The Growing Problem of Digital Piracy on the Internet - Thesis Example

Abstract
With the rapid growth of internet usage and the increased bandwidth and speed of connection, the frequency and seriousness of digital piracy have mushroomed (Ellacoya, 2007). It is very common today for users to share copyrighted materials among themselves without proper license or permission. This peer-to-peer (p2p) sharing is made even easier because of the growth of virtual communities. This project 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). This topic is of intense interest to those who produce and provide music, movies, software, and games. The central question that will drive this study: “How can the frequency of digital piracy activity be contained or reduced?” The research approach will be to administer a confidential questionnaire to specific p2p users between the ages of 15-28, to interview (face-to-face) users of p2p programs, and to solicit expert opinions from professionals. The expected outcome of this research will be a better understanding of the motivations that digital pirates exhibit for their behavior. Based on these findings, a set of recommended protections for digital rights will be recommended.

1.1 Introduction
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.

Regardless of the establishment of these treaties, Rao (2003) argued that the rates of piracy internationally increased in 2000 and 2001 and have been increasing by the day. Therefore, piracy has developed as a worldwide behavior in recent times. Because of the Internet attributes, piracy took place mostly in almost complete deceit that made the tracking of piracy rates nearly impossible. Industry groups in their research results estimated software piracy as accounting for nearly 11 billion dollars in terms of lost revenue and was a substantial contributor to job losses and reducing the government’s revenues (Business Software Alliance, 2003).

Equally, the relevance of the economic implications and illegality of the act was the perpetrators of the act. Hinduja (2001, 2003) made an argument that software piracy had been rampant among mostly college-aged students. This report is not shocking enough as many college students as known to use computers routinely and other highly-priced software (Higgins, 2005). These students involved in piracy were found as generally male enrolled in the most brutal and liberal arts. To date, there are many researchers showing in their studies that attitude, social learning theory, low self-control, and deterrence theory are the main explanations for digital piracy. However, there are remarkably few studies examining whether the rational choice theory is a mediator in linking between digital piracy and low self-control (Bachman, Paternoster, & Ward, 1992; Nagin & Paternoster, 1993; Hickman & Piquero, 2000; Tibbetts & Myers, 1999; Piquero & Tibbetts, 1996; Tibbetts, 1997). Further, very few studies in the criminological or digital piracy literature consider the role of value in their respective examination.