Friday, Aug 31, 2012    Text size: 

LONDON — Siep Kuppens, Payserve CEO and president of the Adult Content Industry United Foundation (ACIUF), will offer his wealth of experience, insight and vision during his special keynote address to attendees of XBIZ EU 2012, presented by AWE and set for Sept. 17-19 at London’s luxurious Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury hotel.

“The start [of my keynote] will be my opinion about where the adult industry stands today and what the influence of piracy was and still is,” Kuppens said. “I will also express my unbelief about the fact that about 90 percent of the people in the industry don’t give a f--- and hardly make a stand against it. Next to that I will tell that fighting piracy is not a business model. Fighting piracy is about bringing it back to an amateur level. I will make a firm statement that we can fight and win without spending money on all sorts of companies that profit from our misery.”

Kuppens says his address will include an update on the success of ACIUF — the union of industry members whose battle cry is "Unite and put up a fight" when it comes to content piracy. The group, which launched early this year, is allied with FileSharingCrime.org and consults with payment providers as well as government tax and justice departments with the goal of acquiring infringing URLS, which they then use to shut down illegal hosting sites. According to Kuppens, his decision to accept the responsibility of delivering XBIZ EU 2012 keynote stems from an intrinsic motivation.

“Although I am not very keen on doing things like this, I saw no way to refuse,” Kuppens said. “Not as the CEO of IMC /Payserve, not as a member of the European council of the ASACP and especially not because I am president of the ACIUF. I truly feel my reputation is at stake here and I could even risk some damage businesswise. Not everybody will like what I am going to say. But, it has to be done.”

“Siep Kuppens has a tremendous commitment to the industry and has proactively defended the integrity of the business in his fight against widespread digital copyright infringement,” XBIZ President and Publisher Alec Helmy said. “His dedication and ability to unite the industry in the fight against piracy are admirable; and we’re very pleased to give XBIZ EU attendees the opportunity to gain insight from Siep, an ardent protector against piracy and an inspirational businessman.”

For event information and details, visit XBIZEU.com.