Piracy on the Internet - Essay Example

?Topic: Piracy on Internet I .Introduction Piracy is a phenomenon of deliberate infringement or unlawful production and distribution of copyrights ofdigital products through the medium of internet. This can be done with videos, music files, software, e-book, movies and so on. In another sense, piracy is an illegal activity where the creativeness and hard work of people are exploited for the mean benefit of some sect of people who have selfish motive to earn money. So, the SOPA and PIPA legislations have been introduced to eradicate the problem of piracy on the internetby the government. The question here is how the piracy on the internethad affected the economy? While the internet has become a useful resource over the years, piracy on the internet has had a huge impact on the economy. (Thesis) As internet is a renowned medium of communication, it is a viable platform for such illegal activities. And this popularity of internet has led to an increase in the piracy activity. A person who is engaged in the process of piracy can do all his/her activity on the internet including the advertising and sales of the product. Piracy on the internet is a significant criminal problem because of the easiness of performing it, even over a long distance. Generally speaking, the foremost piracy was done on digital music files, and this has caused much damage to the artists and music industry. Apart from this, movie industry is also a victim of piracy on the internet, and this has negatively affected the economies of many countries. II.Online Piracy : An enormous economic problem Piracy on the internet is a significant economic problem which affects different sectors of the U.S. economy. Piracy is the theft of music, movies, videogames and software. The infringement on the copy right of these entertainment medium can affect the U.S economy on a large scale. There is a huge cast working behind the entertainment industry, and they are recording artists, songwriters, computer technicians, audio engineers, marketing experts, producers, publishers and other creative experts. Internet users, downloading illegally one or two songs or movies, may not show any negative impact on the entertainment industry, but when millions of people do the same, it causes billion dollar loss on entertainment world. When no compensation is allotted to the creative people in the entertainment industry, the effect is devastating. The problem of online piracy is not negligible and is a big enough issue to ignore. It does not only violate copyright and patency, but also steals revenue from creative people working in different fields on a business arena. The American intelligent property business provides high paying employment to many individuals, and infringement on intellectual property steals them off their wages. Loss of American jobs also is another adverse effect of internet piracy. The online theft of intellectual property cannot be considered something different from stealing of products from a retail store. So, the piracy on the internet makes it mandatory for the U.S. legislation to enforce law on the illegal internet pirates. In order to understand the negative effects of internet piracy, it is necessary to scrutinize every aspect of it deeply. A. Online piracy and U.S. economy The piracy on the internet has a tremendous impact on the economy of any country as it is a business which can be done with great aspect of anonymity. Any person or organization can indulge in piracy as internet is a business platform which allows people to conduct commercial activity under the cover. The piracy is done on music, movies, software and e-books which indicates the amount of damage it can cause to the entertainment industry and other commercial organizations. According to Sprigman and Raustiala (1), “online piracy is an enormous problem that costs the United States economy about 200 to 250 billion dollars every year”. The piracy on the internet has caused many problems to the American economy, which sometimes can be difficult to gauge. It is the music and movie piracy that inflict the economy of America badly as these are the most demanding elements for the internet users. American economy largely depends on the income earned through movies and music as it has enormous demand worldwide. When counterfeit movies and music videos are available on internet, people resort to it as it is less costly and even sometimes free. This activity hurts the American artists as well as the movie and music companies as their copyright is violated and manipulated. For the very same reason, the government must take essential steps to eradicate pirate activities on the internet. B. Internet piracy has taken a huge toll on jobs 1 .Internet piracy and U.S. job loss: Piracy on the internet has cost the United States about 750,000 jobs. The internet piracy has caused severe damage to the Unites States job sector, consumer safety and national security. A saddening fact is that U.S. law is restricted when it comes to the counterfeit good sales and stolen content by foreign illegal companies. The people who create new content are mostly the ones who lose jobs. Also, the artists and producers of movies and music are largely at stake when it comes to piracy on the internet. The damage caused by internet piracy is gauged in terms of less economic activity and innovation. It is the middle class people who work behind creative content; they are the one whose jobs are at a threatening stage. Piracy has led to the downtrodden of American technology world which assists the production of music, movie and software .The technical specialists works hard to create exquisite and dynamic entertainment products and piracy on these products acts as a social evil. Billions of jobs related to the technical field in the U.S. are lost due to the infringement of music, movie and other digital products. American technical industry is the most profitable sector of American economy, and the attack by internet pirates has caused a major loss to America. The piracy has counterfeited every product from movie category to baby food, and this causes enormous job loss to the American economy. 