Even at a time when it has been as simple, accessible or so attractive to legally download music, illegal download sites still have their audiences and continue to be successful. SACEM has fought tirelessly for years against all forms of music piracy. Decryption.
Nov 28, 2016.
Exactly one year ago, the national gendarmerie announced the closure of the music pirate site "Zone Téléchargement".
With its music, films, TV series, and video games, "Zone Téléchargement" was used by more than one hundred thousand people per day. This is record for France.
In total, the estimated loss to the authors of the illegally downloaded works, was estimated at 75 million euros. Legally this was a key step, and the closure of this site marked the end of a long and complex investigation. As with other successes from the last two years, such as the closures of WhatCD, FullStream, Newsoo and T411.
AT THE HEART OF THE INVESTIGATION
SACEM has always stood firmly against music piracy. "We issue authorisations to those who offer music legally. In return, it is our duty is to stop unfair competition from illegal download sites. We also have a role as a market regulator to protect the creators and to defend the value of their works, And we take uncompromising action against piracy. The Internet is not the Wild West, nor a digital gulag. "Pirates disrupt the public order of an entire economy," said David El Sayegh, Secretary General of SACEM.
The fight against piracy is an integral component in protecting authors' rights. And although piracy has evolved greatly over the years, SACEM has constantly updated its expertise in this area.
"Fake CDs or DVDs sold under the counter have gradually been replaced by highly organised online hacking, through increasingly anonymous and world-wide channels. We are now facing a challenge from very sophisticated sites that monetise their services. "This is piracy of a commercial nature, with big business behind it, and a lot of money", explains one of the agents from SACEM's investigating group.
SWORN AGENTS
Sworn agents, in accordance with Article L.331-2 of the Intellectual Property Code, SACEM investigators are accredited by the Ministry of Culture for a period of five years.
They work hand in hand with the police and the gendarmerie. Their expertise lies in their ability to identify pirate sites and quantify how much damage is being done to rights holders.
"We are the watchdogs of authors' rights. We collect all the information necessary to allow a judicial inquiry to be conducted... However, we never take on the work of the police or the gendarmerie. We have a real bond of trust with them and work together and share information. As well as providing "intelligence" our presence is requested by criminal police officers in assisting them in hearings for search warrants", one of the investigators confirmed.
They even provide training for magistrates, customs officials, police officers and for example, carry out studies on new practices for the Council of State or the Ministry of Culture.
However, they remain largely unnoticed, even by Sacem employees or beneficiaries: discretion and confidentiality being part of the DNA of their duties.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
SACEM does not target the users of illegal download sites but fights uncompromisingly against those responsible for the administration of these platforms. Because, behind a site like WhatCD or Zone Download, for example, there is a very organised and well financed group.
"Through often pornographic ads, which abound on these sites, the people behind these platforms are making a lot of money. They are sometimes involved in money laundering. "They follow the same pattern as drug trafficking", explained an experienced investigator.
Identifying the administrator of a site is an increasingly complex task and geolocation is becoming more and more difficult.
For the WhatCD site, all the servers were physically located in France, while the administrators of the platform were all outside the country. Work involving international cooperation is carried out by criminal police officers. A source of satisfaction? Case law evolves as a result of their work and this makes the deployment of an ever more effective legal arsenal possible.
What are the threats?
"Every time we close down a site, SACEM's servers are attacked by hackers. The IT department has made every effort to block the attacks. We have very large servers and an effective security system.
But we are still a prime target... “
Track your music!
SACEM contracts with platforms that offer legal streaming or downloads, to authorise the use of the music it represents. However, many websites, blogs, forums, social networks and search engines are used to make illegal links to music files.
SACEM and LeakID have put in place a service to improve the protection of its member's rights. LeakID, founded in 2007, has become a major player in the protection of internet content and offers solutions to fight against piracy.
Each creator or publisher can now request:
• the removal of links to their work on sites or streaming platforms not authorised by SACEM (excluding, for example, YouTube), on hosting platforms or on social networks.
• the removal of links pointing to their work in the Google search engine.
This will be offered as a free service in early 2018 to SACEM members (songwriters, directors, composers, editors) for their work (and for theirs only), for up to a maximum of ten links per day.
The procedure is very simple:
1. You select a work in your catalogue
2. You report any unlawful links to this work to be unlinked or deleted
3. LeakID tells you the status and result of your requests in your history.
LeakID is a SACEM PLUS offer (available from January 2018)
See other articles from Mag SACEM
Published January 15 2018