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The piracy of academic books in the educational sector is hitting the SA publishing industry hard—with a loss of around half a billion rand a year. But it is affecting jobs too, as smaller bookstores feel the brunt of the continued drop in sales and close their doors. Poor quality textbooks also mean students are not accessing quality resources, impacting their academic performance and the skills they acquire. We’re underestimating the devastation caused by online piracy, writes Brian Wafawarowa.
The rampant rise in digital and online piracy is affecting almost every sector of society. It makes a massive impact on not only the publishing industry and our education sector, but our economy too. In 2022, the global number of visits to piracy websites totalled 215 billion. In terms of publishing, it is estimated that pirated textbooks cost the local publishing, bookselling and book import and export industry around half a billion rand a year.
It can be hard to picture the victims of online piracy. But in the movie industry alone, digital piracy leads to annual global revenue losses of between $40 million and $97 billion. More than 80% of global online piracy is on illegal streaming services. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are estimated to have been lost due to music and television piracy, as well. Despite the successful introduction of pay-for online music platforms, music piracy is still increasing, especially on mobile devices.
