Internet Piracy - Essay Example

of the of the of the Internet Piracy Illegal downloading of music files from the Internet istheft. It is an act of infringement of copyright and deprives the owners of copyright of their legitimate profits. Illegal downloading of music files from the Internet is tantamount to stealing a music CD from a store. A music album is the presentation of talent by an artist who lives on the profits derived from such work. Illegal downloading of music from the Internet affects the very survival of the music industry. Affecting the livelihood of the copyright owners of software, by illegally down loading it is unethical. The Internet is a vast repository of music, movies, games and software. As the access to the Internet increases, the rate of piracy also increases. People with access to the Internet can download computer software, music or movies and other copyrighted material in digitalized form; and copy, replicate and sell it on the black market. All these activities constitute physical forms of piracy. Nevertheless, in developed nations, although people have widespread access to the Internet, the piracy rate is on the decline (Assenova). There is a direct relationship between such physical piracy and the Internet. Piracy has affected the international music industry. The proliferation of the Internet has made file – sharing and unauthorized downloading of music, very simple. Software pirates invented new technologies and tools to share music over the Internet. For instance, Napster introduced peer – to – peer technology that posed a serious threat to the music industry. It decreased the sale of legitimate music works, which caused the music industry to sustain severe financial losses (Mcclintock). Piracy did not stop at this and extended its depredations to the movie industry. The latter implemented several programs to protect itself from piracy, and the major movie companies launched joint campaigns against movie piracy, and made a number of efforts to enhance public awareness about piracy. These companies conducted antipiracy campaigns in university campuses and colleges across the US (Mcclintock). These campaigns served to make the people realize that the unauthorized downloading of music files and movies from the Internet was tantamount to theft. Piracy is a pervasive global crime. The Internet introduced a novel digital threat to legitimate copyright holders; and the illegal duplication of DVDs and CDs has proliferated, with Russia and a large number of Asian countries, emerging as the principal infringers (Mcclintock). The entertainment industry suffers grievously from piracy in several forms. Piracy poses a major threat to the very existence of the entertainment industry. It deprives copyright owners of their legitimate revenue. The threat of CD – Rom piracy is increasing rapidly in the US. For instance, in 1995 alone, the anti – piracy law enforcing officials had confiscated nearly 25,000 pirated CD - ROMs (US: 1995 Anti-piracy statistics). The 1995 piracy rate had increased by 72% in comparison to 1994. This depicted the rapid growth of piracy, despite the enactment of several pieces of legislation against it. The RIAA had stated that the seized CD - ROMs were principally unauthorized duplications of DJ musical mixes (US: 1995 Anti-piracy statistics). Software piracy is increasing rapidly across the globe. From a 35% rate of software piracy in 2006, it had increased to 38% in the year 2007. The estimated loss on account of this increase in software piracy was $47.8 billion. During that period the rate of piracy had decreased in 64 nations. Only eleven countries had shown an increase in the rate of piracy. This has been attributed to the sudden increase in the use of personal computers in those nations, during that period. This increase has been held responsible for increase in international software piracy (Muralla). Illegal music files downloading and P2P file – sharing pose a grave threat to the music and software industries. The latter lost a major portion of their profits, due to decreased sales consequent to these activities. The International Federation of Phonographic Industries had estimated the annual loss, due to piracy to be of the order of billions of dollars (Music - Digital Downloading: Finally getting in on the act). As such, illegal downloading had decreased considerably during the past few years; because the people exhibited a preference for downloading legal and licensed material. In this connection, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries or IFPI, disclosed that there had been 157 million legal downloads in 2004, in countries like the US, the UK and Germany. Subsequent to the launch of the legal battle, this number increased to 180 million, in 2005 (Legal downloads hit file-sharing). Information systems researchers of the University of Arkansas conducted a study regarding illegal downloads of digital material. This study revealed that approximately 75% of college students were copying software, movies and music that were protected by copyright, without proper authorization. This lends weight to data procured from across the US that the majority of the students pirate digital material (Research Examines Factors That Influence Intention to Pirate Digital Media; People Do Because They Can). All the same, the stringent measures and advanced preventive technologies adopted by universities and entertainment companies have mitigated this alarming situation to some extent. This study reveals that digital media piracy occurs, because individuals have the capacity and the wherewithal to indulge in this practice. In addition, such piracy is promoted by the comparative ease with which copyright protected movies and music can be downloaded (Research Examines Factors That Influence Intention to Pirate Digital Media; People Do Because They Can). Technological measures to reduce the duplication of copyrighted software have been available even in the 1980s. Nevertheless, illegal copying of copyrighted material assumed alarming proportions in the 1990s, due to the use of digital copying for such piracy. This generated a tremendous demand for technological controls that could control the illegal copying and use of such material. To this end digital rights management or DRM was deemed to be an appropriate and