Avast! Ye scurvy dog! This is the image usually conjured up when one is discussing piracy. At one point in time, this was correct - sailors roamed the seas freely pillaging merchant vessels. Now a days, Piracy has mainly slipped underground. Chances are, you may know a pirate personally without knowing the crimes they commit. For these crimes are not public, instead they are committed online. Filesharing is on the rise, much to the parent media corporation's chagrin.
Piracy is popular because of its ease of use, and widespread availability. The requirements are simple - If you've got a computer with an active internet connection, filesharing is possible. Pirates rely on a technology known as "Bit torrent" this software allows large
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This blanket legislation covers all intellectual property "owned" by large media corporations - whether they be music files, movies, pictures, or books. It's clear - share copyrighted works without the owner's consent and the government has the right to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. This includes up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 for a movie - It's stated before the opening scene of a movie on a screen put in place by the FBI. This raises suspicion, how much influence does the government have on the media, or how much control does the media have on the government?
A recent 60 minutes episode put a bad spin on piracy. Big-time director Steven Soderbergh states that "piracy is costing Hollywood $6 billion a year at the box office" however he fails to mention the heavy profits Hollywood continues to make. It's apparent the media continues to make money when one realizes the volume of advertisements and media surrounding us nearly every day. Even with piracy's vast subculture of filesharers, it fails to scratch the surface of Hollywood's grip on the collective wallet of the world. Loss is loss, and the corporations have the right to protect their assets, but intentionally skewing a supposedly nonbiased news program is simply wrong. The American public deserves the truth, and by not exposing both sides of the issue, 60 minutes has failed their duty to report the truth to the public. When one
Piracy has become a major issue in the United States. For every motion picture that has been featured in theaters also has been pirated onto the Internet the next day, and for every new musical album that is released, yet there is a free torrent file of the album within the same hour. Even though these online pirates steal music and movies from other companies and make a drastic profit, yet these “rogue” websites receive 53 billions visits a year from across the globe according to Creative America. The persistence of the thieves that break copyright laws of the productions has lead the entertainment business to place a definitive complaint to the U.S. government of the constant notion of piracy. While the notion of piracy was not left
Signed into law by President Clinton on October 28, 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "was the foundation of an effort by Congress to implement United States treaty obligations and to move the nation's copyright law into the digital age." ("Executive Summary DMCA Report") While this seems a valid description of the law, perhaps a more accurate interpretation lies in the following statement: "The DMCA is a piece of legislation rushed through Congress by the entertainment industry lobbyists to protect its monopoly on commercially-developed digital content, cartels, price-fixing, and to maintain its status quo as the single entity that can direct what should be 'popular' or 'used' by
Criminals guilty of piracy may be sentenced up to 5 years in prison and fined up to 250,000 dollars. Crimes such as piracy are very serious, as well as the punishments. Businesses who promote and commit piracy and other similar need to be prosecuted, and organizations should do everything they can to win legal battles. Because businesses who steal media promote piracy and creators of the media are losing potential money, it is appropriate for organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America to use charged language like "piracy" to win legal battles.
