat rate” which undermines the copyright laws. Of course, this is a special case. But it does show one thing: Pirating is still with us. And the technical development of the internet era is fine-tuning the methods. Where past centuries saw the simple capture of trade vessels in order to grab the valuable freight, today, Jowat Focus

Jowat Magazine 2013-01 EN

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