With the Cyber Safety Week coming to an end, the “anti-piracy block” in the city feels that if citizens are to be made aware of the ill practice, it must be done at an early age. The anti-piracy block represented by Bollywood production houses and the Motion Picture Dist. Association (MPDA), says children are more likely to get into these habits than grownups.
The MPDA recently launched a comic book Escape from Terror Byte City in association with Hollywood and Bollywood studios to create awareness about video piracy in the city. They are planning to visit malls and schools across the city to distribute one lakh free copies of the comic book thereby making youngsters aware of the ill practice. Currently undergoing a test-run, if successful, they will soon introduce an Indianised version in an Indian setup with local characters.
Rajiv Dalal, managing director, MPDA, says, “Children are very impressionable. They must be made aware of the dangers of video piracy. The entire campaign against video piracy can be successful only if we get this message across to them.”
He believes that habits like illegal video downloading are more likely to get inculcated at a young age, so it is more important to make them understand the dangers of it now. “The magazine has been successful in New Zealand, and we hope that putting the message against piracy in a comic form will make it more accessible, interesting and exciting to these children,” he says, adding further, “The comic book, in a way, will help us target their parents as well, and make them aware of the dangers of illegal filesharing.”