Know What Youre Watching - Article Example

?Edwin Hernandez assignment due: 9 April English 302-M17 Casal Research Article: Know What You’re Watching! Introduction Sinceits inception, the Internet has been described as a “gigantic resource” containing the voluminous amount of media material that has become more easily and readily accessible just by a click of the mouse. As more people and organizations turn to the internet for their media accessibility and other support information, pertinent questions are currently being asked than ever before regarding its role in propagating media piracy. Authors now contend on these issues as pertaining the history of internt and piracy, the future of media industry going up to understanding the core meaning of piracy and its associated issues. This paper therefore in a well researched and thoughtful manner explores these questions. Karaganis in his book “Media Piracy in Emerging Economies” refers to piracy as an “international plague” and “nirvana for criminals” relating it to a global pricing disaster. In this respect the author contends that the media piracy has taken root in major economies world over as a result of high prices related to media products, and a corresponding low incomes at the disposal of many emerging economies and a further availability of cheap digital media. Thus piracy is viewed from the consumption economic point of view. Thus the vice places numerous costs of producers and distributors at both regional and international levels. Why has media piracy increased in the recent years? Karajanis argues that the high growth witnessed in media piracy when traced from the 1990s has been attributed to lack of copyright laws world over and where they exist there has been reluctance on the part of law enforcement agencies to implement the full spirit of the law. In effect, piracy has contributed to disruption of market equilibrium thus providing loopholes for innovations in emerging economies that outdo the technologies which are again correspondingly cheaper when compared to the original creations. At the same, several factors including pricing strategies used by multinationals, trade agreements, and diffusion of technology bear a significant relevance as factors that continue to contribute to the rising effects of piracy. Understanding the meaning of Piracy There seems to be a universal agreement that “Piracy” does not have a stable and legal definition, and in most circumstances, it is understood as a product of legal enforcement rather than its true implication. On one hand, the IFPI contends that the term implies an omnipresent practice of copying that falls outside the provisions of copyright law “up to 95% of it, if industry estimates of online music piracy are taken as an indicator”. However, in its simplest definition, piracy is understood as the illegal copying and distribution of any media in print, DVDs, videos or electronic files. Damaging Effects of Piracy Sean Jungels in his report “Piracy and the Movie Industry: Change your business model now or end up like the music industry” argues that the surge associated with movie industry is seen through its imperviousness to the constant campaigns that discourage it. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) conducted research and found out Hollywood looses billions of dollars a year on illegally sold copies of movies. Even now, the industry can’t accurately tell a certain number because of how many countless movies have been downloaded off the internet. At the same time, irregardless of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) approaches towards controlling piracy, the vice has only continued to turn the music industry on a reverse scale. In more recent times, the effects of piracy have caught up with the television industry, leading to reduced advertising incomes, and dropping rates as more consumers prefer downloading their favorite films on the internet rather than watching on TV, in turn, the television network in a bid to stay relevant have opted to pick on online distribution that enables them to offer their customers their contents online. Even now, the industry can’t accurately tell a certain number because of how many countless movies have been downloaded off the internet. It has also caused a great deal of money for law enforcement because of how many dogs they have had to bring and sniff out caches of DVDs in airports. As well as sending trained investigators to look at embedded watermarks. It’s to differ the real ones over the fake pirated versions. Recently, piracy seems to be taking a different twist, moving people’s attention from the media piracy to what is currently being referred to as “Sea Piracy” which in essence entails attacks being carried on the water bodies thus causing threats to crew members, and international navigation. How to prevent media piracy The media industry today, is thinking of ways to terminate piracy in any way, shape or form. A current idea is to insert “artifacts” extra frames, flashes of light, or pixilated gird patterns, into a movie during its digital-processing phase, before it is shipped to theaters. The main objective of this is to mimic the camcorder recording without corrupting the images a moviegoer goes to watch. Conclusion While this paper is in cognizance of the steps that can be taken or that are being floated as an effective mechanism to dealing with media piracy, it is also becoming crystal clear that the internet and piracy changed in a permanent way how consumers demand in relation to media products and will still continue to alter how industries react to technology. At present times, technology has upscaled to a point that piracy is infiltrating on all media industries. Entertainment and media industries must therefore take notice of the underlying fact that piracy is still growing and consumers are turning their attention to the internet necessitating a change in their business models since consumer demand from an economic perspective shapes business. On one hand, the internet evolution has reached what can be described as ‘on-demand’ generation, (Jungels 2) the resulting effect is that the piracy industry has empowered consumers to take advantage of the internet capabilities of free and instantaneous information. Bibliography Beckman, Robert. Cooperation to Combat "Piracy" in Southeast Asia. Bandung, Indonesia: Universitas Padjadjaran, 2012. Cvetkoviski, Trajce. "Media Piracy: The Infinite Futility in Copyright Protection and Supervision." Politics and Money (2009). Jungels, Sean. Piracy and the Movie Industry: Change your Business Model now or end up like the Movie Industry. 2011. Karaganis, Joe. Media Piracy in Emerging Economies. SSRC books, 2011. Sean, F. "Digital Digest." 8 September 2011. MPAA Piracy Stats Pulled Apart-Every Pirate Would Buy 100 DVDS. 6 April 2013 . Read More