The Advertising Standards Agency was asked to investigate the anti-piracy ads that run before the UK’s movies, in which a link between terrorism and DVD bootlegging is asserted.
The advertisers said the commercial had been given a “U” certificate by the British Board of Film Classification; they believed it did not appeal to fear unduly or without good reason. They said they could not send all the substantiation they held about the link between piracy and terrorism because it was confidential. The advertisers sent a report, published on the European Union website, that stated “Terrorist groups also commonly become involved in counterfeiting and piracy as a mean of financing their activities”. They sent the Executive Summary of a report, by the Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy, entitled “Proving the Connection”; that report claimed “There is evidence of proscribed groups in Northern Ireland using intellectual property fraud as a fund raising activity for their criminal activities.
(via NTK)