Internet Piracy and Stealing
Sunday, October 11, 2009 by Wu Hao
“You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag. You wouldn’t steal a television. You wouldn’t steal a movie. Downloading pirated films is stealing. It’s against the law. It’s a crime…”Every time when I trying to watch the DVD I bought, I get educated by this amazing advertising. This education maybe necessary, because although I still bought DVDs from stores, I have to admit that I did illegally download films online, just like many other people did. However, this advertising ignored some obvious questions. Why those people, who wouldn’t steal car, handbag, television etc, involved into Internet Piracy. Why the issue of Internet Piracy is so controversial, while there is no debate about stealing cars or handbags. There must be differences.
Artists such as composer and musicians were those ones who were generally portrayed as the victims of Internet Piracy, however, in the article “Online music sharing may benefit artists”, a professional musician Ian (2005) suggests that according to number professional viewpoints from NARAS,RIAA, when some songs were able to free download. It caused the singer more popular and sales of all her production increased. Ian also claimed that online music sharing may not benefits core record companies there is no evidence to prove it has harmed artists’ financial benefit, in contrast it actually benefits them with free exposure and many other ways. So, the greatest victim turns out is the core record companies of the industries, not the innocent artists who we were told all the time.
Another point is that the ones who benefit the most from Internet Piracy is not the people who download the film, music and software, but the information companies who provided these P2P software and websites. In other words, the money movies from the record companies’ pockets to the new information companies’. However, it the natural trend, when technology change the society. It is nothing different with the case that when electric lights invented, the candle started lose they business. Anthony Gorry (2003), the professor of management and computer science at Rice University claimed that the development of modern technology has changed people’s thoughts, whether the record companies accept it or not, the industries is facing a transformation that can not be stopped by lawsuit of any encryption technology. Sharing of Information technology is a trend. A better way for the industries to do is facing this fact and changing themselves to follow the trend, rather than blaming online sharing as a crime.
Artists such as composer and musicians were those ones who were generally portrayed as the victims of Internet Piracy, however, in the article “Online music sharing may benefit artists”, a professional musician Ian (2005) suggests that according to number professional viewpoints from NARAS,RIAA, when some songs were able to free download. It caused the singer more popular and sales of all her production increased. Ian also claimed that online music sharing may not benefits core record companies there is no evidence to prove it has harmed artists’ financial benefit, in contrast it actually benefits them with free exposure and many other ways. So, the greatest victim turns out is the core record companies of the industries, not the innocent artists who we were told all the time.
Another point is that the ones who benefit the most from Internet Piracy is not the people who download the film, music and software, but the information companies who provided these P2P software and websites. In other words, the money movies from the record companies’ pockets to the new information companies’. However, it the natural trend, when technology change the society. It is nothing different with the case that when electric lights invented, the candle started lose they business. Anthony Gorry (2003), the professor of management and computer science at Rice University claimed that the development of modern technology has changed people’s thoughts, whether the record companies accept it or not, the industries is facing a transformation that can not be stopped by lawsuit of any encryption technology. Sharing of Information technology is a trend. A better way for the industries to do is facing this fact and changing themselves to follow the trend, rather than blaming online sharing as a crime.