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The entity that represents the largest Portuguese publishing groups will proceed with a precautionary measure against groups of users of the Telegram platform who share pirated copies and improper access to different editions of newspapers and magazines. Visapress confirms that it has already identified three user groups specialized in press piracy: the largest of them called News and brings together more than 8,000 users divided into thematic subgroups. This group of Telegram users is also joined by PT Newspapers and Magazines and International Newspapers and Magazines. The list is not closed and should contain even more groups that could be blocked by the Portuguese justice, Visapress guarantees.
“We hope to file an injunction in the coming weeks against Telegram channels that are distributing pirated content without authorization from the rights holders. If it is not possible to close user channels, to the limit, this action could lead to the blocking of Telegram in Portugal ”, says Carlos Eugénio. CEO of Visapress, an entity that has in its associates Impresa (owner of Expresso), Cofina, Global Media, Trust In News, the National Press Association, among other publishing groups.
The lawsuit filed against the instant messaging platform may also have the support of associations to combat piracy of audiovisual works (FEVIP) and copyright management entities (GEDIPE).
“We will subscribe to this precautionary measure, if it turns out that the copyright of audiovisual works is also at stake,” reports Paulo Santos, director of FEVIP and GEDIPE, who is also president of the Civic Anti-Piracy Movement on the Internet (Mapinet). “We are in solidarity with the editors of newspapers and magazines and we are available to collaborate in the production of evidence (for use in the precautionary measure)”, adds Paulo Santos.
Telegram is an instant messaging platform that, like WhatsApp, Messenger or Signal, allows you to create groups of users. It belongs to the business conglomerate of Russian magnate Pavel Durov and currently has more than 400 million users.
Contrary to what happens with the competitor WhatsApp, which applied limits to the number of users and reduced the amount of data that can be distributed, Telegram does not establish a limit to the number of users and allows 1.5 GigaBytes (GB) to be shared. ). This is sufficient for all national daily editions, and even allows many other weekly and monthly editions.
Expresso, Blitz, Público, Jornal de Notícias, Visão, Caras, Record, A Bola, Correio da Manhã or National Geographic are on the piracy menu of the largest groups of specialized users, which also include subgroups specialized in press, cinema or gastronomy regional
Carlos Eugénio says that Visapress has already asked Telegram to close down user groups that pirate Portuguese newspapers and magazines, but to no avail. “Telegram never responded to the requests,” he says, while recalling: “In Spain and Italy they removed the pirated content, why shouldn’t they do the same when the request comes from Portugal?”
Union complaint and “kittens”
Visapress’s judicial focus is focused on Telegram due to an operational fact: the Telegram platform provides tools for the creation of user groups that allow free entry and exit of the respective members. This factor facilitated the collection of evidence by those whose mission is to combat piracy, but the managers of the pirate groups have already begun to take measures to escape the scrutiny of editors and authors.
After the news that reported a complaint filed by the Union of Journalists in the Portuguese justice system, the Telegram group with the name News stopped receiving more users – eventually to avoid attracting more attention.
Carlos Eugénio is aware of the agility of groups that use messaging platforms, but believes that it is possible to eliminate this asset that has been exploited by pirates: “Yes, nothing guarantees that, after blocking a group, another group will not be created. equal to the side. But we will be up to date and we will try to generate jurisprudence so that, after a block is approved, other similar ones become more expeditious, ”emphasizes Carlos Eugénio.
Noticioso is the largest group specialized in piracy of Portuguese newspapers and magazines of Telegram
In the Journalists Union, Visapress’s intention to proceed with a precautionary measure is considered justified: “It is not only media professionals who are suffering this. This piracy puts the business model of media companies at risk. We are witnessing a large-scale robbery. Every day there are many people who improperly receive free newspapers on their cell phones ”, describes Luís Filipe Simões, member of the Board of Directors of the Journalists’ Union.
“I think many people do this kind of thing without knowing that it is illegal, but it is still a robbery,” adds the leader of the Union of Journalists.
Telegram’s lack of reaction leads to questioning the technical feasibility of a possible precautionary measure, as well as the identification of those responsible. And this is one of the main challenges that the Public Ministry and the Judiciary will have to face, if they intend to identify those responsible for the Telegram pirate groups.
“It is possible to identify those responsible for these groups,” says, anonymously, a specialist in Internet research questions, admitting, even so, that the non-cooperation of social networks and messaging platforms can make it “more difficult” to investigation.
After several years of fighting against pirated copies, authors, publishers and content producers now have to deal with the increasing proportion of unauthorized access, as a direct result of new technological trends that have led to the distribution of newspapers, films or images from repositories hosted on the Internet (cloud computing).
Carlos Eugénio admits that sharing does not generate profits, but remembers that there is an intention to reduce costs. And this is where the traditional figure of sharing enters the scene, which in popular language is known as “vaquinha”.
“These groups do not have advertising, but they do allow the return associated with the fact that a single subscription is paid by 8000 people who make a ‘kitten'”, says Carlos Eugénio. “None of these users can say that they were mistakenly fooled when participating in one of these ‘kittens'”, concludes the director of Visapress.
