THE COST

OF MEDIA
PIRACY
Author:

Harvey Le

Student ID: A00811495

Course:
Instructor:

LIBS 7001
Chris-Anne Stumpf

[DIGITAL MEDIA PIRACY IS NOT HARMFUL]

The article Game Theories by Clive Thompson is an interesting story

about Edward Castronova, who discovered the economical connection
between virtual worlds in online games with real world. Castronova took
EverQuest as an example for his research. He found that in-game currency
has real value and can be used for purchasing. Therefore, the wealth of the
EverQuest world is $2,666 per capita (Thompson, 2008), which is a great
number for a country that does not exist. In EverQuest, every player starts
with the same point, owning nothing, and they have to begin from scratch,
kill animals for feather, meat and trade for money; as players level up, they
become more powerful and richer. This free-market concept is a situation
that can never be found in the real world: Everyone starts with nothing and
works themselves up. Castronovas research proves that giving everyone
education and health care, which means providing fair chance of success, is
the key to a truly free market.
Personally, the idea of a virtual asset can have a real value in the real
world is very intriguing. Not only is this idea applied in online games but also
numerous applications of this exchanging value can be seen nowadays. For
example, iTunes and Google Play are 2 giants in making revenue from online
assets (music, movies and other entertainment applications). In EverQuest,
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there are virtual thefts that steal and rob virtual gold and damage the
economic by increasing inflation. Likewise, the real world has pirates who
steal and distribute online materials; hence, they are accused for damaging
online entertainment corporations. As a student who majors in Computer
System, I found this accusation quite offended since this piracy issues raise
numerous lawsuits and controversies in the late 20th century, which still
continue to the beginning of 21st. However, the root of the issue is that the
ways governments react are contradict with peoples attitudes, which
unintentionally

leads

to

the

battle

between

online

community

and

entertainment-based corporations. Specifically, anti-piracy has induced a

great deal of threat for Internet users despite of its contributions and
innovations. This research will discuss four key issues of anti-piracy: human
right violations, a threat to online creativity, an innovation sources barrier
and an inevitable part of technology.
In October 2011, the whole world was shocked by the event of the
introduction of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Immediately, it faced the
largest protests, the online community reacted angrily with this legislation
because if SOPA was enacted, saying goodbye to free online contents,
materials and free online entertainment such as music, movies seems to be
inevitable. Since the surprisingly-negative attitude of the world, even famous
corporations (Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia) raised their voice against
SOPA, it has been suspended. However, despite of the short existence, SOPA
has caused mass disruptions namely the shutting down of MegaUpload, a
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sharing site whose founder was condemned a 50-year sentence, and
regulation changes of numerous hosting sites. Both Internet services and its
users and now people start asking the question whether the so-called piracy
is as serious and revenue-damaging as entertainment-based companies
claim.
Since the 2000s, going along with the rapidly-developed high speed
Internet is the digital media business, and the amount of online contents and
materials is also in positive correlation with this acceleration. However, there
is no effective method to control and manage the contents which were
distributed by individuals. Therefore, copyright infringement, which can be
seen obviously by illegal movies and music downloading, is unavoidable,
leads to the problem that many entertainment companies completely blame
their revenue loss on piracy. These corporations, who support SOPA
legislation, want their products become exclusive, which is why they think
SOPA is an effective solution to restraint individual online distributions.
Anti-piracy Violates Human Rights
The reason governments and entertainment-based companies are
eager to impose anti-piracy policy in the first place is that they expect SOPA
will bring back justice to digital media industry. Nevertheless, imposing antipiracy policy is a violation of the right to have freedom of speech, to take
part in social activities of human (Wong, 2011). In another research,
Doctorow
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(2011) also pointed out three main issues that SOPA will cause eventually.
First, it will pose a new threat of censorship on any website that contains
copyright-violated contents.
Second, the power to censor anything that is considered piracy will not
only belong to the government but also entertainment-based corporations.
Specifically,

