PIRACY + P2P = PROBLEM
How do you stop a leaderless organization?
My Experience
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When I was younger I knew very little about copyright laws and engaged
in downloading music, videos, and games off the internet.
The music I was interested in was from Japan and back then I never saw a
single store that imported those CDs and additionally my allowance couldn’t
have afforded it anyway.
Our original Nintendo kicked the bucket too early and we wanted to play
through some of the games we had owned. We found an emulator and a
site that offered ROMs and found ourselves enjoying old titles as well as
other titles we never saw in stores.
Now that we are more responsible we have deleted a lot of the things we
never actually owned and we are buying what we want if it is available
and affordable.
Piracy
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The word ‘piracy’ originates as the term used to describe when private
organizations committed acts of robbery or other crimes at sea. Today, piracy still
occurs, but in a different way. Pirates rule the tide in cyberspace and their goal is
the same: to plunder!
Digital Piracy began early in the 1980’s when the first electronic music files were
created but it was never considered a major threat. When the internet became
explosively popular as a means to share data, problems increased.
Napster was the first major case of illegal file sharing because of its ability to
facilitate music uploading and downloading even for those who lack advanced
computer skills. IT WAS FREE!!
P2P
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Napster was the first of many. BitTorrent programs fired up in 2001 and
took Napster’s design and purpose a step further.
BitTorrents are effective because of person to person (P2P) technology.
Various files are divided into smaller pieces in order to fulfill the saying:
“Many hands make light work.”
Many programs take advantage of this technology and the culprits are not
only many in number, but all hidden within internet traffic.
There is no leader in many cases. Creators are not the ring leaders!!
Piracy is a “Big Problem”
For Music
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Since p2p file-sharing sites
like Napster emerged in
1999, music sales in the U.S.
have dropped 47 percent!
From 2004 - 2009 alone,
approximately 30 billion
songs were illegally
downloaded.
NPD reports that only 37
percent of music acquired by
U.S. consumers in 2009 was
paid for.
For Movies
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Research by the MPAA funded LEK
Study revealed that the movie
industry lost $1.3 billion in the US,
and $6.1 billion worldwide.
The IPI concludes that Movie Pirates
are responsible for:
$5.5 billion in lost annual earnings
among U.S workers
141,030 jobs lost
$837 million in lost annual tax
revenue
$20.5 billion in lost annual output
to all U.S. industries.
China a “Chief Player”
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Despite efforts, China is still among the biggest piracy problems globally.
The Chinese Government is making an effort, and March 15th is considered
to be “Anti-Piracy Day”. According to an interview with Zhou Fu-Kuan, a
man who sells thousands of movies and tv shows at about 60 cents a pop,
said “this sort of thing happens a lot — the government says they'll crack
down on [piracy]. It usually lasts a few days and then ...” well, nothing.
Who’s to blame?
Is there really
only a single
party
involved? Is it
possible to
track down
the millions of
individuals
involved?
What kind of
punishment
will suffice?
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China is definitely at the top of the
charts but we aren’t helping any either.
Even if you download a copy of a
movie you own with P2P technology (as
a backup) you only stimulate and speed
up the process for others.
Is the fine not severe enough for
copyright infringement nationally and
internationally? Many say no!
Aren’t there risks involved?
Legal Risks
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You can be charged
thousands of dollars
and years of jail time!
Personal Risks
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When data is shared so is
information. There have
been cases of hospitals,
banks, and legal firms that
have inadvertently shared
personal client information
worldwide because P2P
programs can’t categorize
data.
VIRUSES!!
Is there any good in piracy?
Avatar was
one of the
most successful
and high
grossing films
bringing in
about $1.3
billions dollars
while being
one of the
most
downloaded
movies for 15
days in a row.
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In rare cases piracy has turned out to
be an unusually effective tool of
advertising. According to a blog post at
BizDharma, movies (especially 3D titles)
and live music concerts increase in value
due to pirated copies being
“[experiences that can’t match the real
thing.]”
What is the solution?
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New methods like
iTunes, AmazonMP3
Downloader, WalMart MP3 Downloader
and Netflix are all
relatively effective but
also cause more piracy
activity.
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I propose that their
need to be more
services that make
music and movies more
available without
being confined to
certain programs or
hardware.
And furthermore…
Appreciation for Art
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There needs to be a
greater emphasis on the
value of today’s
entertainment. Learning
what it takes to make
music or film a movie
helps consumers support
the art by buying it for
what it’s worth.
Piracy Won’t End
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No one can stop piracy.
Trying to shut down major
piracy services only leads
to another one popping
up. What needs to be
made is a service similar
to say, PirateBay, that can
compete with free (like
bottled water v.s. the
drinking fountain).
Works Cited and Sources
http://www.riaa.com/faq.php
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/China/china-major-player-piracy/story?id=12153389
http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/dvd-piracy-china-black-market
http://bizdharma.com/blog/isn%E2%80%99t-piracy-good-for-the-entertainmentindustry-or-rather-any-industry/
http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~rmartin/teaching/fall08/cs552/position-papers/
023-01.pdf