THE government must expedite the passage of anti-online piracy bills to catch "high-tech" thieves and stop economic losses due to piracy, an advocacy network said on Wednesday.
The CitizenWatch Philippines said that the country's 27-year-old Intellectual Property Code is no longer effective hence the need to pass the anti-online piracy bills without delay.
"The country already lost so much due to high-tech thieves, and they get away from profiting from others' works as the Intellectual Property (IP) Code is outdated," the group said in a statement.
"Online scammers must be dealt with swift action which starts with enabling policies that empower effective enforcement. Scammers and pirates thrive on the slow response of regulators who are bogged down by the bureaucracy or by their lack of technological sophistication," it added.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the network said piracy takes away around 7.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
This results in forgone revenues and loss of livelihood, and even threatens to inflict malware on devices consuming pirated content, which can be a gateway for scams, it said.
It lamented that the country does not have a legislative mandate to block sites with pirated content.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the National Telecommunications Commission and internet service providers could only put up "stop-gap measures" to block sites with pirated content, the group said.
According to a YouGov Piracy Landscape Survey in 2022, the Philippines, named as one of the top consumers of pirated content in Asia, lost around $700 million due to the piracy of Filipino made television shows and movies.
Meanwhile, IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba estimated that the Philippines will have around $1 billion in revenue leakage in 2027 if concerns regarding online piracy will continue.
The CitizenWatch said that it is time to amend the existing law for a more comprehensive, sustainable approach to online piracy.
"Our lawmakers need to show that they are not indifferent to this menace. The time to act was yesterday, but it won't hurt to start catching up now," it stressed.
The Senate, through the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, had started public hearings on a bill that seeks to expand the powers of IPOPHL.
Senator Mark Villar, who leads the panel, cited the need to ensure that the law will catch up with the dynamic changes of the digital ecosystem.
"The Philippine digital economy is valued at $17 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand to $40 billion by 2025. This manifests the changing economic landscape leaning towards digital products and services," he said.
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