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"Since the 1980s, (Dawood Ibrahim's) D-Company has been the major syndicate involved with film piracy in India," says a press note issued by the Santa Monica, California-based RAND Corporation on its report, Film Piracy, Organised Crime and Terrorism, out March 3.
"The group was transformed into a terrorist organization when it carried out the Black Friday bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that killed more than 257 people and injured hundreds more. It continues to advance a political agenda with its actions funded at least partly by the proceeds of crime."
The other two mafia groups using film piracy to fund terror, according to the note, are: the Irish Republican Army, ‘historically the best documented case’, and criminal gangs in the ‘tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay’.
The latter, says the report, is now the ‘most important financing centre for Islamic terrorism outside of the Middle East, channelling $20 million annually to Hezbollah’. At least one transfer of $3.5 million was made to Hezbollah by the DVD pirate Assad Ahmad Barakat who was declared a ‘specially designated global terrorist’ by the US in 2004.
According to the report, organised crime is getting increasingly involved in the piracy of feature films, adding to a criminal portfolio that already includes drugs, money laundering, extortion and human smuggling. The mafia, says the report, is involved in the ‘entire supply chain from manufacture to street sales of pirated movies’.
"If you buy pirated DVDs, there is a good chance that at least part of the money will go to organised crime and those proceeds fund more-dangerous criminal activities, possibly terrorism," said Greg Treverton, the report's lead author and director of the Center for Global Risk and Security at RAND.
"Given the enormous profit margins, it's no surprise that organized crime has moved into film piracy. The profits are high and penalties for being caught are relatively low," Treverton said.
According to the report, a pirated DVD made in Malaysia for 70 cents was sold on a London street for about $9, marked up over 1,000%, a profit margin more than three times that of Iranian heroin. Punishments are in inverse proportion: in France, for example, selling counterfeit products attracts two years in jail and a $190,000 fine, while selling drugs is punishable by 10 years and a fine of $9.5 million.
The report draws on a global pool of research that produced case studies to explore the extent of the connections among organised crime, terrorism and counterfeiting. The research is based upon 2,000 pages of documents and interviews with more than 120 law enforcement and intelligence agents from more than 20 countries, the RAND release said.
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This is not hte only source of income of D-company. They are investing in many areas, what will you do? Kill them to stop them, no other alternative is there.
It is a public knowledge most of the Bollyhood movies are financed by D company. So, Stop watching Bollyhood movies.
D Cpmpany exists because of sympathy in Pakistan and among politicians in India. Neither of the the two countries are making any effort to end this company and its owners. In India most of politicians get much of the cash they flout during election via crooks like Dawood and Shakeel, also all their overseas accounts are filled with cash derived from these crooks. The crooks run a parallel department of Justice to settle business and personal enemity disputes via their henchmen. Seldom the police make any effort ot stop this activity, for one the police get paid and for the other the politicians put pressure on the policmen to leave these friends alone. Corruption is the root cause of the pirated DVD, so stop corruption at the top.
go after politiians who help d company, then pay artists less .make movies economical for people to watch.increase perks for police who work on these cases.
Moser Baer has shown the way by giving authentic movies at 30/- bucks. The chances of economic mal-practices creeps into when ever there are gap between the price charged Vs the price supported by demand-supply situation. Also there lies the possibility of substitute products. If Pirated DVDs at Rs 50 makes D-company a billionare, i wonder why the producers don't enrich themselves by lowering the costs of the original DVDs. It appears that our film producers are really no match with Dawood even as a businessman !
Indeed a very important thing. Has to be noted that Movie CDs & DVDs which are available through MOSER BAER have a very negligible Percentage of Piracy. Because MOSER BAER understood the reason for Piracy. Normally a Blank CD comes for Rs. 10 & DVD for Max Rs. 15. Writing involves hardly any amount. The Label cost not more than Rs. 2-3. Still the companies sell the CDs which cost them Hardly Rs. 20-25 in more than Rs. 200. Imagine the Margin. It is Obvious that people are not gonna invest so much on a movie that they just wanna watch just once or may be twice or thrice. The main reason for PIRACY is the Companies itself. Noone else.
The reason for piracy is greed & not pricing as alleged by you. It seems you do not know that one can not evaluate work of art by considering it a use & throw commodity. Can u work out the amount of happiness that u get by watching a movie or listening to a song? If 35 rupees is what it takes to make you happy then can i slap you & tender Rs.35 to make you happy again?
Pirated DVD's are something the criminal gangs are doing to obtain cash, this can only happen because the Customs, police and the politicians are all lined with the criminals. In the end of the day most of Mumbai's big financial deals are blessed by the crooks from Dubai, cash recovery and investments in films is also heavily from the criminals. Everyone knows that Bharat Shah was very much part of the Dubai gang, so is Sanjay Dutt, all these people are able to operate because they PAY the right people in the government.
