• The Hollywood Reporter, Tuesday, October 3, 2006 11:30 AM

If you believe Bob Wright, NBC Universal's Chairman and CEO, the media industry is under attack and needs help from government and political leaders to stymie the rampant problem of Internet piracy. Last week, Wright gave a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which he equated the economic threat of Web piracy to the threat terrorism poses to national security. "Five years ago, we learned, tragically, that our physical security is under attack," he said during the chamber's symposium on counterfeiting and piracy.

"Today, I want to suggest that the second pillar, our economic security, is also being challenged." He added that if these needs are not met, "our children have a bleak future." Just a tad melodramatic, don't you think? But the economic impact of piracy is real--Wright presented the findings from the Institute for Policy Innovation study that said movie piracy costs the economy $20.5 billion per year, $837 million in lost tax revenue and more than 140,000 jobs. Wright said ISPs will have to take a more active role in addressing rampant piracy over their networks. To date, ISPs have been absolved from copyright infringement due to their status as a "pure conduit" rather than a content provider. He added that copyright infringement on sites like YouTube will "catch up with them, and we'll catch up with them. [YouTube] has a little bit of the Grokster kind of an appearance and feel. They know it, and we know it."

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