Social and Technological Forces Supporting Piracy

Abstract

This chapter describes the various intertwining social and technological macro forces which sustain the illegal optical disc piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam. Owing to the limitation of data on Vietnam, the chapter’s analyses focus on the forces which sustain the Philippine piracy trade, particularly on the Quiapo Barter Trade Center Complex (QBTCC) piracy network, the main optical media piracy hub in the country, although it also identifies and analyzes some social and technological forces which sustain piracy in Vietnam. This chapter also provides a social background and profile of the optical disc traders in both countries and the reasons why they persist in this type of trade. It argues that Filipino and Vietnamese traders participate in the piracy business because of some major social, economic, social, and technological factors, in addition to the weak legal, judicial, and law enforcement systems that encourage them to participate in counterfeit media piracy. This includes the “push” factors such as the adverse socioeconomic situations and unstable peace and order situation of some impoverished regions in the Philippines and Vietnam where most of the piracy traders and workers come from. In the Philippines, the war in Mindanao, poverty, and social discrimination against Muslims drive the displaced Maranao and Maguindanao Muslims to migrate to urban centers and engage in optical disc retail piracy as an alternative livelihood. It also includes “pull” factors such as the opening of more trading opportunities facilitated by the Doi Moi (renovation) economic policy of the Vietnamese government, the lure of higher profits in optical disc piracy trade, and the ease of registering and maintaining CD–DVD shops that sell counterfeit discs. The chapter ends with other important factors such as material and social networks that support the persistence of piracy: (1) the technological network (the use of allied digital technologies that facilitate the piracy business operations for traders, particularly the Internet, the cell phone, and other hardware and software digital technologies); (2) the kinship network (the employment of social and kinship ties to manage the illegal trade and protect its secrecy); (3) the ethnic network (the use of common cultural heritage for recruitment of informal workers and protection of trade secret and use of language as deterrence to law enforcement); and (4) the religious affiliation (the uninteneded effect of common religious affiliation which creates a sense of community among traders in the Philippines, hindering law enforcement to penetrate the illegal trade and leakage of the piracy trade secrets to authorities).