The Future of Digital Piracy

The future of digital piracy is unclear at this point. It is a very volatile topic as new laws and regulations are constantly being passed. There are groups in support of file-sharing pushing for relaxed laws and easier methods of sharing files among peers to make music and movies more affordable for all. On the other hand, groups such as MPAA and RIAA are pushing for stricter laws and more reforms to make their respective industries more profitable. The Stop Online Piracy Act has already made one attempt to become a law and more than likely there will be more attempts to get at least some of the provisions of the bill passed into law. This would really change the game of digital piracy as it would be more difficult than ever to download illegal content due to sites such as The Pirate Bay being blocked by ISPs. Barring new laws though, digital piracy will more than likely continue to grow especially as we advance our technologies. There will be obstacles to growth, such as Dropbox's ability to prevent copyrighted material from being shared, but there are always ways around such systems, such as encryption. No matter what happens in the world, I believe there will always be ways to download music and movies for free. 

                This is not to say, however, that digital piracy doesn’t cost movie producers and musicians millions of dollars per year, because it does. It does however seem like fighting digital piracy is like trying to bail water out of a sinking ship. There are other ways for artists to earn money other than simply selling music. There are free music websites such as Pandora and subscription sites such as Spotify where people can listen to music for free (or a small fee) and do so within the law.  I also think there will be a big movement in websites that offer free downloads of movies and music but charge advertisers fees for keeping the websites operational. Musicians can also earn money through sponsorships and other types of branding and those revenue streams may be supported due to the availability of free music. Rap artists have done a good job of utilizing this strategy through the release of mix tapes.

                One thing digital piracy has changed however is how records are rated as far as platinum, double platinum, etc . It is now next to impossible to track how many times a record has been listened to. Before it was simple, the number of times a record is purchased could be tracked. But now, for every time an album is purchased it could be spread all over the internet which makes it much more difficult to track the number of downloads a record has. I think file sharing will have to be decriminalized in some way if we are to ever have a similar system for measuring music success like we have had in the past. What was once a very accurate measure is now always subject to interpretation. Which is why one of the next steps in file sharing will be to count the number of times a file is shared, as well as downloaded, which will de facto decriminalize the file sharing of albums.

The Costs in Pirating

I'm sure most of you all have heard of the trending HBO series Game of Thrones. We came across a recent article that discussed how Game of Thrones season 4 premiere will become the most pirated TV episode in the world. The episode was downloaded around 1 million times within the first 12 hours of the US airing. Now why is it that so many people have chosen to illegally download the show? Maybe it is because the price of watching shows legally is getting too expensive. Also obtaining pirated movies, shows and music via the internet is extremely convenient. As we shared in a previous post, pirating is not as bad as the entertainment industry wants you to believe, in fact it may actually be helping the industry.

The price of watching Game of Thrones legally is a major concern for most of its viewers. Price varies greatly from country to country. Although plenty of shows eventually end up on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, GOT is only offered through an HBO subscription or by waiting months for it to come out on DVD/Blu-ray. So lets look at the cost of an HBO subscription. In the US, HBO can cost from $15-$25 a month, but that does not include the initial cost of cable/internet which brings the total average cost to about $100 a month give or take. When you think about it, thats around $1200 a year that most people choose not to pay, with the increase in popularity of Netflix that only costs $8 a month. In other countries such as Australia, the cheapest HBO subscription is about $70 a month not including the price of internet/cable. In the UK it costs about $35 a month for HBO and in Canada it costs about $18 which is a deal compared to other countries, but other factors must be included like the cost of a TV subscription.

With how popular shows like Game of Thrones has become around the world and the ease of access of the internet, it's no wonder fans would rather illegally download the episodes rather than paying the ridiculous price of an HBO subscription on top of already having to pay for internet/cable.

In comparison to Game of Thrones by HBO, Netflix also has two very prominent shows that are coveted by fans, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black (which are currently only aired on Netflix). In the eyes of customers, having a "Netflix Original Series" makes their minds believe that Netflix is an equal to HBO as a television network, not an internet based site. Which is exactly what the company is trying to accomplish.  These shows are also pirated online daily by customers who too do not want to pay the price of a subscription.

Like mentioned before one has to pay for Netflix if they are wanting to opt out of purchasing HBO or pirating entertainment illegally. Although, Netflix does not update their content regularly, meaning every time a new episode airs or a new movie is released to DVD it does not automatically appear in the Netflix browser.  This is due to how much it cost Netflix as a company to purchase content rights to be allowed to stream the entertainment desired by its customers. This is the time when customers begin to look for other routes that will quench their thirst. We as a blog are not condoning pirating by any means as it is illegal, but we do understand where the temptation can seduce a person yearning for their favorite song, movie or show. Some people simply do not have the funds or means to satisfy their wants, and with this being said people in our society and communities look for other ways to ease their minds, and pirating seems to be the easiest solution for most.

