The Pros And Cons Of Digital Piracy

“All Rights Reserved” or “Copyright” are items people see everyday, and it means that it is unacceptable to copy, steal, edit, or do any type of editing to alter the original piece of work. This is commonly seen on everyday things like; photographs, TV shows and commercials, movies, CDs, advertisements, books, articles, and almost all objects a person will use, there will be the symbol for “All Rights Reserved” and “Copyright”. When a person observes this symbol and still continues to alter the work, it is often referred to as, digital piracy. Digital piracy is a fast growing crime that has only become more simple and easily available to any person that has access to the internet and/or technology. In the past, it was a trend to have the

ITunes was mentioned earlier, but iTunes also has competitors. Other media sources like Amazon, Redbox, Play Store, Netflix, Hulu, and many different sources will rent media for very reasonable prices, these sources will also sell, but for a price that a person would see in a leading competitors store. A man named John Stubbs has done research on this crime of digital piracy, he states that, “Some have speculated that pirated music is already equal to 10 percent of the total $12 billion U.S. music industry” (21). This 12 billion dollars show that media gets expensive, and that many people are not even willing to pay two dollars for a couple of songs that are legally downloaded. Many of the illegal sources that people are getting the stolen media are sources that can cause viruses for user. But most likely if the person is using a source that requires he/ she to pay, then it should not be a worry because that is a safe source that is legal. Much of the stolen media has been altered, but when purchasing media from a reliable source the person is getting what he/ she is paying for, which would be the original. Even though it is extremely convenient to find a Redbox, or go online to Amazon, people will still commit the crime of digital piracy because he/she is not willing to pay, but the person is obviously willing to commit a

Many would not look at this as a crime because it is not very often that someone will get punished for it. Many people will mock the laws of copyrighting, these people are not concerned that breaking the law will have any consequences that would harm themselves. According to the United States, the copyright law f 1976 states, “The Copyright Act prevents the unauthorized copying of a work of authorship.” (Tysver). When a person does get punished for piracy it is normally a punishment of community service, jail, and/or a fine. There are many cases of people being punished but not enough to concern these other pirates. If a punishment was very extreme and made the headlines, people that were illegally downloading might actually think twice before downloading another type of media. Some people do not pirate digital media because of the possible consequences. These are the people that would compare the price of legally downloading a song or movie to the price of being fined, or the price of bail it would take to get the person out of jail. There are many laws a person would find that have to do with digital piracy and copyrighting. The reasons for these laws is what keeps a artist, actor, director, producer, manager, and many others involved in the job, and also keeps the company in business. If everyone was to steal media then these writers, singers, and everyone else would not be able to produce