It was previously mentioned, by Adams, how America should not wage war against the Barbary states, unless, America had plans of fighting them forever. While Adam’s words were not heeded, they rang true. From the ten years after the first Barbary War, to hundreds of years after the Barbary Wars, there is still piracy. Modern Day Piracy is commanded by Somali fisherman who attack cargo ships that travel along Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. The Somalian Fisherman first struck in the year of 1990, while their numbers have declined after 2012, there are still Somali Pirates. Some of the countries that have been attacked by the modern day pirates include Hong Kong, India, Liberia, Kenya, Taiwan, Denmark, North Korea, The United States, and numerous
Darrell Panethiere wrote in “The Persistence Of Piracy” on page 2 that “'Piracy refers to the activity of manufacturing unauthorised copies ('pirate copies') of protected material and dealing with such copies by way of distribution and
Piracy also often introduces infrastructure and security concerns. The sites used for software and media piracy often leave visitors with malware, viruses and spyware, which can compromise private business data and
Internet piracy is a hot-button topic, but it is not one that we should take lightly. We as a nation need to quell the distribution of these stolen materials. Imagine if someone pirated teaching videos online to learn for free? Then what would happen to teachers? Where would we be without libraries and their indispensable resources? The days of Blackbeard may be gone, but if we, as a nation, fail to take action, well, we are in for some stormy
Therefore, the users should be made aware of the impact of online piracy. In addition, the pirates should also be warned of the consequences of getting involved in piracy activities. Government bodies and online security authorities should develop strategies to make the user and pirates aware of the anti-piracy laws. For instance, Creative Content Australia is looking to further its anti-piracy message by rolling out its new consumer campaign i.e. Say No To Piracy. The campaign has been launched in cinemas, subscription-based and free-to-air television across Australia. The campaign showcases the innovation and creativity of Australia’s film industry and highlights the behind-the-scenes works of professions to make the screen content. The aim of the campaign is to make the Australians aware that online piracy jeopardises not only local jobs and livelihoods, but also the future of great Australian stories that promote the Australian culture and way of life.
Many companies have had to deal with issue of one illegally downloading music and taking as well as using it for their own. Over time, the term for this issue has became known as "piracy." Regarding the evidence in the article, organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America should not use emotionally charged language such as "piracy" to win legal battles.
According to Fritz Attaway, one of MPAA’s top executives who works to develop the movie industry’s anti-piracy policies, “We have no illusions that we will be 100 percent successful. Piracy has always been and will always be with us.” Continuing he talks about what their alternative goal is, “Our goal is to keep it under a reasonable level of control where we can make enough revenue in a legitimate market to recoup expenses and continue to make new movies” (Van der Sar, 2010). There is no way to eliminate every pirate in the world and so Attaway’s proposal is the only remaining thing to
Piracy especially in the case of films are an ever-growing concern. Whilst major film studios like Universal Pictures
One of the more radical pro-piracy viewpoints tries to debunk the activity’s monetary impact, stating that piracy poses growth in the economy. However, unnerving amounts of evidence that conflict this argument coincide with the music industry. Since the rise of digital piracy, the music industry consistently acquiesces some of the more menacing losses of revenue. The most alarming figure reports that in 2005, the estimates of revenue loss hit at least $25.6 billion in “sound recordings, motion pictures, business software and entertainment software video games.” (Seindenberg) Despite these demoralizing drawbacks, the industry maintains a platform to alleviate piracy towards music, calling for legal support such as noted by Seindenberg in his description of their efforts:
The answer is a bit of yes and no. Yes, piracy still exists today, and in many forms. At the same time, however it’s no, at least not in the version of piracy presented by
When you think about it, when you pirate a movie or music you’re taking what doesn’t belong to you without consent which is the same as stealing. Ethically speaking, I do believe some more research is needed to continue to endorse that illegality. As I stated before, we live in a technological world and people are eager to explore all their options. People don’t want to be forced to pay $40 for two people to get into a movie theater, therefore, they turn to illegally downloading themselves or paying someone to do it for them. I’ve given plenty of evidence to help support my opinion on this topic, but I’m aware there will always be those who disagree with me and that’s ok. My opinion may be biased, but I think cable companies are hi jacking people out of their money and I will not judge any of those who choose to download and stream to cut costs wherever they see
We all know that downloading pirated music and films is illegal, but what exactly is it? The term piracy refers to the copying and selling of music, films and other media illegally; in other words you are copying and selling copyrighted media without the permission of the original owner (NiDirect, n.d.). With the massive growth of the internet and its ability to store and capture vast amounts of data, we have become much more reliable on information systems in all aspects of life, but it does not come without the risk of information technology being used unethically. With the number of IT breakthroughs in recent years “the importance of ethics and human values has been underemphasised” often resulting in various consequences. Not surprisingly one of the many public concerns about the ethical use of IT is that “millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners of those copyrights” (Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, 2015). This essay covers the ethical issues of downloading pirated music and films and the impact it has on music corporations and recording and film companies.