I will start off by telling everyone that I can be classified as an internet “pirate.” I commit piracy everyday, whether it’s downloading music straight from the web, or downloading movies that are still in theatres from torrent websites. Do I think it is wrong to do this—absolutely not. In fact, I do not see anything wrong with it. I think copyright is just a societal device to help the rich get richer. I believe piracy is not a serious issue, and laws against it should be reduced in severity.
Copyright laws have been around since the 1600s accompanied with the creation of the printing press. Then the Copyright Clause was implemented into the Constitution in 1787, which gave exclusive selling rights to the creator for a period of time. Then in 1886, a convention known as the Berne Convention began to implement copyright laws between sovereign nations. In 2002, the WIPO Copyright Treaty created even greater restrictions that supported copyright. Why have there been conventions and laws for over 400 years, yet piracy is still an issue in today’s society? I believe it is because there are so many people that support/disagree with copyright laws, it is virtually impossible to come up with a permanent solution.
Everyone complains about how the music industry doesn’t find it fair, or seeing movies before they come out is bad, but when you think about it, who are the people hitting the newspapers still? Brittany Spears and Lil Wayne are still millionaires, and record companies are still promoting CD’s and still making millions as well. Actors like Mel Gibson and Russel Crowe are still driving Mercedes and living in mansions. So what’s all the fuss about? Sure they’re losing some money, but there still making millions of dollars off their music or movies. For example, the Dark Knight within the first 20 days made 400 million dollars. God forbid I downloaded the torrent off the internet and didn’t contribute another 10.75 to that income. A Swedish editor wrote an article in the newspaper Expressen, and in it he wrote, “Those that argue that music should not be downloaded from the internet, doesn’t represent the consumer, presumably.” This quote clearly states that patents and copyright laws are in place primarily for companies to keep gaining income. The company is not looking out for the interest of the consumer, and is looking out mainly for itself.
Further proof of this argument can be seen in this article with the excerpt: “The majority of such development is taking place within large corporations...This means that the question we shall ask, is if the large corporations as a group would commit as much on development should patents and copyright be non-existing. The answer would be – probably, because of competitive reasons.” Once again, the Swedish editor is stating that even without copyright laws, companies would still commit to producing new music and movies and books, primarily to keep gaining income. I completely agree with this author. I think no matter how much we share music through the internet or download movies instead of buying them, companies and artists will still thrive, so why pursue and condemn those who download music or media for free?
The interests of content creators and public good are already being accommodated as well. The creators are still profiting from their work (especially in the music and movie industry which is of biggest concern), and when it comes to the public good, well, that’s what p2p applications and torrents are for. If people want to buy a CD or go pay to see a movie, more power to them. But when it comes to public good and being able to acquire items, that is partly what file sharing is for. In an article titled, “The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution” authors write, “Today, several popular applications and services offer similar capabilities. CD-writers have become mainstream, and DVD-writers may well follow suit. Hence, even in the absence of network connectivity, the opportunity for low-cost, large-scale file sharing exists.” This quote further proves that public good is already being fulfilled, and that everyone and anyone have access to cheap music and movies. This quote also is saying how CD-writers have become mainstream. Now, if people are so supportive of copyright laws, why do they still make every computer standard with CD or DVD burners? It doesn’t make much sense in my opinion because people use CD/DVD writers to burn music or movies and distribute amongst their social network.
Overall, I believe that copyright laws are not necessary. I believe without copyright laws, companies will still thrive, and media figures will still come out with new work. Piracy has been around for quite some time, and artists still come out with CDs making millions. Actors are still doing new movies everyday that result in millions of dollars of income. Copyright is suppose to protect the creator and support them in making new work, though new pieces of work are coming out everyday, despite how many people are sharing music or movies on the web. I believe copyright may never be annulled, but piracy will continue no matter how strict the laws get.
Sources:
1. Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, Bryan Willman. (October 2003). The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution. Levine’s Working Paper Archive.
2. Pettersson, Karl-Henrik. (April 2005). Copyright bad for a modern society. Retrieved September 11th, 2008, from Expressen. Web Site: http://www.p2punite.org/?q=node/17
3. (n.a.). (n.d.). Copyright. Retrieved September 12th, 2008, from Wikipedia. Web Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
