Took place today(15), a round table on the theme Combating Piracy: Understanding the Global and Local Context (Africa and Angola), organized by MultiChoice Angola, which brought together specialists from the sector, such as representatives of the Angolan Institute of Communications (INACOM), the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, representatives of the Bar Association, artists, as well as representatives of different sectors that were victims of the piracy in order to address the evils of content piracy.
The event, which was attended by the editorial staff of MenosFios, focused on the impact of content piracy on the country's economy, and is part of an African-wide campaign committed to protecting the livelihoods of thousands of professionals who depend on the content to feed their families, perfect their craft and support local economies, where for Nair Pitra (Director of Legal Regulation), who spoke on the topic “Legal Framework in Angola and Best Practices in terms of Legal Regulation“, there is an urgent need to create impactful policies in order to protect the most varied different sectors from content piracy, given that illegal cable television distribution networks, commonly called Community Networks, proliferate all over the country.
The webinar is part of a growing movement against content piracy in Angola, which saw the creation of an anti-piracy task force on the recommendation of the regulator INACOM, where Francisco Policarpo, Head of the Cyber Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who spoke about "SIC's experience in the fight against piracy", informed that the Angolan Government "It's working to protect the content industry by arresting and prosecuting people guilty of content piracy”, further emphasizing that the “ piracy is theft and if viewers continue to steal content then legitimate content providers are undermined. If they don't go out of business, the Angolan people will be robbed of their right to quality content and entertainment.".
Still talking about the numbers of content piracy in Angolan civil society, the National Police Intendant, revealed that the attacks made by the defense security forces culminated in the dismantling of four piracy networks, as well as 600 domestic connections were cut in the capital of Angola. country, Luanda, with several arrests having been made and several suspects of piracy currently awaiting trial.
On the other hand, to Frinkkie Jonker (Director of Anti-Piracy at the software security and media technology company Irdeto), who spoke at the event on the theme “Piracy - Global Trends and the Context in Angola”, he stressed that “Online streaming is where most of the content piracy takes place these days.", and where "An investigation last year found that users in five major African territories made around 17,4 million visits to the top 10 identified piracy sites on the Internet.", informed the expert.
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In countries where counterfeiting and piracy become rampant, investor confidence and tax revenues can be damaged. It can also affect commercial opportunities, as these territories are seen as countries where intellectual property is not respected or protected.
Music producer Heavy C was also one of the guests at the event, where, speaking about “Artists Victims of Piracy”, he said that “piracy has a serious negative effect on the ability of creative professionals to earn a living", adding that "Whenever someone takes our work without paying for it, the artist is more likely to end up in poverty, or leave the industry to survive, and we have to fight piracy to ensure that Angolan creatives receive fair compensation for the work they do. create".
The health sector, which has also had a major setback in terms of piracy in Angola, was also addressed at the event, where figures show that up to 30% of national medicines can be considered counterfeit. The medical industry is often the target of counterfeiting, given the high profit margins and the ease with which consumers can be tricked into believing that the product is genuine.
"Intellectual property is important in the content industry, but in areas such as the healthcare sector, counterfeit medicines can cost people their lives”, so we urgently need coordinated strategies to ensure that copyright and trademarks are respected and protected, and that the people of Angola receive authentic and quality goods and servicesand", said Katiza Mangueira, Director of the National Medicines and Technologies Agency of the Ministry of Health.
