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AEPOC: "Adequate legal
protection marching at the same speed of technological progress is
crucial for the media sector"
Other Topics: IP Video
Transport, IPTV Video QoS
Susbauer
February 12, 2007
- 4th AEPOC Anti-Piracy
Symposium highlights need for a legal framework to adapt to
technological innovation
- Three new AEPOC members
approved: Boxer TV-Access, General Satellite and Mediaset join the
Association
- AEPOC 10 Years: Association
celebrates its first decade of activity in Geneva
- New AEPOC logo and key visual
to express AEPOC’s commitment to fight digital media piracy
Geneva, Switzerland -- AEPOC, the
European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and
Services, underlined the critical need for an EU legislative
framework adapting to new technologies of the content everywhere
environment in order to secure digital growth – and strongly fight
audio-visual piracy crimes: This was the central appeal of
panellists and participants from more than 15 countries,
representing the European media markets as well as Ukraine, Russia
and the Arabic World, during AEPOC’s 4th Anti-Piracy Symposium held
on January 29 in Geneva – on occasion of the Association’s 10th
anniversary. |
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While since AEPOC’s
foundation in 1997 important achievements in the fight against
audio-visual piracy have been reached, today’s continuously evolving
media and on-demand environment multiplies the risk of piracy
crimes. This is mainly due to the fact of the growth of the media
markets itself but also caused by lacking legislation in areas of
digital rights protection – especially regarding the Internet which
did not have today’s level of importance in 1998 when the EU
Directive on Conditional Access was introduced. AEPOC calls upon the
European legislative bodies to develop the next level of content
protective laws to enable a secure and therefore sustainable growth
of the audio-visual and multi-play markets.
In his keynote speech AEPOC President Jean Grenier explained: "Our
experience shows a direct link between level of protection against
piracy and the introduction of innovative services. 10 years ago
piracy was one of the several issues to think about for the
economical and technological growth – today digital theft must be
the first issue to be considered in order to put the bases for the
development of new efficient business models. We see how the role of
adequate legal protection at international level marching at the
same speed of technological innovation becomes crucial for any
enterprise in the media sector."
AEPOC Vice Presidents Christine Maury-Panis (Viaccess – France
Telecom) and Andrew Curle (Irdeto) detailed the legal means
currently available in the EU to prevent and fight piracy
highlighting the change in rights protection technology, that is
evolving into an identity-bound logic coming from a purely
device-bound systematic, thus making it necessary for the legal
framework to acknowledge the technological progress – while
long-term and perseverant partnership and international
collaboration are as important to combat piracy directly through the
joined forces of the industries involved. Moderated by Nick Snow,
Editor in Chief of Advanced Television, AEPOC members and
participants discussed the recent development in terms of
anti-piracy operations and future challenges giving valuable insight
with country-by-country case studies including examples and
positions from Andreas Rudloff (Premiere, Germany), Michael J.
Barley (BSkyB, United Kingdom), Lena Melinder (Boxer TV-Access,
Sweden), Andrey Tkachenko (General Satellite, Russia), Ricardo
Ferreira (TV Cabo, Portugal) and Steve Bjuvgard (Arab Media
Corporation).
Davide Rossi, Secretary General AEPOC, summarized: "AEPOC will
always stand on the piracy frontline, for deeply analysing the
piracy phenomenon and continuously developing new best practices for
the operators – working closely with the European and International
institutions in order to have a regulation that does not stop the
progress but enables growth, avoiding at the same time false steps
and distortions."
Jean Réveillon, Secretary General of the European Broadcasting Union
(EBU), congratulated AEPOC to its 10th anniversary and underlined
the many common targets of the two associations – AEPOC had been
officially founded in January 1997 at the EBU in Geneva.
During the AEPOC Board of Directors Meeting and the Ordinary General
Assembly, held in the morning of January 29 and kindly hosted by the
EBU, a total of three new applications of membership were approved
bringing the association’s total members to 37 companies: Boxer
TV-Access, General Satellite and Italian TV group Mediaset join the
association with immediate effectiveness while approval for a
further application is currently being considered. Moreover, the
Ordinary General Assembly has suspended one AEPOC member (a possible
exclusion from the Association will be decided at the next Board of
Directors meeting). With AEPOC’s overall target to see evolve a
legislation that better prevents illegal behaviour in the first
place, the Association welcomed a recent court ruling in Korea, that
sentenced three individuals active in pirate set-top-box technology
exports and illicit data providing to prison, additional to fines.
The 4th Anti-Piracy Symposium and 10 Years Anniversary was also the
occasion for AEPOC to officially introduce a new logo and key visual
expressing the Association’s commitment to support the fascinating
opportunities of the ever increasing content universe for all
legitimate uses – while strongly fighting digital media piracy and
the crimes associated to it.
The next AEPOC Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for April
2007 to be held in Munich, following the regime of the German
Presidency of the European Union.
Note: Speeches and presentations of the Symposium are available on
the association’s website as well as the new AEPOC logo, also as a
10 Years special version, together with the new AEPOC key visual:
www.aepoc.org and see the online version of this release for direct
links to the documents.
About AEPOC
AEPOC (www.aepoc.org) is the "Association Européenne pour la
Protection des Œuvres et Services Cryptés" or the "European
Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services".
AEPOC started its activities in 1995. Its current membership
consists of 37 leading digital television and telecommunication
companies including TV channels, conditional access providers,
providers of transmission infrastructures and manufacturers of
related hardware. AEPOC's goal is to eliminate the pirating of
encrypted works and services and to encourage the development of the
appropriate legal, operational and technological frameworks to
increase the security and safeguarding of conditional access systems
for Pay-TV, TV-based and IP services.
The AEPOC members are: ADD Europe, AL MAJD, Aston, Atmel, Boxer
TV-Access, BSkyB, Canal+, Canal+ Polska, comvenient, Conax, Digiturk,
Eutelsat, General Satellite, Humax, Hutro, Infineon Technologies,
Irdeto, Liberty Global, Mediaset, Motorola, Nagravision, NDS, NTV-Plus,
Opentech, Pace, Philips, Poverkhnost, Premiere, Sagem, Showtime
Arabia, Sky Italia, Sogecable, Thomson, TPS, TVCabo, Viaccess -
France Telecom, and WELA Electronic. |
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