What's the difference between organized crime and terrorism? Depending on how the question is approached, the answers could range from "not much" to "everything." The fact that perspective has such a strong influence on the answer means that any analysis of the connections can be strongly influenced by a predisposition to look for specific answers. All of that makes a new report that explores the connections between movie piracy and terrorism a bit suspect for one simple reason: it was funded by the Motion Picture Association.

The fact that the focus will inevitably wind up on the funding, rather than the report proper, is a bit of a shame. The report was prepared by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit group that has made a name for itself with thorough analysis in a variety of fields. The report itself appears to reach some reasonable conclusions. But the involvement of the MPA makes it impossible to read without pondering whether any passage within it might be subject to spin.

The authors seem to recognize this worry, as they state up front that "the views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily re?ect the opinions of the MPA." They also argue that they knew the report would be studied for signs of bias and took steps to avoid it. "To be sure, the MPA, like other industries a?icted by counterfeiting, has powerful interests in the assessments presented in this report," they write. "Those evident stakes required that the authors be especially careful in examining evidence and framing conclusions. "

Still, it's clear that the MPA's involvement went beyond simply providing funding to the authors; one of the foundations of the analysis were various case studies, and the MPA itself provided many of these.

Reading the report, it's hard not to get the sense that large portions of it are simply stating the obvious. Globalization has resulted in contract production that makes the creation of counterfeit goods a snap, and the ease with which digital goods can be duplicated also contributes to making piracy an appealing business option. Not only are the profits of piracy appealing, but the downsides tend to be small. Pirated goods are relatively cheap to produce in the first place, while legal penalties for counterfeiting often lag far behind those for alternative criminal enterprises, like the drug trade.

If piracy as a criminal enterprise looks appealing, then it will almost necessarily wind up being linked to terrorism because the border between the two endeavors is getting very fuzzy. The same sort of failure of governmental authority that makes large criminal enterprises an option tends to also provide a safe haven for terrorist groups. Armed insurgencies often engage in terrorism; these insurgencies take a lot of money to run, and that cash often comes from criminal enterprises. When it doesn't, the other option tends to be wealthy benefactors, and it turns out that some of these donors have made their fortunes through trade in counterfeits.

All of that makes for a field day of case studies regarding the links between organized crime and terrorism. For example, a major Hezbollah backer apparently has made his fortune by trafficking in counterfeit goods in South America. Colombia's FARC movement, while claiming some form of ideological purity, has turned to drug trafficking and kidnappings to balance its books. The IRA, having its ideological rug pulled out from under it by peace agreements, appears to have devolved into a purely criminal gang. So all of these groups both engage in some forms of terrorism while engaging in organized criminal piracy to keep paying the bills.

Still, the RAND authors point out that piracy may not be a major contributor to the sort of terrorism that has been keeping Western democracies up at night in recent years. For one, these attacks haven't actually required that much cash; the attack on the USS Cole apparently cost only $5,000, while the London train bombings may have taken as little as $1,000. Although the groups associated with these attacks may spend money on recruiting and travel, an actual attack can be had on the cheap, meaning that piracy may be superfluous.

There also tends to be a bit of an ideological gap between Islamic terrorism and the raw materials of piracy. Bootlegs of decadent Western films won't have much of a market if Al Qaeda succeeds. There's also the very basic issue that, where terrorists and organized crime both engage in piracy, there are bound to be turf battles for control of the market.

The net result is that, although some overlap between terrorism and organized piracy is inevitable, there are going to be some severe limits on the extent of that overlap. As the authors conclude, "Overall, there is little evidence of clear and widespread ties between traditional organized-crime groups and terrorist organizations, yet connections do exist." Which seems pretty reasonable, regardless of who funded the study.