Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) plans to ask the Saeima to provide the council with additional authority and rights to improve the fight against digital piracy, said NEPLP manager Ivars Āboliņš in an interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds.
He explained that digital piracy is one of the main problems for the media market in Latvia. On top of shortage of funding for content development and narrowing of the advertisement market, digital piracy causes numerous major problems. Websites containing pirated content often include advertisements. Illegal content also attracts attention from people and takes attention away from local media.
According to Āboliņš, NEPLP actively battles digital piracy. 400 domain names were restricted this year alone.
However, more needs to be done, and NEPLP plans to hold a wide campaign to explain to people that by using pirate websites they steal content.
NEPLP will also propose changing the law to provide the council with more authority when battling digital piracy and shutting down such websites.