the SOPA can provide

list of

websites

that contain

inappropriate materials. After being accused, these sites will be removed in

five days.
Third, any page that posts a link to another piracy-related site will be
accused of copyright infringement. Doctorow (2011) clearly stated that the
purpose of controlling and protecting ownership of online contents and
materials, which are inevitable components of the Internet era, fails to
represent protection and piracy prevention but shows a total disregard for
humanitarian consequences and it betrays a depraved indifference except
their fears (p. 38). Instead of considering every aspects of the issue, the bill
fearlessly

shows

negligence

toward

human

rights

and

philanthropic

aftermaths.
Anti-piracy is a Threat to Online Creativity
Entertainment-based corporations believed that a strong regulation
can be used to prevent intellectual properties from being stolen (Chung,
2009). However, such regulations only works for short-term, Internet users
will consider anti-piracy as a threat to online innovation (Polis, 2012).
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Specifically, Falkenberg (2009) stated that motion picture and record
companies have strayed too far from their original purpose, which is
entertaining audiences.

In other words, they wanted to control their

customers but failed to give them what they want; consequently, piracy is
blamed to be responsible.
Cheng (2009) took the conflict between Universal picture and Redbox,
who provides movie selling and rental services, is an example. Redbox offers
customers with a great price, $1/night, for any new movie. However, in the
term of conditions, Universal required Redbox to postpone release date of
new movies 45 days, which can be more beneficial for Universal to raise
price. Because of this constraint, the movie rental brought the motion picture
company into a lawsuit about misconducting copyright policy. Since the
technology is on its way to emerge, entertainment industry needs to use it
innovation to target the right market and regain profits, not by using
enforcement to make it products exclusive and valuable.
One more example of abusing anti-piracy law is the stories of DVD
players, which are crafted without a recording button. Likewise, films are
produced with protected conversion, which only belongs to film makers. The
defense for this act is that movie producers demand for exclusive contracts
to acquire the specialized decryption, which DVDs need to play that movie.
This is an evidence to prove that entertainment industry is trying to refuse
the needs of customers instead of satisfying them (Falkenberg, 2009).

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In addition, creativity cannot flourish if people try to prevent it by
applying long-term copyright (Falkenberg, 2009). Hence, the copyright that
protects ones works for 70 years after death can bring up negative effects
such as increasing intellectual prices, which can be a restraint for innovation
of others works. In addition, restricting customers and suing piracy do not
get it profits back. In conclusion, entertainment-based companies have to
find effective and gentle solutions to win their customers back, not by using
force.
A Source of Innovation
Although piracy is usually accused of stealing ideas, concepts and
reason for corporations revenue losses, it is not wholly responsible for these
damages. Falkenberg (2009) specifies that non-creative and repetitive ideas
are the two points that do not satisfy audiences. According to Robbert van
Ooijen (2010), despite being considered a counter-part of digital media
industry, copyright infringement provides innovative ideas and inspirations in
a short time. This notion is thoroughly contrastive with the usual.
The story of Napster, which is a music sharing website (Pepitone,
2011), is evident to how piracy can turn out to be an innovative idea and
create new markets. The establishment of Napster in 1999 not only brought
unexpected downloads and encouragements from Internet users since it
provided people with high quality music but also engaged into various
lawsuits with record companies because of copyright infringement (The
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Rocky Mountain News, 2009). Although Napster had been forced to shut
down in 2001, its legacies are valuable. After being launched, peoples
perspectives with online contents, which are considered die hard, have been
converted. Online community got used to the new concepts of online music
and this brought new challenges to the entertainment industry.

The old-

fashioned ways became obsolete, a notion of online music is brought up to

a whole new level and adaption must be made. Therefore, iTunes Music
Store, a legal version of Napster and a great success of Apple, was founded
and music lovers are willing to pay for what they listen (Ooijen, 2010).
A Part of Technology Era
Piracy prevention is approved by worlds governments because it is
considered a kind of stealing, but the question remained is whether these
methods are effective. Tassi (2012) pointed out that although piracy is illegal,
the way government deals with piracy such as proposing two bills SOPA and
PIPA (Protect IP Act), which aim to prevent copyright infringement, only
makes the problem worse. The enormous online protest is a consequence of
abusing

anti-piracy

laws.

