AEPOC expects piracy problem to worsen 2005 and after

	Growing ubiquity of audio-visual services creates new breeding grounds for piracy
	Council of Europe Convention not yet signed by European Community
	Atmel and AL MAJD new member companies of AEPOC
	2004 was a successful year for the association

Brussels, December 21^st 2004 - At its annual meeting in Brussels the General Assembly of AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, discussed trends and developments regarding piracy of audio-visual services and defined the cornerstones of its activities for 2005.

The Challenges

AEPOC members agreed that 2005 will see distribution of audio-visual services increasingly being extended to new platforms, creating new breeding grounds for piracy. Today more and more audio-visual pay-content, such as news-streams, sport events and concerts, is being offered on the Internet and being delivered to home networks. These small networks serve a variety of devices including home theatres, personal video recorders (PVRs), PCs, audio-clients and portable audio players. The near future will also see a significant growth of content delivery for mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile telephones. The proliferation of audio-visual content will create new risks of piracy at each and every stage of delivery and consumption of content, resulting in a host of new frontiers in the fight against piracy.

"The slogan 'content everywhere' could directly translate into 'piracy everywhere' turning these new opportunities into new, serious threats for the media industry," explains Jean Grenier, president of AEPOC. "Existing legislation and enforcement priorities must be reviewed across Europe to take the new reality into account."

In this regard AEPOC points out that the existing legislative frameworks have not been fully adopted yet. This is the case with the European Convention on the Legal Protection of Services based on, or consisting of, Conditional Access (CETS No.: 178). This Council of Europe Convention is open for signature since January 24th, 2001. The next country expected to ratify the treaty is Switzerland. The convention has not yet been signed by the European Community. AEPOC deems this step desirable in order to reconfirm the priority for the Union of stemming audiovisual piracy.

AEPOC's Activities

In 2005 AEPOC and its members will continue to play an active role in the fight against audiovisual piracy by facilitating national and Europeanwide dialogues between industry and officials. In this context, AEPOC will provide qualified input for the report on the Conditional Access Directive currently in preparation by the E.U. Commission. The association will also observe the adoption and enforcement of the European Union standards on audiovisual piracy by the new E.U. Member States. In the past AEPOC has repeatedly called for increased efforts to combat the significant level of piracy in the 10 new Member States. However, AEPOC highlights the positive developments in Poland, both on the legal and on the operational side which are also due to the efforts of SIGNAL, the local conditional access anti-piracy organisation.

AEPOC's work was advanced significantly during 2004. The AEPOC Code of Ethics and Good Practice became effective July 1st, 2004. The document defines for the first time common standards for support and co-operation among the AEPOC members in the fight against piracy of audiovisual services. Other key activities included the organisation of the AEPOC Workshop at Satexpo in Vicenza, the organisation of the 2nd AEPOC European Anti-Piracy Symposium in Amsterdam, as well as a significantly increased level of the association's external communication, encompassing press relations, Internet communication and advertising. In 2004 the anti-piracy association gained four new members, bringing its membership to a total of 35.

"AEPOC is again looking back on a highly successful year. The industry's dialogue with policy-makers and legislators which we have initiated across Europe has served as a catalyst for anti-piracy efforts across Europe," says Jean Grenier. "We will continue to be a very active player in the fight against audiovisual piracy."

During the Brussels meeting the admission to membership of Atmel and AL MAJD was approved.

The next AEPOC meeting will be held in Geneva in March 2005.

AEPOC (www.aepoc.org) is the "Association Européenne pour la Protection des Œuvres et Services Cryptés" or the "European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services". AEPOC started its activities in 1995. Its current membership consists of 35 leading digital television and telecommunication companies including content providers, TV channels, conditional access providers, providers of transmission infrastructures and manufacturers of related hardware.

AEPOC's goal is to eliminate the pirating of encrypted works and services (piracy of audiovisual services) and to encourage the development of the appropriate legal, operational and technological frameworks to increase the security and safeguarding of conditional access systems for Pay-TV, TV-based and IP services.

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