OK, perhaps copyright infringement has nothing to do with the end of the world. You can’t blame me for conflating these two disparate things, though. The entertainment industry and their friends in the news media (part of the entertainment industry of course) are doing everything they can to show us how ruthless, evil, murderous and downright naughty pirates are these days.

Copying DVDs is not a victimless crime!

So the Guardian tells us:

Hundreds of Chinese workers were kept in virtual slavery for years as part of a multimillion-pound pirate DVD industry uncovered in the UK.

The men and women, many of whom lived 11 to a room, were the labour behind an organised crime syndicate that began on a market stall in Hackney, east London, and grew into a £5m illegal industry.

The syndicate produced thousands of DVDs in houses and a shop in east London before expanding into a large factory in Walthamstow, east London, which investigators said was the first rogue DVD plant in western Europe to be identified.

Detective Constable Evelyn Steeples, who was part of the team involved, said the case revealed the huge profits that could be made from organised crime. She said the manufacture of pirate DVDs, most of which are sold on street corners and in pubs across the UK, was not a victimless crime.

“Over the three years hundreds of Chinese people worked for them. They don’t speak English, they live in poor communities, and they are extremely vulnerable,” Steeples said. “The year before last there were three murders of DVD sellers. These are the invisible people, they pay around £20,000 to be brought over here, they are in debt bondage, they get abused, they get kidnapped off the street and they live in slave-like conditions.”

Now, I’m not trying to downplay the crimes that were committed here or suggesting that the perpetrators should not be punished. But let’s face it, there are probably more Chinese folks living abroad subject to slave labor conditions who work in restaurants, and we don’t hear about those unfortunate victims very often.

I kind of get the feeling that this sort of story is of interest because it provides industry with another great horror story that they can use to beat over the heads of government officials when new IP laws and policies come up, when negotiations with China and other foreign countries occur, and when the regulation of the entertainment industry and technology is at issue.

Can’t you just see this story being excerpted in an industry newsletter? I sure can, and I could name several of the industry associations that will do it. I also know who are on their mailing lists.

Yes, I’m being cynical. No, piracy is not a victimless crime. But by far the biggest victim is the entertainment industry. A big deal to them, of course, but I hope these sensational crime stories do not allow industry to persuade government to put even more emphasis on an IP area that already receives the lion’s share of attention when infringement matters are discussed.

I’m just calling for a sense of proportion here.