Google,

Yahoo!,

Facebook

and

Consumer

Electronics Association raised their voice against it because these policies

are given large-scale jurisdiction to remove any website (The Washington
Post, 2011). However, there is a reason to call it the global demonstration.
Not only did the giants but also other corporations such as WordPress,
Mozilla blacked out their homepage to deny the new policies (Kelion, 2012).

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Modern economy in the 21st century has a great assistance, which is
technology. It is a helpful companion although many drawbacks are included.
According to Park (2010), a copyright system must balance the interests of
creators and users of copyrighted works (p. 58). Specifically, since the
copyright industries are on the rise, innovation will be charged more
expensively. The explanation is simple: there are two sides of copyright,
which are protection and creativity, and governments have lost the balance.
Mainly focusing on defending content from being stolen is declining
innovation gradually because of high intellectual properties costs (Park,
2010). Furthermore, the connection of copyright system and economy is
strong and inevitable (Park, 2010). One of the potential benefits for business,
which piracy can provide, is that genuine product sale can increase due to
users interests on pirated versions.
Conclusion
The 21st century not only offers people with numerous benefits but also
various kinds of negative effects. Specifically, technology is pulling economy
forward but it raised an ethical battle. Although piracy is called with different
vicious aliases and governments are eager to eradicate, people cannot deny
that piracy has contributed innovative ideas, inspirations and foundation for
the modern world. Nevertheless, the reacts of governments adversely affect
Internet community. They should come up with treating people respectfully
instead of using different kinds of forces (SOPA and PIPA). Moreover, trying to

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control online contents is equal to human rights violation, especially the
freedom of speech. Finally, uprooting piracy is impossible because it goes
along with economic development, like Ying and Yang. Users benefits and
business revenue must remain balanced. If imbalance happens, negative
consequences will occur and impact on both side of the war. However, this
research is still superficial and needs to be studied deeper since the piracy
issues are global and governments not only are reported but also have to
observe not only are reported but also have to observe specific statistics and
data. Further research can enhance the evidence and credibility if they
provide detail information and its sources. In conclusion, every idea,
invention or innovation has two sides: positive and negative. Totally refusing
the negative is not an effective solution but to deal with it cooperatively is
the goal that entertainment-based corporations should aim for.

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References
Cheng, J. (2009, August 6). Fox joins Universal's war on Redbox DVD rental
kiosks. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/08/foxjoins-universals-war-on-redboxs-dvd-rental-kiosks/

Chung, E. (2009, July 26). Copyright rules must protect innovation, groups
say.
Retrieved
from
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2009/07/24/tech-copyrightdigital-locks.html
Doctorow, C. (2011). Copyrights vs. human rights. Publishers Weekly,
258(49), 36-38.
Falkenberg, K. (2009). When Copyright Is Wrong. Forbes, 184(10), 20-22.
Groc, I. (2007). The Price of Piracy. PC Magazine, 26(21/22), 21.
Kelion, L. (2012, January 18). Sopa: Sites go dark as part of anti-piracy laws
protests. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16612628
Look for silver lining. (2008, July 17). Retrieved from
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Napster wounds the giant (2009, January 5). Retrieved from
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Ooijen, R. (2010). Why Piracy is Good For Innovation. Retrieved from
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Park, W. G. (2010). The Copyright Dilemma: Copyright Systems, Innovation
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Pepitone, J. (2011, November 30). Today is Napsters last day of existence.
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Tassi, P. (2012, February 2). You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never
Kill You. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/02/03/you-will-never-killpiracy-and-piracy-will-never-kill-you/
Thompson, C. (2008). Game Theories. In E. Henderson (Ed.), The Active
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