To know how piracy got its beginning, let me share a very broad definition. Piracy is “the commercial violation of legally sanctioned intellectual property” (Johns 6). With this in mind, piracy has been committed since the idea of copyrighting came into being, since around the time the printing press was invented. However, the pirating that goes on today takes its form from video cassettes, where copying cassettes could be done by anyone, not just by technologically savvy people. Because of this, these pirated cassette tapes stole 95% of the market (Johns 461). Virtually anyone could copy a cassette once shown how to do it from the comfort of their home; the only thing that was required was a duel cassette deck to copy the contents of a cassette to a blank. With the rise of the Internet, pirating is going through a second boom. Peer to peer websites make it incredibly easy to illegally obtain music and movies. Websites such as “the pirate bay” and “demonoid” offer millions of torrents where people can go from picking out a movie to watching it in high definition in a matter of minutes. Torrents are files that are downloaded off of multiple servers who have pieces of the data, which is then compiled on your computer. Movies, software, and music downloaded in this fashion have no impact on the quality of it, because they are essentially just copies. If this follows the trends that the cassette industry faced, more and more people will give in to the temptation of obtaining free software, which will continue to hurt our economy.
The growth of piracy in recent years has been damaging today’s already bruised economy and the industries that are victimized by the act. In many cases “transactions occur without any monetary transfer from consumer to supplier” because there are so many individuals who are willing to upload material illegally to the internet for attention or for the reciprocity of others returning the favor (Piotr and Scorpecci 20). Because this is such an appealing option, many people turn to pirating, which in turn causes a lot of revenue to be lost by the industries. However, pirating in the long run is harmful for the consumer and the United States government. To combat lost revenues, industries are likely to lower wages or even lay off of their employees, which results in less consumption in the market and smaller tax revenue for the government from less economic activity (GAO). According to a study, “a 10 percent drop in the [United States] piracy rate over four years could result in a $125 billion boost to the nation’s economy” (Oswald). The fact that the United States actually has the lowest piracy rate globally is even more disturbing, with countries such as China having piracy rates upwards around 90% (Oswald). With numbers that high, think about how much profit that would have been made in the United States that is being stolen by other countries. Even though the United States does not pirate as much as other countries, “it has the largest dollar losses from piracy, $9.1 billion, because it is by far the world’s largest software market” (BSA). Robert Menendez, who is on the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, makes a valid argument when he explains that “Internet piracy will clearly get worse before it gets better as the Internet use explodes, outpacing efforts to restrict unlawful infringement of intellectual property rights. The problem is probably exacerbated by a feeling among individuals, societies, and even governments of the developing world that, ‘quote, we are poor, they are rich; we have a right to download this free”’ (United States. Cong. House). However, many students justify their own habit of pirating the same way as these people from developing societies. However, the fact of the matter is that it is stealing. A study done by the Institute of Policy Innovation found that “losses in the U.S. economy due to piracy accounted for $58 billion in output, over 370,000 [lost] jobs, and $2.6 billion in tax revenue” (GAO). In addition to lost revenue, pirating also lowers the incentive for companies to invest as much in development in fear that their profit will not cover it, effectively lowering the standards that are expected from the consumer. The question I pose for these people who pirate is, if you wouldn’t steal from a retail store, why would you essentially do this online?
The video game industry has been hit especially hard. A study from the Intellectual Property Alliance and the Entertainment Software Association showed that over 9.78 million people are pirating computer games (Gilbert). Modern games have a lot of resources devoted to them to make a quality product, so a price of $60 a game is a fair deal. If this is too much for a child, I suggest they find another way to entertain themselves because pirating because you cannot financially afford it is an awful rationalization. That would be like rationalizing that is okay to steal car because you do not have enough money to buy one. Ric Hirsch, the ESA’s senior vice president for intellectual property enforcement, explains how the price is due to “cutting-edge tech, deep gameplay, photorealistic graphics, development periods are longer, teams can number 100 people or more and the commercial window for the average game is very short” (Kalning). Despite attempts to stop game piracy with required activation codes, pirates have found ways around this with the use of cracked versions of the game and key generators. The game industry is losing an untraceable amount of revenue for not being able to compete with its free alternatives, which will ultimately have a negative impact on the people who actually deserve the credit for their products. As even more people learn how simple it is, this will only get worse.