Source: Why Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show in the World

Dropbox Controversy

Dear readers, new information has come to light over the weekend that is big news to people in the data piracy world.  Last weekend, it was discovered that Dropbox has the ability to recognize and prevent you from sharing copyrighted content using the program. Basically this software can prevent piracy. There are concerns in the data piracy world that Dropbox could “sell out” and turn information of users that are sharing copyrighted material over to the federal government. Dropbox uses a system called “hashing” to screen material uploaded before it is shared. Dropbox can use hashing to identify similar programs, and in the case of copyrighted material, identical programs and marks them as a match or not as a match. Dropbox makes a list of copyrighted programs that are not to be shared. It gets this list from companies such as Disney or Universal Music and whenever these companies send Dropbox copyright information, this information is added to Dropbox’s list of “do not share” programs per the company’s requests. So when a user uploads a copyrighted program, Dropbox checks the hashing of the program against a list of its known to be copyrighted hashes before they are able to be shared publicly.

This may raise concerns among Dropbox users about the privacy of their personal files and data. Dropbox stresses that the entire process is automated and they do not look at user’s files but rather just the hashes in the coding of their files. Also, Dropbox stresses that hashes are only checked when you attempt to share your files and you may upload whatever you want including copyrighted material as long as you are using them for personal use only. There are ways to get around being blocked on Dropbox however, you can use the simple method of encrypting your files before uploading them using a tool such as Boxcryptor or you may simply zip them up using 7-zip.

The concerns of Dropbox selling out to the United States federal government are most likely false because it is widely believed that Dropbox would fight such a request from the federal government. Dropbox’s best interest is to keep their user’s data secure and out of the hands of the United States government because a lack of trust would translate into people straying away from Dropbox and finding other companies because of a bad reputation. We here at Pirates of the Cyber-sea believe that you will be safe using Dropbox’s services regardless of these recent developments.

In conclusion, the United States of America is constantly trying to find new ways to put a stop to digital piracy. People are always discovering new ways to get around all of these different strategies to stop them. The smarter the government gets in putting a stop to this, the smatter the overall community gets as well. It is always interesting to see what new obstacles people get around to illegally download music and movies as well as whatever else it is that they are trying to download and or share.

For years, the entertainment industry has argued that online piracy has devastated business for movies, music and gaming.

However, a new policy brief from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) says that not only does piracy not hurt the creative industry but it is actually helping. Millions of people across the globe illegally access copyrighted material on a daily basis. The most common method of digital pirating is through torrent sites, which let an individual download and upload content through a peer-to-peer file-sharing system. Individuals in the U.S. who are found guilty of violating digital piracy laws can face severe legal penalties, including a felony record, five years in prison and $250,000 in penalties.

In the policy briefing, the authors call on governments to re-evaluate their antipiracy laws to include data from studies beyond those directly sponsored by the entertainment industry itself. In a recent interview with torrent freak, policy author Bart Canmaerts had this to say: “Contrary to the industry claims, the music industry is not in terminal decline, but still holding ground and showing healthy profits. Revenues from digital sales, subscription services, streaming and live performances compensate for the decline in revenues from the sale of CDs or records,”

In a separate story,  the website TorrentFreak says that independent data actually suggests that those who pirate content are also more likely to spend their money on film, music and gaming content.
A June 2013 study found that roughly 45 percent of all Americans pirate copyrighted content on a regular basis, including 70 percent of those under 30.

In the LSE report’s key messages, the authors say that evidence does not back up claims that individual cases of copyright infringement are affecting entertainment industry revenues, that antipiracy laws around the world are not achieving their desired impacts and that governments should update their policies to include more evidence from a diverse set of sources. “Despite the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) claim that online piracy is devastating the movie industry, Hollywood achieved record-breaking global box office revenues of $35 billion in 2012, a 6% increase over 2011,” the report states.

While music sales have faced steeper declines in recent years, the authors say those numbers have largely been balanced out by increased sales in live performance and other outlets. “The music industry may be stagnating, but the drastic decline in revenues warned of by the lobby associations of record labels is not in evidence,” the authors write. Interestingly, in the same Columbia University study, which found that nearly half of all U.S. Internet users pirate copyrighted material, nearly half of those individuals say they would willingly pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to multimedia content.

