The reporter goes on to note that the operation resulted in just one arrest, and that the suspect was caught in flagrante delicto.

“Inside the house of a person who is responsible for one of these illegal sites, there were a lot of weapons, unregistered weapons. These are the weapons that were seized and why the person was arrested.”

Man arrested for unlicensed guns

Screenshot 2024-08-30 20.42.24.jpg

So after hearing about the music piracy and the unlicensed weapons, what about the malware?

More About the Malware

Towards the end of the report, CNN did raise the issue of malware, noting that users who visit pirate music sites “become vulnerable because there are many viruses that these criminals are putting them on these sites which then appear on the computers and also on the cell phones of these users of the platforms on the internet.”

Brazil’s government also mentioned the malware angle.

“In addition to appropriating the works, the criminals left consumers who accessed these platforms vulnerable to viruses and malware (programs created to cause damage to computers and servers). As a result, users could have their machines infected and damaged or be redirected to phishing websites, capable of stealing personal, financial and corporate information,” a statement reads.

The big question is whether this relatively new strategy, now deployed across all entertainment industries, can succeed where others have failed. If CNN’s coverage is anything to go by, where malware was mentioned as a footnote, in an operation that was supposed to see piracy and malware given similar priority, not a chance.

Most current campaigns spend very little time ordering people not to pirate. Instead, they focus on associated dangers and then try to persuade people that, on balance, free or cheap content that arrives with malware or other threats to security, is actually poor value for money, not the bargain they were promised.

Unfortunately, without some kind of proof, the messages mean almost nothing. Yet there’s actually no shortage of proof, only a reluctance to share it.