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Alan Ayoub
CST 300 Writing Lab
Brian Robertson
10/10/2015

The Internet User and the TV/Film Industry Piracy versus Privacy

The Internet has become a place of convenience, giving the user access to anything the

creative mind can conceive. Internet users can shop from home, search for jobs, blog on

websites, research, book vacations, communicate with people, receive real time news updates,

get an education, and upload or download large files all from the comfort of their homes. The

convenience of the Internet has also allowed people from all the over the world to share media

like movies and television shows through peer sharing and torrenting applications. While

Internet users enjoy the convenience of torrenting media from home, the TV/Film Industry do

not like their content being downloaded and torrented for free. The Stop Online Piracy Act

believes torrenting is a significant problem that hurts the Television and Film Industries

revenues. The Stop Online Piracy Act estimates that torrenting is costing 200 to 250 Billion

Dollars a year in lost revenue and is responsible for approximately 750,000 job losses in the

United States alone (Raustiala & Sprigman, 2012). Internet users who torrent films and

television shows have many different viewpoints that justify their torrenting. Some Internet

users who torrent films believe art should not be monetized, downloading films they have

already purchased on DVD is ok, and regulation should not inhibit freedom of the Internet.

Now, the Television and Film Industry is taking action to stop Internet users from torrenting their

films and televisions shows. Internet users are fighting back to protect their principles and

freedom on the Internet. The Television and Film Industry should not have the power to affect or

regulate the Internet use for all Internet users worldwide. The Internet user is at war to protect
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their violation of privacy and freedom as a result of the TV/Film Industry interest to go after

Internet users who torrent.

The battle between the file sharing Internet user and the Television & Film Industry

began in the early beginnings of the Internet. Peer-2-Peer file sharing became popular to the

masses in 1999 with a program by the name of Napster (Birman, 2005). Napster is a program

that allows for Internet users to share their music with other Internet users in an mp3 format file.

This application became popular fast with over 80 Million active users downloading music for

free (Gowan, 2002). Napster was very popular and short lived. In late 2001, the courts decided

that the application violated copyright law and the popular application faded away.

Shortly after Napsters fall, a new way to share files emerged in 2001 called Bit-torrent

(Torrentfreak, 2012). A torrent file is delivered in small chunks of data that can be grabbed from

many different sources. Eventually, those small chunks of data combine to be one single

complete file. Bit-torrent users with privacy concerns can mask their IP address with an

anonymous virtual private network service to disguise their location. Currently, the torrent

community is still actively torrenting files on the Internet, but there is an Industry that has a big

interest in changing that.

The movie studios, distributors, investors, producers, actors, and fans are all affected by

piracy. With the many challenges of getting a film made, there is a new challenge that has

emerged as a result from piracy and its related to creativity. Since the movie and television

Industry estimates that they are losing anywhere between 200-250 Billion annually from

torrenting, this affects the business of how films get made. The Movie studios and producers are

forced to take budget precautions when deciding which Movie will be made as it has become too

risky to make great films with larger budgets. The greater and more expensive the film, the
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likelihood is that the film will be mass pirated (Tran, 2015). Since the risk assessment for

making a great film is affected by piracy, movie studios are intentionally avoiding making great

films that require larger budgets because they are worried that it may be a losing venture. The

decision to make or not make a film or television show affects all motion picture Industry

stakeholders. The movie fan is affected by this chain reaction and may find that their film

choices could be better. Prior to a film beginning in a movie theater, viewers are being reminded

with a public service commercial that pirating films is not a victimless crime (Lodderhose,

2014).

