Pirated films get screened on Facebook

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At around 9.15 pm UAE time, Malayali workers in a labour camp, came online to track the Facebook page ‘Kerala Friends for u’ to watch a new movie. On Sunday, the movie screened was ‘Anuraga Karikkin Vellam’ and the caption of live video promised to screen a new movie the next day. Around 20k people viewed the video and the comment box was flooded with suggestions for movies to be screened next day.  

This is the new face of piracy that happens through Facebook Live as the likes on Facebook pages transcend into monetary benefits for the page administrators. The offenders cautiously select movies that have recently gone out of theatres to avoid persecution by police and other anti-piracy forces. “This might cause a dent on companies which own DVD copy rights and those (channels) who own satellite rights. When the said movie was running on theatres we had contract with company that prevented it being pirated online” said movie producer and actor Shaji Nadesan.

As per cyber forensic experts, the likes transcend into money as the administrators can sell their pages once they get thousands or lakhs of likes. “These pages can be merged with another along with the likes. That’s how they earn money. If copyright holders sign a contract with companies that hack it is possible to take off these pages in three minutes,” said Varghese Babu, a cyber forensic consultant. The Anti-Piracy DySP M Iqbal said that a handful of Facebook pages are already under the scanner and actions can be taken if the right holders approach the police.