Privacy is typically an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore.
Not that type of piracy! Arrrrrgh.
What is piracy?
We aren't talking about the type of piracy that involves cannons, a ship, and a booty. We are talking about the kind of piracy that many of us have taken part in.
Piracy is defined as the unauthorized duplication and distribution of intellectual property in any of its various forms.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with this video:
Now that we have defined piracy let's take a look and see who is involved:
the pirate {har har} aka us, those dowloading and filesharing
and
the original content creators such as artists, producers, actors, directors, etc.
- Since peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing site Napster emerged in 1999, music sales in the U.S. have dropped 53 percent, from $14.6 billion to $7.0 billion in 2011.
- From 2004 through 2009 alone, approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded on file-sharing networks.
- NPD reports that only 37 percent of music acquired by U.S. consumers in 2009 was paid for.
- According to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, the digital theft of music, movies and copyrighted content takes up huge amounts of Internet bandwidth – 24 percent globally, and 17.5 percent in the U.S.
- Digital storage locker downloads constitute 7 percent of all Internet traffic, while 91 percent of the links found on them were for copyrighted material, and 10 percent of those links were to music specifically, according to a 2011 Envisional study.
How does this impact the economy?
House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) cited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimate that trade in counterfeit goods is responsible for an annual loss of 750,000 jobs in the United States. 750,000 jobs?! We are already sitting at a lovely 7.5% unemployment rate. That is SEVEN HUNDER AND FIFTY THOUSAND people. Who have families. Children. Pets. Homes. As if knowing that piracy is illegal isn't enough, think about the people who are hurting as a result!
What are the pros & cons?
What are the laws & consequences of piracy?
"Making unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings is against the law and may subject you to civil and criminal liability. A civil law suit could hold you responsible for thousands of dollars in damages. Criminal charges may leave you with a felony record, accompanied by up to five years of jail time and fines up to $250,000. You may find this surprising. After all, compact discs may be easily be copied multiple times with inexpensive CD-R burning technology. Further, when you’re on the Internet, digital information can seem to be as free as air. U.S. copyright law does in fact provide full protection of sound recordings, whether they exist in the form of physical CD’s or digital files. Regardless of the format at issue, the same basic principal applies: music sound recordings may not be copied or distributed without the permission of the owner."
-RIAA
Let's see here...we {the pirates}, have not only make 750,000 people lose their jobs annually, but in doing so we could face five years of jail, a $250,000 fine, and felony criminal charges?!
Gee whiz that 3 minute song is sure worth downloading illegally.....NOT.
Future Implications?
I believe that piracy may never stop completely, with new technologies and file sharing software emerging each year. At the same time, I believe the RIAA, the US government, and individual lobbyists will continue to fight the war on piracy as much as possible. I will leave you today with a quote from the RIAA which I believe is quite powerful:
"Better to be safe than sorry – don’t assume that downloading or burning is legal just because technology makes it possible."
References:
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