The Television and Film Industry are taking strategic steps to locate and pursue people

who are torrenting their content. Internet users who pirate films may now receive an email from

their Internet service provider warning them that they may be involved in the exchange of

unauthorized copies of copyright material. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows

Internet Service Providers to obtain the Internet subscribers personal information based on

copyright infringement (DMCA, 2000). Some Internet users are receiving automated settlement

fines that range anywhere between $20 - $300. While fining Internet users may be good for the

movie industry, there are some negatives. The Internet user may not have pirated a film, the bots

detecting violations may be incorrect, and the trust between an Internet Service Provider and the

Internet is violated now that they are being monitored. The notices that are going out have such

a threatening tone that Internet subscribers are finding it easier to pay the fine instead of being

dragged through a legal battle (Passary, 2015). Furthermore, average Internet users are not the

only ones torrenting films. There have been reports that the movie studios have submitted their

own IP addresses to Google for content takedown. While the movie studios are complaining

about piracy, their own computers are guilty of hosting torrent files (Verma, 2015). This sends
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the wrong message to law-abiding Internet users who are being spied on. What happens if you

host an unsecure Internet connection and a pirate uses your Internet to torrent? The owner of the

Internet connection is liable under the negligent breach of duty. This is another problem with

prosecuting innocent people for tormenting. Someone who steals Wifi is likely to steal other

things online. (Torrentfreak, 2011).

Bit-torrenting has always been perceived as a bad thing, but there are many legal and

beneficial uses for Bit-torrent technology. Gaming applications use Bit-torrent technology to

speed up file transfers between gamers. Gamers have the option to share files with other gamers

through Bit-torrent, which speeds up downloads for other gamers. Facebook and Twitter use Bit-

torrent technology to prorogate large files over a network of servers. The Internet archive is a

non-profit organization that keeps a log online of website history. If users want to download

content from the Internet Archive, their recommendation is to use Bit-torrent to save on

bandwidth costs. Bit-torrent has also proven to a better solution for local networks that want to

distribute data to multiple workstations. NASA uses Bit-torrent to make a 3GB picture of the

Earth available online. Bit-torrent has proven to be very useful for many different organizations

and governments (Hoffman, 2013) . With Internet Service Providers monitoring and reporting

activity of Bit-torrent users, the Internet users are losing the privacy battle. Since the average

Internet User is not able to detect how and when Internet Service Providers monitor their activity,

the Internet user is involuntarily surrendering their constitutional rights. The Internet user is at

the mercy of corporations who play by their own set of rules. Luckily for Internet users, there

are organizations that are interested in protecting Internet freedom. Manipulating the openness

of the Internet hinders normal behavior of people expressing themselves online, while giving

power to fear and the invisible authoritarian (Freedom house, 2015). While many great things
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have happened because of the freedom of the Internet, there are also negative outcomes of giving

the Internet user freedom. Terrorism, espionage, computer intrusions, and fraud are what the FBI

references as Cyber Crime (FBI). Too much Internet freedom would give way to criminals to

perpetrate crimes online. Most recently, statistics have shown that crime on the Internet has

increased 107% since last year (Watson, 2015).

While Internet crime has surged over the last year, it is not justified to strip the Internet

user of their right to privacy. In general, Internet users must have a right to Internet freedom

without being monitored. There have been many reports that our Internet activity is being

monitored and logged by our governments. Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor, is a

whistleblower that exposed the details of how the government is spying on the average person.

The United States government is storing our data and using sophisticated algorithms to monitor

our Internet behaviors. Once a system analyst in the government decides that they want to look

deeper into an Internet users profile, they can obtain a log of anyones computer history at

anytime. Not all analyst have the ability to target every detail, some analysts have more

authority than others. System analysts can typically wiretap anyone at anytime (Greenwald,

2013). The NSA surveillance program violates the constitution. The Internet users in the United

States should not be subject to forfeiting their constitutional rights. The government prefers that

the American people did not know that this surveillance was happening and that is why many

people have the viewpoint that Eric Snowden is a hero for exposing this surveillance.

When the United States government has free rein to violate the constitution, the American

people can no longer trust their government. The Patriot Act was passed on October 26th 2001

while President George W. Bush was in office, only 45 days after September 11th 2001. The

Patriot Act violates the constitution and grants the American government the right to record
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searches, perform secret searches, perform intelligence searches, and use a method called trap

and trace to spy and collect addressing information (American Civil Liberties Union, 2015).

Internet users should be allowed to share ideas, communicate, and innovate without fear.

