At a time when Hollywood continues to try and battle against movie piracy, there are still many high-profile leaks of anticipated movies that find their way to the Internet.
The latest high-profile movie leak -- though unfinished -- was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which debuts in U.S. theaters today. The 20th Century Fox movie was leaked more than one month ago.
"Unfortunately, the recent leak of the Fox film 'Wolverine' provided a stark backdrop to the impact that digital piracy has on the large investments that producers make in creating state-of-the-art films," said Rep. Howard Berman, who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. "During our hearing in Los Angeles, director Steven Soderbergh said that in 2007, the entertainment industry generated a trade surplus of $13.6 billion."
Since it seems unlikely that movie piracy will suddenly stop any time soon, Hollywood must ensure it is able to continue to create blockbuster movies, even with the looming threat of piracy.
Remember when studios started to use digital watermarks on DVDs to try and trace individual movies? It didn't work, as pirates were able to quickly strip the watermark off the DVD. Other security measures aimed at limiting piracy, including digital rights management (that could still be circumvented), have worked with varying levels of success.
While thieves and pirates continue to adapt to new technologies, the FBI and other police agencies continue to upgrade their cyber abilities to better handle piracy-related cases. In the article, the FBI didn't go into specific details, but said the agency does have a "myriad of sophisticated methods" it relies on to help deal with piracy and other cyber issues.
In China, Russia, and other countries, it's possible to find organized piracy rings that routinely pirate DVDs and high-definition content while releasing products before they're even debuted in theaters.
