If culture is the people of a nation expressing themselves, then cybersecurity is the army that protects its ability to do that. In the modern, digital economy, one cannot exist without the other.
Creativity is culture at the individual level, the artistic urge that drives artists and other citizens to give voice to their personal thoughts, feelings and experiences. When that creativity aggregates, it becomes the shifting, dynamic culture of an entire nation.
The conduits of culture
This is precious because in many ways, a nation is its culture. Culture is what distinguishes one nation from another. What is the difference between the countries of East Africa, for instance, many of which share Swahili as a national language: culture.
At the same time, a common language binds nations together through shared cultural reference points. Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone culture can all be shared and expressed through literature, music, movies, television, and more recently, through streaming, social media, and short-form video content.
Culture is increasingly digital built and shaped through the online networks that infuse modern society. This is especially true in Africa, where digital connectivity gives people of the continent a practical, affordable means of integrating and expressing themselves.
But this digital convenience comes at a price: digital crime, cyber-hacking – the theft of online content. At a time when analog channels are on the wane, the streaming content environment is becoming infected by crime syndicates engaged in content piracy.
Streaming content piracy works by stealing content from legitimate streaming channels and selling it on to users. The criminal syndicates running these operations profit from undermining the business models of established content operators.
This poses an existential threat to creative industries, and ultimately, to the survival of culture. In Africa, for instance, where streaming industries are sabotaged by content piracy, their ability to fund suppliers, producers and the creative industry at large can be destroyed.
In turn, the ability of these creators to express their own culture is undermined. The business model disappears, and so too does the content that allows people to see themselves reflect in their favourite shows, movies, music and more.
In many ways, the very survival of creativity and modern cultural platforms depend on our ability to secure the streaming channels that are now conduits of African culture.
Weapons in the piracy war
Content pirates currently use three main means of piracy:
- Circumventing geo-blocking with VPNs (Virtual Private Network) and proxy servers
- Theft and illicit sharing of session tokens from legitimate customers
- Finding security vulnerabilities in devices and extracting licence content keys
Protecting streams against these threats is a life-or-death battle. If it fails, our culture faces extinction. The local African content and creative industries that have been built up over decades will wither and die.
Film and series production, screen talent, scriptwriting, cinematography, sound engineering, broadcast capabilities… all the local industries and skill sets that have been built up around the production of local content are at risk when content piracy is allowed to grow unchecked.
Whereas legitimate streaming services invest in these industries, pirate-content syndicates invest nothing, only extracting value through subscriptions and advertising on stolen content.
Fortunately, there are initiatives dedicated to securing the streams and the cultural communication they support. Established content platforms like MultiChoice Africa, with its hyperlocal content offerings such as Akwaaba Magic, Africa Magic, Maisha Magic, Showmax, has a close relationship with cybersecurity leader Irdeto. Both organisations are also part of the pan-African Partners Against Piracy coalition.
For Irdeto, securing the streams involves equipping its clients with robust geo-location restrictions, developing smart software for concurrent stream management, and deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and report anomalies.
At the same time, session-based forensic watermarks can now be embedded into every stream, for rapid identification of pirate producers and users, as well as 24/7 piracy detection, and premium user authorization.
These are the weapons at the cutting edge of the war on content piracy. However, the best weapon in this global battle to preserve local culture and the creative economy, is for consumers to refuse to consume or condone pirated content
- If you encounter suspected content piracy, contact the Partners Against Piracy international hotline on +27 11 289 2684, or email piracy@multichoice.co.za.