The people who have the power to write laws about how the Internet should operate are making

big regulation decisions for the American people in secret behind closed doors. The effect of

these secret decisions is censoring freedom of speech, derailing innovation, and blocking how

people share information. The Internet user must reclaim their power and protect their Internet

freedom. (Save The Internet, 2015). The Internet Freedom Act was introduced on February 21st

2014. This act prohibits the regulation by the Federal Communications Commission from

having any force or effect (Blackburn, 2014).

While the Internet Freedom Act has good intentions, the problem with the Act is that it

conflicts with the Internet freedoms that the consumer already has. If the Internet Freedom Act

passes it would have an affect on network neutrality rules. Network neutrality is the principle

that the government and Internet service providers should not discriminate or change data or

content on the Internet. Since the Internet Freedom Act states that it would prohibit regulation

by the Federal Communications Commission, the Internet Freedom Act would affect network

neutrality (Brodkin, 2015).

Not all behaviors associated with Internet Freedom are positive, there are many abusive

behaviors associated with Internet freedom. Internet freedom would enable cyber-bullying,

cyber-racism, cyber-sexism, and cyber-homophobia. Cyber-bullying can negatively impact a

persons health mentally and physically. Cyber-racism online is typically in the form of an

image shared on social networking sites when people create memes that make fun of specific

races. Some would classify cyber-racism as controversial humor. Cyber-sexism is when people
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take an image online and brands it with their own statement such as Teenage sluts. Cyber-

homophobia has led people to cause self-harm to themselves and causes some people to commit

suicide (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2015). Internet Freedom could also enable

hackers who are interested in online fraud and identify theft. Stealing a persons identity can

happen through phishing online when someone sends a fake email pretending to be a large

institution that wants to verify your information. Phishing can also appear in the form of

someone winning a prize and needing to confirm personal information to receive the said prize.

Usually, this tactic preys on the Internet users emotions. This tactic has been used since the

beginning of the Internet. The hackers motive is to convince the user to take an action that

comprises the Internet users data and personal information. If the user has an unsecured network

connection, this can allow a hacker to monitor the users activity (Cabler, 2014). If a hacker

wanted to steal someones identity online, Internet Freedom would disallow authorities to locate

the identity thief.

Internet users have a responsibility to protect their identity. The Internet user must be

diligent and aware of various hacker tactics. As it is the responsibility of a personal computer

user to protect their own identity from theft, it is the responsibility of the Television and Film

Industry to protect their content from theft. Regulating and spying on Internet users is not a

solution, rather, it is invasive and a violation of privacy. The Television and Film Industry needs

to change their monetizing model to adapt to the consumers needs. Netflix, an online streaming

service application, has had to make adjustments to their business model to meet the consumers

needs. Netflix is a middleman between the Television and Film Industry and the consumer.

Netflix was once the leader in DVD rentals, now, they have adapted to the preference of the

consumer and they are the leader in streaming Television and Film content. The key to Netflixs
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success is their determination to reinvent themselves (Cohan, 2013). The Television and Film

Industry needs to reinvent how their media is distributed and monetized. An Internet user who

torrented films in the early 2000s found that torrenting was the most convenient solution.

Purchasing or renting a film online was too expensive and didnt always deliver the media. File

formats, Internet security, incompatibility plugins are just some of the many reasons why media

deliver was buggy. This can only frustrate the consumer. Torrenting is the faster and more

convenient solution, so naturally, Internet users prefer to torrent the film to gain viewing access.

The medium to download or stream content through services like iTunes, Amazon Video on

Demand, and Google Play has improved recently. Now, if it becomes too time consuming for the

consumer to torrent a film, the trend is they will likely rent or purchase a television show or film

if there is easy access to the media (Klosowski, 2013). Providing the viewer with a better

experience is a fast way to get a consumer to open their wallets. Kevin Spacey is an Actor on the

hit show House of Cards an original Netflix series. When Netflix picked up the show for two

seasons, the viewers responded by binge watching the show. Kevin Spacey gave a presentation

about the viewers needs versus piracy and the success of House of Cards. The main takeaway

from the presentation is to give the consumer control, give them what they want when they want

it, at a fair price, and there will be no need to worry about piracy (Masnick, 2013). If the

Television and Film Industry wants to beat piracy, regulating Internet freedom is not the answer.