The LSE study authors say that is one possible solution for the entertainment industry going forward as a way to bridge the gap between content providers and consumers. “Within the creative industries there is a variety of views on the best way to benefit from online sharing practices, and how to innovate to generate revenue streams in ways that do not fit within the existing copyright enforcement regime,” the authors conclude. “When both [the creative industries and citizens] can exploit the full potential of the Internet, this will maximize innovative content creation for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Dear readers, what are your thoughts on digital piracy? Do you feel that convictions of digital piracy are fair? We found this article to be very interesting to share. It may fuel more insight into the legal matters of piracy. Give the following article a read and share with us your thoughts and opinions.

IP address does not prove online piracy, US judge says in landmark ruling

After reading this article, it is shocking how quickly "suspected" pirates are named guilty of pirating digital movies and music solely from their IP (internet protocol) addresses. What the film industry failed to take into consideration, is that just because an IP address can be traced, is it being traced to the correct perpetrator? Like the article mentioned, an IP address is basically a label for each device in a network, but cannot trace each user of a device, only the user in which the device is registered under. So for example, what if there are 6 people in the household? Or what if a friend borrows your computer and illegally downloads the latest season of Breaking Bad without your knowledge? How does the copyright holder know who is responsible for the illegal act? Well they don't, but that does not stop them from pointing fingers at the simplest target.

These devices can include, phones, tablets, laptops or really anything that can connect to the Internet with the touch of a button. With this being said owners of a Wi-Fi connection should be extremely careful or protective over their password and who they allow to have access to the Internet through their home or facility. This password that most connections have allow others to associate under a specified IP address which will in the end trace back to the original owner if a lawsuit were to arise.   

From previous work experience this is the exact reason why a former employer would not allow the staff to hand out the Wi-Fi connection password to customers who were taking part in the services being sold. Although some companies do offer free WI-FI to lure in customers, such as Starbucks who encourages their patrons to stay connected or Panera Bread who offers free WI-FI but only allows one to use the internet for thirty minutes. In comparison certain companies charge a fee to their customers to use the Internet based on their usage time. The companies who do not allow their Wi-Fi connection to be used by others or charge customers are smart and are avoiding lawsuits that could come from patrons who decide to pirate. Companies and individuals who decide to share their personal Wi-Fi connection password are at risk in that they could facing a lawsuit for committing a crime that they did not commit. Situations such as these are sticky and could be extremely detrimental and one might not even realize what is happening under their roof when focusing on their IP address. 

WELCOME...

Hello and welcome to our Pirates of the Cyber-sea blog. In this blog, we will be covering the topic of digital piracy. We will explain what it entails, what it does not, dispel some common misconceptions, and give our opinions on various issues pertaining to digital piracy worldwide. Lets start off by defining exactly what digital piracy is. Generally, digital piracy is the deliberate, unauthorized infringement of copyrighted media on the internet such as music, books, movies and television shows. Although some digital pirates generate income from illegally distributing media, several internet users are simply sharing media with other users for zero profit. Some of the main people downloading this shared, or "pirated content" are kids trying to get more music on their iPods or other MP3 players.  These kids don't have jobs or any money so the only way for them to have access to music is by downloading from sources such as The Pirate Bay. Grade school aged kids mean no harm by their actions and if they weren't able to access downloadable music through sources such as The Pirate Bay the alternative would be to do without, not to purchase the music in stores or online. Most of these kids have no idea that what they are doing is considered illegal and they mean no harm by their actions, they just want to be able to listen to music.

We, as the authors of this blog, want to express the idea that a distinction lies between pirating and file-sharing. Now let's be honest, I'm sure a majority of those who are reading this blog are guilty of illegally downloading a song or a movie at least once in their lives. You may or may not have been aware of the act being illegal at the time because the action is extremely convenient to anyone with a computer. Many people would argue that we shouldn't have to pay for an artists whole album if we only like 3 or 4 of their songs, so we would rather conveniently download just a few songs. The key word here is convenience. Today's society relies heavily on convenience thanks to the continuous evolution of technology.

Piracy is increasing significantly throughout the world for various reasons by individuals searching for a means of satisfaction. Broadcasting corporations, especially those who concentrate in cinematic features and musical compositions, like mentioned before, these businesses have been the main targets of digital piracy due to how simple the task is at hand. Internet piracy permits a wide range of individuals with different levels of technical proficiencies with the power to take part in digital copying or in other words stealing. These different levels of proficiency can range from extensive technological knowledge to those who are deficient in technological skills. Some users that may be new to the “business” may seek downloading entertainment from friends or family in contrast to those who continue to hack straight into other workstations.

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