Despite the advancement of technology, illegally streaming series or movies still remains a crime against copyright laws. With that, Malaysia is planning to impose strict measures that can result in serious jail time for those who commit the crime.
Malaysia's Move Against Streaming Pirates
Illegal streaming, although present around the world, can result in very costly consequences in Malaysia. While other countries might offer more lenient sanctions for those who illegally stream, Malaysia is turning things up a notch by imposing fines and even a potential prison sentence to those who are caught.
As per TorrentFreak's report, the country has just passed amendments to its current Copyright Act that punishes those that enable illegal streaming. People that are offering streaming services and devices that would "prejudicially" hurt copyright owners will be faced with fines that are equal to $2,377 or even prison sentences that can go up to 20 years.
Streaming Pirates Could Face Both Fines and Prison Time
What's worse is that depending on the court's findings and the offense committed, violators can even be given both a fine and prison time. According to the story by Engadget, the updated law also strongly discourages certain companies from either participating in streaming piracy or also merely tolerating its presence.
One way to avoid getting a fine or sentence is if managers can show that they were indeed unaware of the committed violation and that they also took "all due diligence" in order to stop these types of acts. If they are unable to do this, they will then be considered guilty of the said crime.
International Digital Piracy Dilemma
Copyright laws that currently exist all around the world frequently cover digital piracy. Some of them, however, were designed to tackle just downloads and other older forms of piracy.
This was a huge problem for Malaysia as the government was unable to use the Copyright Act against certain people that were selling piracy-oriented streaming services until a High Court decision decided to allow these cases to be included.
Violating Malaysia's Copyright Act Comes with Tough Repercussions
The potential punishments of violating the Copyright Act are strict and the wording also suggests that it will be difficult for some companies to be able to avoid entanglements with certain rogue employees.
Engadget also tackled just how much due diligence is necessary in order to avoid getting caught up in this crime. To add, this shows just how some countries can also specifically address streaming through a change in their legislation.
This, in turn, will please the US as well as other copyright-driven nations that are concerned that other nations are still togerating illegal internet services. With the current laws of many focused just on illegal downloading, Malaysia's decision to act against streaming policy increases the scope of piracy that can be covered.
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Written by Urian B.
