Digital Piracy as a Crime - Term Paper Example

Digital Crime Introduction With the rapid growth of Internet usage and the increased bandwidth and speed of connection, the frequency and seriousness of digital piracy has mushroomed (Ellacoya 2007). It is exceedingly common today for users to share copyrighted materials among themselves without proper license or permissions. This peer-to-peer (p2p) sharing is made even easier because of the growth of virtual communities. This case study will examine p2p networks that appear to be using the Internet illegally (digital piracy) and will examine the range of responses developed by companies to combat this activity (Ellacoya 2007). It will examine digital piracy as a crime in all its applications detailing some critical criminological issues surrounding the practice. Digital piracy refers to the illegal copying of any digital software, digital documents, goods, digital audio (including video and music), for any other reason except to backup without any prospected permission from the owner and compensation to the immediate copyright holder (Ellacoya 2007; Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). In specific, digital piracy as a crime was declared illegal and a criminal act since the Copyright Act of 1976 in the United States an act that spread globally to other parts of the world. It was an act amended in the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act earlier before its inception. These acts made the distribution and copying of digital content over the Internet and other places, a felony offense. The laws produced few court cases for pirating music, software, and movies directly from the Internet (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) developed treaties in assisting in the copyrights protection (Ellacoya 2007). Specifically, WIPO developed three treaties precluding the unlawful taking of any copyrighted material: The Performers and Producers of Phonograms Treaty, The Copyright Treaty, and The Databases Treaty. Regardless of the establishment of these treaties, Hinduja (2003) argued that the rates of piracy international increased in the 2000 and 2001 and has been increasing by the day. Therefore, piracy has developed as a worldwide behavior in the recent times. Because of the Internet attributes, piracy took place mostly in almost complete deceit that made the tracking of piracy rates nearly impossible. An industry groups in their research results estimated software piracy as accounting for nearly 11 billion dollars in term of lost revenue and was a substantial contributor to job losses and reducing the government’s revenues (Higgins, Wilson & Fell 2005, p. 166-184). Technically speaking, peer-to-peer term denotes organized networks, which connect computers globally across the Internet with main distinctive files sharing a protocol that is implemented by a certain programme. Computers linkages happen in P2P network with the rationale of interaction and exchanging files (Ellacoya 2007). The primary function of peer-to-peer sharing of files is a legitimate means of making transfers of information relatively from one spot to the other in a well-organized and relatively cost effective manner, and peer-to-peer in perception is as necessary for further development in technology that could lead to innovative and new solutions for transferring information (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). A particular feature in the peer-to-peer networks that has become as the main reasons for the existent popularity is mainly user participation. With a plenty numbers of contributors, a peer-to-peer user easily finds and quickly makes downloads of the information and of other digital products that he demands, as the processing power and increase in transmission capabilities of computers provide majorly unprecedented possibilities of access to digital resources. However, on the negative, the peer-to-peer networks also conduct injustice by acting as ways of infringing copyright and in the distribution of malicious software (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). Although the P2P technology file sharing was formerly developed for use in legitimate purposes of efficient and quick information sharing as well as data exchange, networks mostly using the technology are emerging now as used in the distribution of virtually all digital content, even pirated music, software and movies (Ellacoya 2007). In addition, the latest technological developments permits P2P networks to be of use for the fast spreading unauthorized distribution of live broadcasts especially of sports events that has become a substantial threat for the industry in sports broadcasting. The reflection of P2P networks popularity reflects in the availed data from leading researches. Since users increasingly download larger files (software, movies, music albums), the peer-to-peer networks create a meaningful volume of traffic in the Internet, that according to Higgins (2008) amounted recently to 39% of the total traffic of Internet recently in North America. Other studies make suggestions as this number being much higher; according to the reports by consulting company Époque, 49% to 83% of Internet traffic in America was a generation directly from the P2P file distribution in the year 2007 (Ellacoya 2007). In some P2P networks, respective users can disable the function used in uploading so that the system allows traffic coming in only. In the year, P2P networks often reported to be a distribution channel of several types of, harmful malicious software for instance Trojans, viruses among others. For example, the test performed by the “Site Advisor” had indications that digital content from one of the popular peer-to-peer networks exposed a downloading consumer directly to a threat of damaging spyware or other unwanted programs (Ellacoya 2007; Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). The criminological issues surrounding digital piracy are the element of straining the small sites and forcing them to withdraw their operations. The bandwidth consumption of the source site server increases because of piracy practice increase (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). For smaller sites, this situation can be hugely expensive problem when it reaches hosting plan’s bandwidth limit and generally, they have to subscribe literally to an expensive hosting plan. The source site loses ad revenue that would have been a possibility if web surfers access their site directly. This means that it brings down the small sites in favor of the leading sites making it a highly rated criminological issue. Available approximations presented in the recent OECD IT Outlook report reveals that industries supplying digital content report immense revenues across all the party sectors, with different growth rates and shares of the total revenues but at the cost of small industries (Ellacoya 2007; Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). For instance, the worldwide sales of interactive software in entertainment amounted to an approximated USD 41.9 billion in 2007. The online part of this market is fast growing and shaping at the higher rate of an approximated 28%. The film and video industries reports indicated revenues of approximately USD 84 billions, over the year 2007, with an approximated 5% growth