7/2/2023 0 Comments Illegal movie websites![]() ![]() With every film product instantly stolen and being made available for free streaming, the local creative industry is disincentivized to produce local films, the argument goes. One joke circulating on social media has a Georgian Tiktoker relating a fictional correspondence with Zendaya, a star of HBO’s teenage drama series Euphoria who is reportedly giddy over receiving an additional 13 lari ($4) per episode in royalties from Georgia.īut for advocates of legal streaming, one key beneficiary of eliminating piracy is Georgia’s own entertainment industry. “If we have to enrich someone, we will enrich Netflix and others, but not you,” another commented. “I hope nobody buys anything here or uses your platform,” one internet user wrote under a CaveaPlus Facebook post. Netflix itself costs at least 27 lari (about $9) in the country, and doesn’t offer dubbing or subtitles in Georgian, forcing users to watch in English or Russian. They are particularly worried about access to Netflix, which rarely licenses its content to other platforms. But many Georgians doubt it will have the same selection as the pirate sites did. “We cannot solve this problem with our own resources, but we are in active cooperation with international as well as local governmental and non-governmental organizations.”ĬaveaPlus promises to offer a wide selection of entertainment for a subscription price of 9 lari (about $3) a month. In terms of piracy, Georgia stands near Russia and China and the piracy accounts for 100 percent in Georgia,” CaveaPlus manager Salome Kuprashvili told Business Media Georgia in July. But its representatives have repeatedly spoken out against piracy. Cavea, the major Georgian cinema chain which operates the platform, did not confirm it was directly responsible for the shutdown. Soon a culprit for the crackdown was identified: a new legal, paid streaming service, CaveaPlus. The producers, naturally, didn’t get a tetri. The sites were beloved by users for their near universal access to the latest Hollywood films and the most popular TV shows, as well as a wide selection of international cinema, anime films, and Turkish TV series, among other offerings, all with high-quality Georgian dubbing. ![]() Georgia does have copyright laws, but they are rarely enforced, and regular discussions about internet piracy have gone on for years while the pirate sites continued to work uninterruptedly. The agency also said that the Motion Picture Association of America, uniting five major American film studios along with streaming service Netflix, had in 2019 warned Georgia against internet piracy and threatened the country with sanctions like restricting its access to new films. The commission explained that it had asked the sites nearly two years ago to remove pirated content, and that now it was forced to take the issue to internet service providers. “Last week, after a long process, the Communications Commission again requested the websites that offer stolen content to take down illegal content from their platforms,” the agency said in an August 24 statement. The EU has long been associated with unpopular or unfamiliar regulations, stemming from commitments taken by Georgia under its 2014 Association Agreement with the bloc.īut the Communications Commission, a public body that oversees Georgia’s electronic communications and consumer rights, soon offered a clarification. Rumors swirled about what was happening, and blame quickly fell on the European Union. Panic set in, with many Georgians fearing the worst: that their free movie paradise was no more. On August 23 visitors to Adjaranet, one such site, started seeing the message: “The site is under reconstruction.” And when the same message appeared on a competing site, imovies, it was clear that it was not a technical issue. Georgia has abruptly shut down several popular websites offering pirated movies and television series, cutting Georgians off from what had been a staple of their entertainment consumption. Visitors to an erstwhile pirate movie site, Adjaranet, are told that the site is "under reconstruction."
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