2. Illegal downloading : According to Shastry (1), “illegal downloading could put more than a million people out of work by 2015.” Illegal downloading from the internet can be otherwise called the stealing of a product, or theft. Illegal downloading is a humungous crime faced by the U.S. economy which brings them huge loss on monetary and talent basis. Due to illegal downloading, it has become impossible for the creative people and young artists to get benefit from their profession. Illegal theft is done of music, movies, video games and software. The damage caused by this illegal practice to the copyright industries has put the U.S. legislation in difficult situations. Since illegal downloading of music, movies and software is an easy and less costly affair, people are overly interested in this activity. Illegal downloading of music and movie can create havoc to the people behind the production. The artists can be negatively impacted by the illegal downloading process as it can cut down significantly the royalty received by them. It is a fact that the internet users who download music and movies illegally consider themselves as guilt free. This is a wrong concept as these people are not purchasing the product legally and are unlawful in the eyes of the U.S. legislation. It is highly essential for the illegal downloaders to understand the aftermath of their unlawful activity. C. : Internet piracy and U.S. entertainment industry: Piracy of movies and music through the internet costs the entertainment industry hundreds of billions of dollars every year. When we consider intellectual crime, music and movie piracy can be regarded as the worst in the lot. 1. Piracy of movies and music The music and movie industry is a big part of the U.S. economy. The movies and music produced by the U.S. entertainment industry has a huge demand all over the world. For the very same reason, there are numerous sites which allows the people to download music files and movies for free who hamper the productivity, employment and profit of artists, creative heads and music and movie copyright producers. The motion Picture Association approximates that piracy costs the movie industry about 20.5 billion dollars a year. The theft of movies and music has directly led to the loss of artists, record labels and movie studios. The people behind music and movie production have worked hard to invent a product of versatility and uniqueness. And when the people download it for free cost, the whole creativity and hard work of people in the U.S. entertainment industry go in vain. Every year the U.S. economy loses billions of dollars due to this pirated activity. It is shocking to know that the music and movie products which take years to be created get victimized effortlessly due to the online piracy phenomenon. It is the creative and innovative attitude what made the U.S. a super power economy, and now online piracy has come forwards as a destroyer of the country’s prosperity. D: Piracy on software Piracy also costs the software industry billions of dollars every year. Piracy of software does not only cause losses to the software industry, but also creates a domino effect on the economy. According to the study, for a sale of every dollar on illicit software, there is 3 or 4 dollar sale created for local businesses. The software counterfeit not only negatively affects the IT and software companies, but also cause loss to regional, local and global companies. This is because the theft of software induces reduction of service and distribution businesses. If the government aims at reducing the software piracy, they can create enormous jobs in U.S. employment sector which would allow prosperity of the American economy. 1. Software piracy and its effect on industry The unauthorized copying and distribution of software is known as software piracy. The illegal handling of software can be done in many ways like downloading, selling, sharing or installing. In 2009, piracy cost the industry about 51 billion dollars. Such loss can take away the richness and prosperity of a big economy like America. Software is created through the hard work of software developers, and when the internet users download pirated software, they are actually stealing the revenue of these technical experts. The software industry, after innovating different software, also needs to support and expand them. If the software is stolen through internet, then the industry fails to generate revenue for performing maintenance and expansion of software products. Conclusion Internet piracy is a global problem, and America with its economy gets devastated by it significantly. Internet is a fast communication and entertainment medium; it allows downloading and usage of many music, movie and entertainment products. The internet piracy on music and movies is the greatest one, and it is only been growing as time passes by. It is an unlawful activity which causes major job loss to the American economy. In the entertainment industry, there are numerous creative people involved in the production, distribution and sale. When the internet users infringe on intellectual property, then the damage caused is exorbitant. It is highly essential for the public and government to understand the aftermath of internet piracy in order to cease this unlawful activity. Even though the government is taking measures to fight piracy on internet, there is no reduction in the practice of piracy. Many a times, it is difficult to analyze the piracy activities on the internet as World Wide Web is a platform with anonymity. The American government needs to implement legislative policies and strategies to combat internet piracy in order to reduce this social evil. Also awareness must be created among public regarding the pros and cons of piracy on the internet. The public must be alerted by the loss that internet piracy brings in, and they should be motivated to buy music, movies and software from authorized retail stores. To conclude, it can be said that even though internet is a useful resource, piracy on the internet causes huge loss to world economy. Works Cited Shastry, Sangeeta. Internet Piracy Taking Big Toll on Jobs. 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Sprigman, Chris, and Raustiala, Kal. How Much Do Music and Movie Piracy Really Hurt the US Economy? 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 12. Dec. 2012. Read More