Definitely from behind an oversized desk, and possibly from behind an oversized cigar, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America has predicted that within two years, films will be available online or by email soon after they reach the cinema.

Like the music industry, the film industry sat back during the internet explosion of the last few years. It became concerned about Napster for a while; it even had a good look at sites that offer DVDs from various regions at cheaper prices than local retailers, but it never really did anything to tackle the problem, which kept growing.

Recently, though, it has started to bleat about how piracy is affecting its profits, thereby threatening funding for artistic masterpieces such as Jennifer Lopez's Maid in Manhattan, and the Matthew McConaughey vehicle How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. This is a bad move. I know many people who would throw a street party at the very suggestion that Miss Lopez or Mr McConaughey might disappear from view.

The MPAA's Jack Valenti, quoted on the BBC's web site, said, "As long as stealing movies and music is high reward and low risk, people are going to do it." The solution, he reckons, is better protection, so the film industry is working with the MPAA on ways to deliver films securely over the internet.

However, file sharing sites and car boot sales already brim with copies of films that are only just putting bums on seats in multiplexes across the Atlantic. Valenti knows this, of course, which is why he is so keen to talk about how technological advances will both affect the film business and improve customer satisfaction.

But Valenti seems to have forgotten the two things that the film industry has in its favour: the sheer amateurishness of the pirates, and its own financial resources.

Viewers of pirate DVDs often have to endure watching movies captured on shaky handheld cameras. In the worst cases the camera holder may even decide to go to the loo half way through, and return to sit behind someone wearing a hat so large that it could only be attached to one of the guards from Buckingham Palace.

But the film industry, though slow and with a misplaced attachment to so-called stars, isn't stupid. It knows where its risks lie and it may even have the legal resources to knock on the door of every single individual who ever visited a file-sharing site and did a search for The Hulk, for example.

The industry is never going to do this, but what becomes increasingly likely is that it will investigate and single out firms where corporate servers and workplace internet connections are being used to search for and download its copyrighted material. The Copyright Act has strengthened the industry's rights, and poor sales of DVDs during the Christmas period could strengthen its resolve.

No firm wants to be a whipping boy for an angry industry, so no firm should leave itself open to such a risk. Perhaps it is time to revisit your company's internet usage policy and make the necessary amendments ... if you have a policy that is. If you don't, you might want to ask Santa to send you a good lawyer.