indispensable means of containing content piracy (Matwyshyn). Copyright protects the interests of the owner of some original work. It constitutes the legal basis for copyright owners. Copyright law establishes the enforcement frameworks under which copyright owners can enforce and rely on their basic rights. It provides remedial mechanisms if there is any infringement of their copyright (Piracy of Intellectual Property). It has become very easy to commit software piracy, on account of the Internet. The task is reduced to browsing the web for a site that offers pirated software and to download and save it to the local hard disk. Initially, the inordinate time taken to download any application had proved to be a major disadvantage. However, the advent of high speed Internet access has rendered this problem insignificant (BLIZZARD). The Internet makes it possible to spread information quickly and freely, without any borders. Unfortunately, this ability is the basis for substantial illegal activity. For instance, it is possible to obtain access to pornography and other such undesirable material by means of the Internet. Furthermore, it is possible to illegally download expensive application software, by merely possessing a computer system with an Internet connection (BLIZZARD). The problem is compounded by the fact that there are large online databases of legitimate product codes, which can convert stolen or pirated copies of software into genuine software. However, the fact remains that by and far, Internet use is legal and is of great benefit to people all over the world. Therefore, the solution lies in preventing piracy, by adopting adequate legal measures, innovative technological resources and by educating the public about the immorality of illegal downloading of copyrighted material (BLIZZARD). Piracy causes untold loss to the copyright owners. One of the consequences of software piracy is the irrecoverable loss that some of the software companies have to undergo, which at times even results in their closure. Thus, many jobs are lost due to this pernicious activity. The making of illegal copies of system software and application software is quite widespread. Microsoft has seen copies of its operating systems, available on the Internet, even before it had officially released them. This company has become the favorite target of software pirates, who do not consider it unethical or immoral to procure and sell illegal copies of Microsoft products (BLIZZARD). The problem was immediate and of great urgency. Its gravity could be attributed to a number of technological breakthroughs, and the foremost amongst these was the proliferation of high speed Internet.The price factor is crucial for the continuation of piracy. The licensed material is much costlier than the pirated material, and beyond the reach of the general public. Any person with knowledge regarding duplicating technology and searching the Internet for the source can make pirated copies of copyrighted material. In general, companies and business firms use legal software. The use of licensed software provides them with several benefits. In principle, companies should operate their business lawfully. The use of pirated software breaches this fundamental legal principle, which damages the reputation of their business. In addition, use of illegal software invites the risk of penalties being imposed by the enforcement authorities. Moreover, the copyright owner may bring a lawsuit against such illegal use; which could result in extremely expensive settlements (Duquenoy, Jones, & Blundell, 2007, P 69). Researchers are developing new platforms to transfer material over the Internet in a secure way. IBM has developed a secure packaging system to transmit digital material. This system is operated by a establishing a clearing house, which can be utilized by content providers to supervise transmission of their digital material. It also allows them to ensure payment for the content sent through the packaging system. Piracy can be traced on the Internet, and the pirated version can be found with the help of search engines. Piracy can be prevented to a major extent if its origin can be located. Legal software is accompanied by several advantages, such as technical support, periodic upgrades, patches against bugs in the software, and documentation. These are absent in pirated software. It goes without saying that all possible measures should be adopted to prevent such theft or piracy. As a copyright owner, it becomes imperative to adopt some methods, in order to prevent the illegal duplication and use of one’s copyrighted material. For instance, the high cost of computer software, music and movies, encourages piracy. It would be worthwhile to reduce their cost to a reasonable amount. Every member of society should be made to realize that it is ethically and morally wrong to infringe copyright. Such copyright could be related to computer software, songs or movies. Such protection of copyrighted material promotes and ensures proper incentive for creativity and further research. Consequently, copyright protection is indispensable. Works Cited Assenova, V. Determinants of the Music Piracy Divide. August 2007. 1 June 2009 . BLIZZARD, CHRISTINA. "PIRATES IN CYBERSPACE THE INTERNET IS CREATING A GENERATION OF SOFTWARE THIEVES." The Toronto Sun 3 January 1998: EDITORIAL/OPINION. Duquenoy, Penny, Simon Jones and Barry G. Blundell. Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Computing. Cengage Learning EMEA. ISBN 1844807495, 9781844807499, 2007, P 69. "Legal downloads hit file-sharing." Music Week (July 30, 2005, P 6). Matwyshyn, Andrea M. "Technoconsen(t)sus." Washington University Law Review (2007): Vol. 85, No. 3, P. 536. Mcclintock, P. "Piracy Perils Pervasive." Daily Variety (March 14, 2003, Pg. 50). Muralla, H. M. "Cutting-Edge Technology; Internet breeds software piracy." Business World (January 30, 2009, Pg. S6/1). "Music - Digital Downloading: Finally getting in on the act." Marketing Week (September 1, 2005, P 20). Piracy of Intellectual Property. 25 May 2005. 1 June 2009 . "Research Examines Factors That Influence Intention to Pirate Digital Media; People Do Because They Can." 11 May 2009. University of Arkansas. Daily Headlines. 2 June 2009 . "US: 1995 Anti-piracy statistics." Music & Copyright . April 10, 1996. Read More