Stop Film PiratesByBill Toulas-January 27, 2020.959 Practice is already quite common in Europe, but it is not nearly perfect or successful anywhere. Only the non-tech-savvy will be caught and paid while the rest will hide using a Vpn connection. The Greek government is ready to take the next step in its fight against piracy and plans to introduce fines as its next step. As members of the Ministry of Culture told the press, the special legislative committee formed back in September decided that individual pirates using peer-to-peer networks should be found and fined. As the spokesman for the ministry pointed out, the effort to protect intellectual rights in Greece spans the last six decades but the piracy trend has developed out of proportion with the rapid growth of the internet and technology. They thus intend to introduce a new law by means of a ministerial decision that will deal decisively with the issue. The ministry once again put the film producers in the spotlight as they were used as an example for the losses caused by pirate activity. The producers are expected to lose 24 million Euros due to piracy in Greece and thus the state is losing 15 million Euros which would otherwise be its tax cut. Piracy was already illegal in Greece, of course, but the law authorities generally ignored the crime and focused on bringing down operators of pirate websites. The Greek government is now bringing things to the next level as this is not enough to counter piracy. The way to do this is either through fines, or by completely blocking torrent websites. The latter is a controversial option for many reasons and it is unlikely that Greece will do the same while Italy Portugal and Latvia pursue this strategy. The fees are higher while trying to make money and enforcing copyright protection regulations at the same time so this is what the ministry is preparing to do.