Of course, helping out the economy is not the only reason piracy should be stopped. Files downloaded off of the Internet may not be simply the movie you had hoped to see, but also a packaged deal with a malicious virus. “In a 2006 study, IDC found that 29 percent of Web sites and 61 percent of peer-to-peer sites offering pirated software tried to infect test computers with 'Trojans,' spyware, keyloggers, and other tools of identity theft” (BSA). Trojan is particularly nasty as it sneaks onto a computer when it is downloaded disguised as some software. Once on the computer, it is incredibly difficult to remove, giving the hacker access to the files and even control of the computer. Peer to peer websites that are used to share songs and videos are shown to take up as much as 39% of the total Internet traffic in North America (Piotr and Scorpecci 29). These staggering numbers contribute to slower web traffic by putting a lot of strain on the web service providers, which can potentially crash their servers. Of course, there are also the financial risks that pirates take by partaking in illegal actions. Industries that are being hurt by piracy, such as recording companies, have been bringing legal action against individuals they have found to be guilty. “A Boston University student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered […] to pay $675,000 to four record companies," and this amount was only a fraction of what the record companies could have asked for (Gonsalves). This student is only one of thousands of people who are getting caught and made examples of. Anyone who continues to pirate runs the same risk that the Boston University student faced.
Fortunately, a lot of effort is being done globally to stop pirating, despite how difficult it actually is to prevent. “The flow of pirated digital products is more difficult to track by law enforcement agencies from sellers, via distributors, to producers, than the flow of physical goods. The large numbers of individuals involved, and the often observed absence of a monetary transaction, presents further challenges for effective international co-operation amongst enforcement agencies” (Piotr and Scorpecci 11). Major software corporations have a huge incentive to help battle this problem. Senior vice president Orlando Ayala announced that “Microsoft is also continuing to invest heavily in engineering world-class anti-counterfeiting technologies to protect our intellectual property, and to supporting government and law enforcement on enforcement actions against counterfeiters” (Oswald). This is a smart investment on their behalf because of how commonly Microsoft products are illegally obtained. Donald Manzullo, a member Subcommittee of International Economic Policy and Trade, explains, “We have partnered with international associations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] and the World Trade Organization [WTO] to provide similar legal norms at the international level. For example, we are working with our colleagues at the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of State to ensure that our trading partners implement the protections provided in the 1996 WIPO Internet treaties, as well as the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or the TRIPS agreement” (United States. Cong. House). The purposes of these agreements are to protect the copy right laws that are focused on preventing theft from the rightful owners. The United States takes a particularly strong stance against pirating, and perhaps this is the reason for this country having the lowest piracy rates. However, unless every nation can help enforce these efforts, the problem will not get better.
Like any controversy, defenders of piracy have their position on the issue. Some argue that tracking down and eliminating computer piracy is incredibly difficult. There has been no measures taken so far that have been effective, and allocating more resources towards stopping illegal downloading is useless in their opinions. However, I argue that based on current trends, computer piracy is exponentially growing, and if no actions are taken, this will seriously damage the software industry. Many people also argue that this material is too overpriced to purchase in this economy and if the price was reduced to a reasonable price they wouldn’t have considered pirating. However, I feel that the price needs to be at that level to balance the loss of revenue from pirating. Perhaps if the amount of pirating went down from where it is now with a 1/5 of PC software in the United States being pirated copies, then could the price be lowered (BSA). Society has moved into a new age brought by the Internet that is all about access. Industries have complied with this new trend, moving their businesses to the online realm for the consumer’s convenience. For these companies to get exploited now because their products are online is ridiculous. They could go back to before where their products could be picked up only at retailers, where one would need to travel to the store, pick up the CD, and return home instead of simply purchasing it online for a better deal.
Pirating has been a huge threat to society. It has swept the globe as more and more people learn how easy it is to accomplish. At this point, some countries still refuse to take actions against illegal copying as more and more jobs are lost globally. It is so difficult to prevent and that it why a majority of hope relies on the chance that pirates will give up their old habits and begin to buy music, movies, and software legitimately. In today’s progressive society, there are plenty of alternatives that do not come off as stealing. There is no crime in watching a song for free on YouTube or utilizing groove shark to listen to any track you want. In these cases, you don’t own the songs, and you cannot continue to distribute them. There is a popular saying that goes along the lines of there is no such thing as a free lunch. This applies well to pirating as on the surface, a free song seems amazing, but only under further analysis is it clear that there is a catch.
About the Author: Cary Westendorf is a student at UC Davis.
Works Cited
BSA. "A Fifth of PC Software in United States Is Pirated, Posing Challenges to High Tech Sector and Cyber Security." Business Software Alliance. 12 May 2009. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://www.bsa.org/country/News and Events/News Archives/global/05122009-idc-globalstudy.aspx>.
Johns, Adrian. Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2009.
United States. Cong. House. COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. COSTS OF INTERNET PIRACY FOR THE MUSIC AND SOFTWARE INDUSTRIES. 106th Cong., 2nd sess. H. Doc. 106–174.
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