The piracy ecosystem is complex: it combines specialists in the acquisition and distribution of content; legal technologies which are distorted for illegal exchange; and an extensive community dynamic.

All the indicators seem to imply that the level of illegal exchange continues to grow, in spite of being more complex to measure. However, growth is observed in the different drivers for countering piracy: clarifying the legal status, evolving “competitive” pay offerings, and especially fingerprinting solutions that make Digital Rights Management more credible. Some illegal sites are consequently opting to develop legal solutions.

IDATE's report presents the value-added chain of content exchange on the Internet, technical innovations and key players based on a number of case studies. It offers components for measuring piracy and sets out the main tools for countering illegal exchange. It concludes by describing the challenges facing the content and telecommunications industries in the fight against piracy.

Content exchange and piracy in brief
- Practices for exchanging content on the Internet
- Content publishing platforms
- Technical and legal responses
- Competing against illegal offerings with legal solutions
- Challenges for the content and telecommunications industries

- Video sharing
- Stock & Share
- News groups
- P2P networks
- Content piracy
- Fingerprinting
- DRM

Key Questions
- What are the new content exchange platforms?
- What are the practices of piracy on the Internet?
- What are the most popular platforms for non-authorised content exchange?
- What are the tools used to counter illegal exchange?
- What impact does piracy have on the legal market?
- What are the challenges for the content and telecommunications industries?

Who should read this report?
Internet content providers
- Assess the impact of piracy on the legal distribution of content
- Understand the operation and use of different illegal content publishing platforms

Internet players
- Understand the practices for exchanging content on the Internet
- Identify the technical innovations in terms of exchanging and distributing content on the Internet

Telecoms operators
- Analyse the technical and commercial solutions in response to illegal content exchange
- Understand the strategies of Internet players in the realm of content distribution

Investors and analysts
- Assess the overall influence of piracy on the Internet
- Evaluate the impact on the content and telecommunications industries