Internet Piracy in Czech Republic

This article is well worth a read, especially if you are one of those types of people that is highly interested in the relationship between technology and society. Briefly, one of the problems of piracy in Czech Republic concerns the fact that availability of pirated movies and films is so much more accessible than through legal means. This is not an issue of cost; rather, it's an issue of legal avenues to purchase. As one professor points out, here in Czech Republic, you can buy a new DVD (often for considerably more than you would pay for it in Austria or Germany) or you can steal a movie from the internet. That's about it.

Generally speaking, language is not a problem; most people internet-savvy enough to pirate movies speak English, and it's generally very easy to download subtitle files separately anyway (though admittedly, the subtitles are often done by amateurs, and are of varying quality). Nevertheless, one reason for this lack of quality is that there is such a low level of interest in the idea that Czech people (especially, playing to stereotype, young men with disposable income, just like everywhere else) will actually pay for some of these services, if they are provided to them. There is a huge level of marketing Hollywood movies in Czech Republic, but after the movie leaves theaters, there's no way to watch it again, short of paying $25 to $30 for the nice shiny box, and many titles are completely unavailable. It is one of the multiple reasons that the Pirate Party (one of the only, if not the only, truly European political parties) has done relatively well in Czech Republic.