PIRACY + P2P = PROBLEMHow do you stop a leaderless organization?

My Experience

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

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

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 For Movies

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.

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.

China a “Chief Player”

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?

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?

You can be charged thousands of dollars and years of jail time!

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!!

Legal Risks Personal Risks

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.

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?

New methods like iTunes, AmazonMP3 Downloader, Wal-Mart MP3 Downloader and Netflix are all relatively effective but also cause more piracy activity.

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 Piracy Won’t End

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).

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.

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-entertainment-industry-or-rather-any-industry/

http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~rmartin/teaching/fall08/cs552/position-papers/023-01.pdf