Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday launched a task force aimed at finding new ways of eliminating film and music piracy. The effort will include local, state and national law enforcement, elected leaders, business officials, prosecutors and entertainment industry representatives. The task force will look at the best tactics to eliminate piracy and bootlegging, such as instituting harsher penalties. Piracy is credited with costing as much as $5.2 billion and 106,000 in local jobs in 2005, according to study released today by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Valley City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, herself a former entertainment industry executive with DreamWorks SKG, is also spearheading the task force.