rate, and the music industry holding revenues of approximately USD 29.9 billion and reporting a negative rate of growth at − 10%. With this data, the small websites providing the content go down in their efforts to maximize profits and shut down within a short period. There are other methods through which the content distribution happens and sharing of pirated digital products, which are more conventional, for instance file transfer protocol (FTP), Internet Reality Chat (IRC), web servers, or USENET. However, the practice is an illegal infringing on personal content and servers condoned by the digital piracy acts (Ellacoya 2007; Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). The administrators of FTP servers and web servers have the aptitude to publish copyrighted digital content accessible through all Internet users. However, the relative methods of distribution are slower than the file hosts are. Moreover, (unlike the peer-to-peer networks) a fast increase in web traffic in a short period easily causes a breakdown of the system that makes the method impractical and therefore, unpopular for large users (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). On the other hand, in some circumstances, FTP server operators use the infrastructure of respective third parties, for instance universities, public libraries, hospitals, or homes for the elderly, in many situations unbeknownst to them. In such circumstances, high data transfer speeds is obtained as many of the organizations have available fiber-optic networks. This is practically infringing on the rights of the owners and compromising their operations. The low cost of reproducing digital material is a substantial contributor of piracy. However, it is a criminological issue since it brings down the profits of the content origins and pins them down in their efforts of innovativeness. There is also an easy and quick delivery as a principal constituent contributing to piracy. Digital products are high in demand, a case especially with the young people, and the extremely low cost of reproduction as well as transmission makes piracy of digital products devilishly attractive in sharing (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). The people involved in the digital infringement of digital copyright also take full advantage of a characteristic of the respective market where users place convenience often above the ultimate quality of the product, a case especially when immediacy is the urgent factor (for instance the live sporting event broadcast and film premieres. Technology has also emerged as a great facilitator of digital piracy (Ellacoya 2007; Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). Computing power and the world of Internet facilitates the transmission and collection of digital content, and this causes repetitive exchange that happens between customers and suppliers. The Internet global nature means that the market is mountainous potentially in size. In turn, it has spawned on-line services that aim at facilitating exchanges of data over the Internet. For instance, peer-to-peer networks (P2P) is an outstanding facilitator of sharing digital content across the Internet, and most P2P networks are an encouragement to the users both suppliers and consumers, as this relatively increases the network efficiency. Conversely, another criminological issue is that digital piracy is purely unethical. However, the perception and the picture portrayed by many pirates indicate that the unethical aspect does not feature when they practice digital piracy. There is a tendency of digital piracy not perceived as un-ethical (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). From the many studies on this topic, there is a revelation that consumers of pirated products mostly are aware that digital piracy is equally illegal. However, exchanging of pirated digital products that happens free of charge is perceived rarely as un-ethical, given the perception of consumer that the infringing parties generate no monetary profits. Additionally, many people engaging in digital piracy develop attractions to the possibility of recognition within their respective peer groups, or for their capabilities technically, and it is relatively status, rather than a kind of financial reward, that drives their respective activities (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). Collectivism within a particular group and the reciprocating desire for received content digitally, also act as main drivers. Lack of parental supervision in this case of ethics in digital piracy emerges in many studies as identifiable factor that contributes to the intensity where younger individuals repetitively engage in digital piracy. Additionally, the criminological aspect in digital piracy applies with the aspect that many people are infringing the security of even the legal users. With the security problems not fully handled appropriately or taken into account, the piracy practice continues to hit the mark (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). Users engaging in digital piracy appear generally to be unaware of security risks that associate with their exchanging of files activities that could leave them wide open and expose them to malicious software that is designed for infiltrating or damaging a computer system. Even those with the knowledge of security threats do not actually appear to make considerations of these risks as necessary (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). The practice therefore corrupts the systems of legal users infringing on their rights to use the Internet freely. In conclusion, the existing global and ephemeral nature of piracy in the digital world makes it extraordinarily difficult to combat the practice. Unlike the act of counterfeiting and piracy resulting in physical goods, as a practical matter piracy in the digital world generally cannot be easily detectable at national borders (Higgins & Makin 2008, p. 1-22). The relative flow of pirated products is trickier to track by many law enforcement agencies directly from sellers, through the distributors, to immediate producers, than the actual flow of physical goods. The large numbers of people involved, also the often-observed monetary transaction absence, present, other new challenges for successful international cooperation amongst these enforcement agencies (Hinduja 2003, p. 49-61). However, law enforcement agencies and governments worldwide have some exciting and successful examples of cooperation in many multi-jurisdictional investigations as well as prosecutions of Internet-related code of conduct. There are possible lessons from which people learn from the respective efforts. References Ellacoya 2007, “Ellacoya Data Shows Web Traffic Overtakes Peer-to-Peer (P2P)”, Media alert of 18 June 2007, Available at http://www.ellacoya.com/news/ Accessed on 1 May 2010 Higgins, G.E. & Makin, D 2008, does social learning theory condition the effects of low self-control on college students’ software piracy. Journal of Economic Crime Management, 2, 1-22 Higgins, G.E., Wilson, A.L., & Fell, B 2005, an application of deterrence theory to software piracy, Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 12, 166-184 Hinduja, S 2003, Trends and patterns among online software pirates, Ethics and Information Technology, 5, 49-61 Read More