By Peter Podkopaev | November 17, 2014
In the aftermath of the collapse of SOPA and PIPA, the content industry has laudably turned its attention to voluntary measures, notably including the successful Copyright Alert System, and now a new website that makes it easier than ever to find movies and TV shows for legal download: WheretoWatch.com.
This new search engine, launched by the Motion Picture Association of America, addresses a significant problem facing the U.S. economy – piracy. And it does so without the interference of government.
Alongside other voluntary industry efforts, WheretoWatch.com will assist well-meaning consumers in quickly and easily finding legal ways to watch their favorite content online through streaming or download. Such efforts help protect the consumer, the entertainment industry, and the economy from rogue websites providing multimedia content by infringing on copyright laws.
Protecting copyrighted material from being illegally disseminated not only protects consumers and producers of content, but it protects the U.S. economy as well. According to the National Crime Prevention Association, “the U.S. economy loses $58 billion each year to copyright infringement.”
Piracy needs to be stopped and WheretoWatch.com, along with the Copyright Alert System, are shining beacons of success that show just how successful voluntary industry initiatives can be at combating piracy and, at the same time, providing a service that big government simply cannot provide without appropriating tax dollars for the cause and fostering bureaucratic procedures that bog down government efficiency.
With the recent moves by President Obama to supercharge regulatory agencies and micromanage the U.S. economy, it is important to acknowledge voluntary, free-market efforts to address genuine economic problems through voluntary initiatives.
WheretoWatch.com is a clear example of how capable industries are to create effective solutions for themselves that ultimately benefit the general public and the economy as a whole. These voluntary efforts should be applauded and supported. (And the next time you hear someone say stealing content is justified because it is too hard to find it legally, you will know where to point them.)
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