The 2009 release of the movie "Star Trek" was very popular. It saw great reviews, success at the box office, though unfortunately, it also had the highest piracy rate of the entire year. Paramount are aware of this, and have since written to the FCC, asking them to take action.
According to the site Trek Movie, the movie managed to rack up a whopping 11 million illegal downloads, beating out the top pirated movie of 2008 (The Dark Knight) by 4 million. The company Paramount managed to hunt down over five million IP addresses of people who downloaded one of the pirated copies, and has written to the FCC with their thoughts about the whole ordeal. The letter, found in .PDF format here, states that, "Just five years ago, one had to be computer literate and exceedingly patient to pirate movies. Today, literally anyone with an internet connection can do it. Clunky websites are being replaced by legitimate looking and legitimate feeling pirate movie websites, a perception enhanced by the presence of premium advertisers and subscription fees processed by major financial institutions."
Paramount claims that pirating has gone from "geek to sleek," and even pinned some of the blame on popular legal sites such as Google, Bing, YouTube and Megaupload, as they provide access to pirated content in one way or another. They also believe that part of the problem is that nowadays, sites that provide pirated content are powered by the advertising of legal companies, through premium advertisement services such as that offered by Google.
The letter provides some very valid arguments regarding piracy, though whether or not people will really take notice is a different story altogether. The company is aiming to gain government support to aid the Hollywood studios stop such obscene levels of piracy, with the letter stating, "[We] must have the legal and regulatory flexibility to use technological tools in partnership with Internet service providers to stem the tide of online copyright theft." If you"re curious about the other movies on the top 10 pirated list, we"ve shown them below.
1. Star Trek
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
3. RocknRolla
4. The Hangover
5. Twilight
6. District 9
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. State of Play
9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
10. Knowing