PIRACY - ARE WE ALL GUILTY?

In our age of digitisation, the introduction of the internet has generated an infinite online world with endless entertainment, communication and economic opportunities. However, it has consequently conceived  new, never before seen methods and types of crime, from behind the perceived protection of a computer screen.

File-sharing has been one of the major debates to come from the internet regarding regulation of intellectual property protection. Philip Weiser describes the situation, stating how even people using 'information platforms' that support the viewing of content - be they instant messaging systems, media players or Web browsers - face a muddled set of legal doctrines that govern the scope of available intellectual property protection (2003, p. 534).





Music is the obvious medium which is renowned for being shared and downloaded, by most digital media users. I myself have downloaded full albums and television series from file-sharing websites and I'm sure most of you reading this have done this or in a similar form.

It is interesting to note how all those who share or download intellectual property are made out to be common thieves, as is exemplified by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)'s 2004 'Piracy, it's a crime' movie trailer warning. This familiar pre-movie clip depicts people stealing a car, television, handbag and movie, and then casts a movie downloader in the same criminal light.



Piracy, it's a crime (2004)

 This is an example of devaluation, a term used by Martin Moore and Salter (2010) to describe the industry's "demonisation" of file-sharers as. It breeds an argument that the file sharers are also victims in this debate.

The opposite of devaluation is validation, which "raises the status of the person involved". (Martin et al. 2010). The aim of this is to rise against the industry, by being open about file-sharing participation. It is becoming increasingly powerful as artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins "challenge the industry’s attempts to devalue file-sharers".

I think there are different degrees of piracy in file-sharing and downloading, however I think it is embedded in our digital culture now, and will always be a prominent aspect, and perhaps a never-ending debate.



References:

Weiser, P 2003, 'Columbia Law Review', The Internet, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Policy, Vol. 103, No. 534, retrieved 29 August 2013,
http://lawweb.colorado.edu/profiles/pubpdfs/weiser/InternetInnovation.pdf


Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12,
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680

Picture:
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2012/01/23/many-popular-file-sharing-sites-implement-huge-changes/

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZm8vNHBSU