Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Pewaukee Pirates

Vinnie Angellotti
From students who are struggling to pay off their student loans to adults who are barely making enough money to support themselves, there are a lot of people who have a scarcity of money. These people, like everyone else in the world, want to have certain amenities in their life like music, movies, or T.V. shows. While our century's technology has grown a lot, allowing for fairly cheap access to these things, there are always some people who want to get this entertainment for free. Additionally, these goods that people want, like movies, T.V., software, ext., are so simple to obtain for free through piracy, there is no wonder why it is such a big issue. A simple google search would allow you to go to pirate bay, a site that hosts millions of free download ranging from recent music albums to expensive music making software. All the user has to do is click on the item and it will be theirs in a matter of minutes, no payment required. Yet another reason people would partake in this illegal action is the amount of people that get caught each year for piracy. According to a tech site named Digital Trends, the rate of people facing charges is only 1 in 8129. It is no wonder that people will pirate like crazy, because the Cost/ Benefit analysis is completely weighing towards the benefits and no cost. On top of all this, someone could just use a VPN or deny the charges and say it was their neighbor and never get caught.  


While going on and obtaining this media through pirating may seem like no big deal, it actually has many negative externalities. A site titled Music Business Worldwide stated that, “Only 37% of music acquired by US consumers in 2009 was paid for.” This not only can effect the artist who is making the music, but it can also make fans who purchases the album get mad and may even result in music quality going down from the artist because they know they won’t get full compensation. The supply/demand graph has an equilibrium that is very low because lots of people are getting their music for free, so the artists have to lower the price or else everyone will just pirate the music. This is just the music industry as well, if we took into account the movie industry, software companies, and even the video game industry, the amount lost would be in the billions of dollars.

However, hope is not lost. As American officials are identifying piracy as a bigger and bigger problem, more laws are being introduced and internet security is cracking down.  Sites like Piratebay that continuously find loopholes to keep their sites on the web are getting in trouble and will eventually get shut down completely. Along with this, artist's are mentioning this issue in their songs to spread the word and video games are implementing things that would break the game if pirates tried to play them. Overall, while it may seem easiest to just get a that new album via piracy, the better idea may be to support the artist and just buy it.





Works Cited
Mokey, Nick. "Music, Movie and Software Piracy: What's Your Chance of Getting Caught?" Digital Trends. N.p., 20 Sept. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

Worldwide, Music Business. "Why does the RIAA hate torrent sites so much?" Music Business Worldwide. N.p., 19 Dec. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.





8 comments:

  1. Pirating causes many harmful effects for producers of content (music, movies, etc.) due to fact volume of piracy that happens. When many people start pirating movies or music, it becomes impossible to enforce. The government or governing body that polices pirating can't keep up with the amount of people that are pirating. They are forced to either greatly increase spending by attempting to take down many of the pirating sites, or to try and catch more people pirating, which is very difficult. The only other option is to try and do the best that they can to stop it even though it means that many people still get away with pirating.

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  2. I hadn't realized that pirating technology had become such a big issue that it's affected music sales to such an extent. It's unfortunate that people create the pirated content and make it available for consumption and I agree that it's wrong and that it should stop, but there are also times where it occurs for good reason. For instance, let's say that you're listening to music on YouTube when you come across a particular song that you like, but you can't find the artist or you can't find a way to obtain your own copy of the song. What do you do then? What if the video is removed and you're no longer able to listen to it? In situations like these, people almost always turn to pirating methods to download this music to their computer. In these instances, while it's still wrong, it's also well-justified, and in my opinion, it's okay to do.

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  3. Pirating technology has sky rocketed in how bad of an issue it is. I think it is ridiculous that people create pirated content and make it see able to anyone who has internet access. Especially, listening to pirated music on YouTube. People like pirated things such as that because, this is super easy to access. This is something that is against the law but in my opinion it is the least of our worries.

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  4. Pirating is something that's been around since the beginning of the internet, first was Napster which was shut down because the server location was found by the FBI. However, pirating is something that can't be stopped because sites like Pirate Bay use Peer to Peer (P2P for short). The only way to stop pirating is to catch every person pirating which is never going to happen, you'd have an easier time shutting down the entire internet than that. It is bad for the economy because it stops cash flow, but the percentage of people who pirate is still nothing compared to those who buy legally. P.S. use Tor and uTorrent ;)

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  5. I didn't realize that pirating was such a huge issue. It's easy to see why since buying songs can get expensive on itunes if you want to have a wide collection. Movies are the same way as well. It's also easy to see why it's an issue, because it's so hard to correct since like you said people can deny it or use a VPN and there will always be sites finding ways to provide the pirated content.

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  6. It's strange to see how common pirating has gotten. But, it's good to hear steps are being taken to prevent it in the future. However, you mentioned that pirating sites are always finding ways and loopholes to continue providing their illegal services. That makes me think that even with the prevention steps by the government, they will continue to find ways through the enhanced security. Even with the government's technology and skills improving, the illegal entertainment providers will find improvements in their technology and skills as well.

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  7. I always see the warnings about piracy before movies but I didn't know it was actually broken. In the warning it says that "Piracy is not a victim less crime." I thought this was funny because I figured people knew that but apparently pirates think that they can get away with stealing content and not hurting anyone. The government might not be able to keep up with the amount of piracy. The rate is growing so drastically that it might be detrimental to the movie industry.

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  8. I agree that piracy sites are taking a lot of money out of the economy. It is interesting to think about how different our economy would be today if no one listed to music or watched movies illegally. It is good that people within those industries are trying to crack down. In my opinion, apps like Spotify and Apple Music will help combat this problem. Although they cost monthlty, you can get unlimited songs and get more for your dollar. Also, the opportunity cost is probably lower for some because you don't have to search for and download each song individually.

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