Film Piracy: What is it? The Australian Screen Association defines film piracy as "anyone viewing a feature film via 'unauthorised' means, including: digital (downloading, streaming, digital transfer of pirated copies), physical (purchasing counterfeit/copied DVDs) and secondary ( borrowed or viewed pirated copies).” Thanks to technological advances, film piracy is on the rise, making it easier to copy and distribute films around the world, with Australia being one of the world's largest contributors to film piracy. This epidemic is having a financial impact on Australian cinema due to the economic consequences the industry is facing. The world as we know it is a world full of technology, where anyone with access to the internet can stream or share films conveniently and quickly This new technology is that many people have the ability to access it, which leads to the theft of copyrighted products via the Internet. Based on information from a new study conducted by IPOSOS and Oxford Economics “The Economic Consequences of Movie Piracy: Australia. ”, “6,100 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs have been lost across the economy (equivalent to more than six times the number of job cuts announced by Telstra in October 2010), including almost 2,300 renounced directly by the film industry and retailers. Taking into account the effects on other sectors, approximately A$1,370 million in gross output (sales) was lost across the Australian economy. The result is a tax loss of A$193 million.” This is money that the government could repurpose into the economy for other social uses in areas such as education and healthcare. Key findings indicated the extent of damage caused by film piracy to the Australian economy… middle of paper… Piracy was a global epidemic in 2005. The Australian film industry contributes approximately $5.3 billion. to the Australian economy each year. The jobs of almost 50,000 Australians employed in the film and television industry could be under threat from piracy. The biggest threat to the film industry today is film piracy as the impact of piracy on jobs and the economy will persist as long as piracy persists. Cara Cusumano, of the Tribeca Film Festival, says that “Major film distributors need to embrace online technologies rather than try to avoid them. Piracy isn't so much about people not wanting to pay as it is about the desire for immediacy, people saying, 'I want to watch Spiderman now' and downloading it," he said. "I think if companies were willing to put that material out there, going forward, consumers will follow."