But for U, the purchaser, everyone is to be blamed for piracy...Right?As Rahman puts it in one of his songs from Delhi-6 " Everyone is looking for the monkey out there..."
Boycott pirated CDS . In turn film companies should bring in CDs of similar cost
It is amazing that India, Interpol, the UN and the west who have all branded D as a wanted international criminal are not able to get him and demolish his evil empire that has to do with murder, smuggling, drugs, illegal arms and terrorism. Such impotence is rare shameful and disgusting.
By exhorbitantly pricing the original DVD's/CD's the film industry also helping the D-company. Also, by not asking the Swiss Govt. to divulge the names and details of Indians having accounts in Swiss banks, the our central Govt. is also helping the D-Company. Isn't it?
Ummmmm, Swiss law doesn't allow the release of customer information from Swiss banks. Not even the US gov was able to extract that list.Nobody's forcing anyone to watch movies. If you think original DVD's are exhorbitantly priced, ummm, don't watch them?
Feature film DVDs available on the street and many shops too are cheaper and that lures the public. For less than half the price of a movie theatre ticket, you can get a DVD with four to six movies that can be watched over and over again. Some vendors take back the DVDs for half the price and resell it. People cannot be totally disuaded from buying these DVDs nor the authorities check its sale so the only option left is to reduce drastically the entertainment tax and authoized sale of DVDs at cheaper rates.
ohhhhhhhh my god,thats a very interesting and deadly story.the piracy evil has to be controlled to a great extent and perished with more stringent laws,before that kills us-the main target of terrorism-INDIA.
Most of the pirated movies also enter because of lax governmental controls. In most countries a fresh apple would attract the wrath from the customs department, while pirated DVD's just pass through customs without even a glance. Then for countries like India there is rampant corruption at all levels and so the business of pirate DVD's flourish.The West should make the importation, distribution and possession of pirated DVD a serious crime. If America wanted they could have had D-company busted and serving jail in the Guantanamo prisons, but they are not ready for this.
its nice ploy butwont work unless these scruplous fim media people lower their rates for these atrocious quality dvds i dont see no reason why people will continue to buy pirated stuff
Indian should start their own pirate DVD business, maybe they could call it Desi Dvds, to encourage Indians to buy their national brand!! On serious note, who finances Bollywood movies? Why there is a disproportion of Muslim actors? Why the Hindi actress these days are not wearing bindi?
Make simple movies, make new super stars, make less profit and the final product will be that you could sell your product for much less thean you are doing now. The pirates will soon be on the run.
Look..look a greedy pirated stuff buyer is asking whom to be less greedy !! As if he is forced to watch a film or as if one wud die without music..if thats true why not pay or else dont depend on others for entertainment. Try n make a song of ur own
By imposing hefty taxes on movie DVDs, the government is enabling the D-company to make profits. What happened to the "Gold Control Order"? It died a natural death with the opening of the import of gold. Similarly, the govt could reduce the taxes on DVDs and make it affordable for the people to buy legitmate, tax paid DVDs. The film industry also has to chip in by reducing their profit margin, so that people can get a legit DVD at less price. As long as price difference between a tax paid DVD, more people are bound to buy the pirated DVD.
I don't think its just CDs, even the black payment one makes to buy a house or in any other business dealing must eventually find its way into organized crimes hands. We must understand that D-Company is organized crime that is used as a vehicle/facilitator for terrorism. Thus a part of these funds make there way through to them.
If you go to any small shops in any big or small cities, you can see shaby people (from a particular coommunity) will be selling DVDs etc.All these people and all Khans are helping Dafwood to finish innocent Indians.
The answer lies in pricing DVDs/CDs at a reasonable level. T-series for example fought piracy effectively by offering original CDs of film Chak de India for Rs. 49/- only thereby rendering the business of piracy in it unprofitable. It is futile to expect people to shell out hundreds of rupees more in the name of fighting terror groups. Money matters and you have to find ingenious ways to fight piracy.
If you watch Karan Johar movie, or a Shah Rukh Khan movie, you could be helping D-compny. You never know how these movies are financed and who reaps the profit from these movies. It is all shady !!!!
Mr. Natrajan, how about Mani Rathnam or investment in Agni Sakshi Movie by the D - Company, Open your mind and heart and dont have prejudice against any individual...
Yes, well said. The Bollywood business is suspicious as the actors producers financiers have so much of proximity with thier masters from Dubai and Karachi. They could have been very easy target but they are not so there has to be some money changing hands. All the supposedly kings and badshahs of B'wood are shady characters. So people don't watch the crappy masala flicks to make the D-company richer. However if you have to watch them because otherwise you would not be able to breathe or something then watch through genuine original channels (DVDs, Movie theatres etc.)