Piracy Essay

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

In the global market that we leave in companies are trying to find any and everyway that they can to get ahead in their respective markets. This most of the time brings out the most innovate thinkers that can come up with a way to keep it’s company on top of their market and sometimes we see that there are companies that like to take a short cut by using non legal and malicious methods. According to Lewis, (1985), Software piracy is the illicit copying of the operating instructions and applications programs, which make computers work, is a large and growing industry. The Pirate Bay is part of a European social and political movement that opposes copyrighted content and demands that music, videos, TV shows, and other digital content be free and unrestricted. In the words of the Pirate Party, “the Pirate Bay is a unique platform for distributing culture between regular people and independent artists, and that’s something we want to preserve.”

During the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, piracy was rampant in the Atlantic, specifically in the West Indies. Piracy has existed since the earliest days of ocean travel, for a range of personal and economic reasons. However, one of the major reasons why piracy was wide spread and rampant in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries was Great Britain’s endorsement and usage of piracy as an asset; in wars fought in the New World. Great Britain with its expanding power and conflicts with other nations would make piracy a lifestyle and lay down the foundation for the Golden Age of Piracy and eventually bring what it created to a screeching halt.

The pervasive nature of the Internet has made the copying of music and software exceptionally easy, fast and for the most part, undetectable. The ubiquity of the Internet and the speed at which music and software can be copied is also changing the sociological and legal aspects of computing as well (De George, 2006). For the first time the availability of technology is driving a level of expertise with computer users globally that give them the opportunity to capture, distribute, duplicate and even re-publish massive amounts of intellectual property that isn't theirs (Wilson, 2007). This is forcing the issue of copyright infringement and the protection of intellectual property at a global scale. In so doing, this dynamics is also re-ordering ethics surrounding all forms of digital content as well.

An article by Anna Jo Bratton, Associated Press, describes well the dangers of my topic: piracy. In the article, Bratton reported a recent legal matter that impacted Sarah Barg, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore, and her colleges. The RIAA, an anti-piracy and plagiarism society had suspected that many students at the university had been illegally downloading media content. Burg received an email concerning the matter, but she was ignorant and considered it a fluke or scam. The email suggested that she had supposedly downloaded a whopping 381 songs. The letter continued to say that a lawsuit was possible, but they offered here an opportunity to avoid that circumstance. They requested of her $3,000, or $7.87 per song. Sarah, still

Traditional legal principles and processes are constantly challenged by the need to keep pace with copyright issues in particular piracy. The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015

For many years illegal file sharing and music swapping has been going on. Two very popular cases are the MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster case and the A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster case. Both cases differ in many ways however they also have similarities. A lot of music and other sorts of entertainment are being distributed for free all over the internet. What some people do not think of are the consequences that will be faced if they get caught. Not only is the distributor at risk for getting caught but those of us that download the software illegally can be charged.

Imagine sailing the seven seas looking for ships to plunder and cities to barricade. This was the life of many sailors back during the Golden Age of piracy. Although many sailors lived their life as pirates, some were actually privateers and were mistaken for pirates. Privateers were like pirates, but instead of raiding for personal gain they did it for the sake of their country. They did not perform gruesome executions and did not always stay at sea like other pirates. Pirates on the other hand were usually ex-privateers that realized there was more money in pirating. Pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy often lived a very wealthy lifestyle due to all of the loot they stole off of ships. Most pirates during this era stayed around what is now called

Along with the development of a file format (MP3) to store digital audio recordings, came one of the new millennium’s most continuous debates – peer-to-peer piracy – file sharing. Internet companies such as Napster and Grokster became involved in notable legal cases in regards to copyright laws in cyberspace. These two cases are similar in nature, yet decidedly different. In order to understand the differences and similarities, one should have an understanding of each case as well as the court’s ruling.

Recent congressional proposal to pass the Stop Online Internet Piracy (SOPA) Act was one of the latest attempts by copyright owners and their supporters in Congress to criminalize intellectual property theft through the use of the Internet. The bill has not passed yet partly because of public concerns that the Act could have adversely affect the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. These concerns over intellectual property theft as well as the potentially negative consequences of copyright protection legislations, however, are not new in the digital age. The debate over electronic theft began during 1990s when increasing number of Americans began to gain access to the Internet. To protect copyright owners, the Congress in 1997 passed No Electronic Theft (NET) Act. It was a logical response from Congress given the fact that the Internet could be used to violate copyright laws on a massive scale unless properly regulated through appropriate legislation. However, the NET Act also turned out to be largely ineffective and its scope reached beyond what was justified.

Piracy in Somalia has come about due to years of internal fighting and weakened government. With the overthrow of the president in 1991, Somalia has been a complete anarchy with only the laws of rival clans who have been in power. Though long before that the country has been in constant war between the people of the country because money and food have been always been scarce. Small amounts of money have been made through some exports but the real money came from the fishing off the coast. Recently because of the lack of laws commercial fisherman from all over the world have been over-fishing the waters and leaving the Somalis with too few fish to survive. European companies have used this lack of laws as a way to easily dump their

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.

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This

Are you concerned about pirate attacks on your ocean voyages? Although it may only seem like a good movie plot, the threat of piracy still exists. Nowadays, pirate incidents are often not covered in mainstream media. One researcher commented on the topic, saying that piracy has “…been romanticized in such films as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean” (Lunsford, “What Makes Piracy Work?”). Nevertheless, pirates have proved their aggressive behavior through history and their effects on society. Modern and past pirates share similarities and differences, and countries around the world are looking for ways to control the issue before it spreads.

Companies like Apple, have decided that it is best to get in with the downloading business. However, an end to the illegal downloading conflict remains to be realized. The RIAA and associated artists continue to wage war against illegal downloaders while computer savvy audiences persist in sharing music files online every day. While it is undoubtedly true that downloading music is a crime, it remains to be proven that it is wrong. Without establishing this principle, most downloader's are likely to continue the activity. Even with new, inexpensive and available means of downloading files, they can still be shared for free online. The rift must be repaired between music lovers who feel that they have been taken advantage of in the past and recording companies and artists who worry about their future livelihood.