According to today’s Variety there has been a reduction in illegally downloaded movies in France.  The numbers indicate that due to a “fear of the police” the number of illegally downloaded films has dropped from 5 million in 2006 to 2.3 million in 2007.  In addition to the fear of law-enforcement, there’s the increase in legal downloading.  Numbers indicate that 900,000 households in France paid for downloads in 2007.In a related article, Variety mentioned that Dmitry Medvedev (the heir to Vladmir Putin’s Russian Presidency) has won praise from anti-piracy campaigners Wednesday for his strong condemnation of those who buy bootleg music CDs and movie DVDs.

Medvedev lashed out at Russia’s culture of “legal nihilism,” labeling massive corruption as the country’s biggest problem. He said:

“No European country can boast of such disregard for the law… a national program to combat corruption is needed.”

Konstantin Zemchenkov, head of the MPAA-backed Russian Anti-Piracy Organization welcomed the statement from Medvedev saying that it was an extremely optimistic sign coming from the likely next President of Russia. He continued with:

“By paying attention to the problem of piracy in Russia he is sending out a clear signal to those who buy pirate products that they are doing damage. We look forward to more concrete details on what more he will do.”

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