Melanie Beltran
MCS 244
April 10, 2019
In the article, “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You” by Paul Tassi, Forbes, it states, “Realize piracy is a service problem…Piracy is not raiding and plundering Best Buys and FYEs, smashing the windows and running out with the loot. It’s like being placed in a store full of every DVD in existence. There are no employees, no security guards, and when you take a copy of a movie, another one materializes in its place, so you’re not actually taking anything.” It is in some sense hurting copyright online because it is essentially copying the content. In Timothy J. Seppala’s “The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far)” article, it talks about the start of piracy. “The Pirate Bay was the 97th most-visited website on the entire internet in 2008… during the 2009 trial that saw co-founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm charged with $3.6 million in fines, along with time behind bars for aiding in copyright infringement, it was reported that The Pirate Bay had some 22 million users.” It seemed to be very common for copyrights infringement. Piracy only makes it easier to make copies, which prevent film companies that produce documentaries or movies from selling their DVDs because it could be easily found elsewhere “illegally.” In Zachary M. Seward’s “Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video” article, it talks about a popular movie called “The Interview”and analyzing the comparisons of people seeing it in the theaters versus renting and/or buying it online. There is the talk of movies being better watched and viewed from the comfort of one’s homes as opposed to being in the theater because one can rent the film(s) or purchase and watch it at home. “TorrentFreak, which tracks piracy of digital media, said the data were ‘comparable to that of popular blockbusters, but they’re certainly not exceptional.’ Piracy may be inevitable, but the early data suggest it can be mitigated with widely and easily available options to pay online.” Piracy is easy to pay for. Many people have turned to stream video platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, it is very convenient for people to just stay home. Piracy is beneficial to people who’d rather stay home and watch shows from streams as opposed to going out. Unfortunately, copyrights are hurt because of the duplication but at the same time, one can pay for the piracy.