Instead, the Television and Film Industry needs to create a win-win scenario where the consumer

receives the content that they want, when they want it, and at a price that is fair. This is the most

viable and sustainable solution.

The popular website Mega Upload owned by Kim Dotcom, allowed for users to upload

and download large files from the Internet. The Movie/TV Film Industry believes this business
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is responsible for many millions lost in revenue due to Mega Uploads file sharing. Kim

Dotcoms various company valuations were estimated at 2.5 Billion. Kim is a hacker turned into

a businessman who has done very well for himself. Eventually, the Federal Bureau Investigation

shut down Mega Upload in 2012. In an Interview with Mega Upload founder, Kim Dotcom,

CBS reached out to the Motion Picture Association for a comment about Mega Upload and their

response in summary was, no Industry can compete with theft (Simon, 2014). In a separate

interview, Kim Dotcom says that the Television and Film Industry have the power to solve the

issue of piracy by controlling the distribution of content. Eliminating the middlemen like Netflix

will enable film studios to make more money. Creating a subscription-based model that lets the

consumer subscribe at a monthly fixed rate to access a studios entire catalog is the solution. The

Television and Film Industry would probably have the biggest Internet Company on the planet if

they followed this model (Fung, 2015).

The consumer has already formed their viewing preferences and the Industry is beginning

to respond. One of the biggest subjects at CES in 2015 is 4k streaming. 4K or Ultra-High

Definition is approximately four times the size of 1080P High Definition. This technology

allows for clearer picture and a rebirth of the Television. 4K streaming models are helping the

Television and Film studios and 4k service providers to better understand the future of

entertainment. New businesses are emerging due to this new technology and newer delivery and

security measures are being introduced. A new 4K streaming service by the name of Ultraflix is

changing the way viewers remember classic films. Ultraflix is acquiring content from big name

studios and converting their content to 4K, giving the consumer something new to be excited

about. Classic films like the Godfather can now be viewed in stunning 4k at a cost of $4.99 for a

48-hour rental. This new service is an example of giving the consumer value while protecting
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and monetizing content. Television manufactures are also updating a changing their operating

systems to make it more convenient for people to play games, order food delivery, and access

streamable content from a variety of platforms. There are new security measures that are being

introduced that will make it inconvenient to torrent a large film. Furthermore, the cloud is

making it much more convenient for the consumer to download or stream content with the

concept of digital lockers. Digital Lockers are a way for the consumer to access their purchased

content anywhere at anytime through the cloud (Chaksfield, 2015). This is the type of solution

that the consumer is nonverbally asking for and once it becomes mainstream, the consumer will

respond. Digital Lockers is still a work in progress but a step in the right direction for everyone.

The consumer will naturally make themselves familiar with all of these forms of media delivery

and they will also adapt to the changes.

Ultimately, it should not be up to the TV/Film Industry or one single corporate entity to

affect the fate of Internet Freedom. Instead, the TV/Film Industry needs to adapt to the

consumers needs and secure their content online to prevent people from torrenting or file sharing

their content. There are several streaming services that are battling for the cord-cutters business.

Netflix has proven that if you give the consumer what they want, the consumer will respond and

want more of it. It is the Television and Film Industrys responsibility to change their

expectations and adjust their monetization models. Internet Privacy should not be violated as a

result of Corporations who must innovate. Nobody should have to worry about privacy breaches

and Internet Service Providers should not participate in violations of Constitutional Rights. Just

like it is responsibility of the computer user to protect themselves from identity thieves, the

TV/Film Industry must change their monetization model and security measures. There is too

much at risk when Internet Users have to alter their behaviors on the Internet. Technology is
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changing and the consumer has proven that they are adapting with this change. The consumer

ultimately is going to dictate the TV/Film monetization model, the future is here and now. There

are many thriving pay-per-view models and subscription based apps, now its time for the

Television and Film Studios to evolve and participate in the change of streaming media.
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References

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Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/surveillance-under-usa-patriot-act

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