...In recent years, internet piracy or "file sharing" of copyrighted material has gained much popularity. It is a topic that has incessantly sparked debate and has even received global attention. Although on the surface the act of file sharing may seem harmless, it is far from it. Each year, film and record production companies as well as software and video game development companies suffer from billions of dollars in lost profits. This loss comes as a direct result of internet piracy. Many agree that file sharing is unethical and consider it to be no different than downright theft. On the other hand, there are those that support file sharing and claim that their actions are easily justified and ethical. This essay will provide a brief overview and history of file sharing, will consider the arguments of each side, and will offer my personal observations and stance on the issue. File sharing, put simply, is the process of making available and distributing files via the internet. Many freely developed applications have been made available that simplify this process, providing the ability to easily search for, download, and upload any piece of digital content imaginable. These applications are commonly referred to as P2P or peer-to-peer applications as they allow individuals (peers) to directly connect with other peers to share files. By themselves, such applications are useless; a central network must be available that allows each peer to see one another. These networks...
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...In the sociological perspective of functionalist, deviance is important for society to remain functional. For it contributes to the social order. Piracy is defined as an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The idea of categorizing the transgression of private rights in creative works as "piracy" predates statutory copyright law. The Sean Parker joined friend Shawn Fanning and started the file-sharing service Napster in 1999. Napster's popularity among music lovers quickly escalated. Within its first year, the service attracted tens of millions of users, but also became a target of the music industry, which saw the start-up as a huge threat to its business. Napster was opposed by recording labels, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the heavy metal band Metallica, among others. Lawsuits by various industry associations eventually shut down the service Napster has been called the fastest growing business of all time, is credited with revolutionizing the music industry, and is considered by some to be a precursor to iTunes. I can actually agree with what happened, as piracy is wrong. But I must stress that it was a needed action. Which resulted in all of these companies expanding their industry. Focusing the music, film industry into evolving. Expanding. Into the new era, the era of the internet. In February 2003, Dotcom set up another company called Data Protect Limited, but changed the name to Megaupload in 2005.Megaupload was a file hosting...
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...exponential growth of information due to the Internet, businesses have faced many changes and challenges. Not all change has been positive, however; with the increased anonymity and ease of sharing information, piracy has become a very real issue for companies, both in and out of the workplace. Piracy can be segmented into two main industries; the multimedia industry which involves the copying of songs, videos and games, and the software industry which is the copying of software licences. For the purpose of this paper, we will be discussing the implications of software piracy, its effects on everyday businesses, and also briefly cover the effects on the industry itself. We will apply the theoretical framework and specify what this issue means to business managers in a practical setting. History Software Piracy originated in the 1960’s when the CD-RW drive was invented and floppy disks were traded. Since that time, the industry has grown significantly, especially in developing countries, resulting in billions of dollars of lost economic benefits and tax revenue. Prior to the 1980’s, one could pirate software without any legal implications. However, in the late 1970’s, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, lobbied for legislation to protect the integrity of software. When an individual or organization purchases software, it is the license to use the software that is purchased, not the software itself. As a result, Software Piracy is now an illegal act in most countries. ...
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...Issues related to free Internet download in China According to data released January from China Internet Network Information Center, the number of Internet users in China has broken through 500 million already by the end of 2011, which increased by 28 million compared with the first half of 2011. By now, China has about a 38.3% Internet penetration rate, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with last year. China's web culture and regulatory environment remain very different from those of other countries, and there are many unique characteristics of China’s Netizens. 70% of the Chinese users are under 30 years of age; they are the new “Shopaholic S”. But they usually do not pay for any software or eBook online, only for physical commodity and some games. Computer users can easily pirate software for less than $2, or download software like Tomato Garden free of charge. In addition, PC games are relatively easy to pirate and download for free; So many teenagers would do this rather than buy a game. The Chinese users can almost get everything from the Internet, including the best-selling novel, latest movie, music or software by totally free. It sounds that this “free Internet environment” provides Chinese users with “great convenient”, but it’s not. Network tort already became increasingly pressing issue in China since this illegal download has hurt more and more people’s rights. For example, Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, known for illegal downloads, involved...
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...and be happy. This is exactly what piracy is all about. So what exactly is so wrong with pirating? Piracy of entertainment is illegal and viewed as typically wrong by majority of people. Personally I have saved quite possibly thousands of dollars in pirating in my life. From the days of LimeWire where you could pirate a single song that you would have to download and wait throughout the night for it to be usable. To today where we are able to download whole discographies of artists within half an hour or less. However, today I would like to present you the facts that piracy isn’t as wrong as it appears and how each and everyone in this room can benefit from it by providing information on how it cannot be stopped, the monetary impacts of piracy, and other benefits of piracy. Transistion: Piracy is defined as the illegal trade or copy of digital entertainment according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. A study by Portsmouth University in 2014 concluded that the motives for piracy are that it saves money, often helps artists bypass record companies and allows access to content before it’s release date. Body I: Now that we know why people pirate we can look at how Piracy cannot be stopped. A. Goverments have attempted and momentarily succeded to take down pirating websites such as The Pirate Bay, but they revived and came back under multiple new domains within a short period of time B. In 2011 a bill called ‘SOPA’ or STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT was introduced by US Representative...
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...Why is software piracy so pervasive? I believe software piracy is so wide-spread because of the easy method for sharing this software world-wide through the internet. With peer-to-peer sharing through torrent sites a person can share software with the world. Without the ability to share software on the internet piracy would be much less pervasive. I have heard some people make the excuse for using pirated software on the exorbitant profits that companies like Microsoft are generating due to overpriced software. Years ago there was an outcry that Microsoft should give a discount when a person purchased multiple copies. In response, Microsoft did finally offer a discounted Family Pak for their OS and Office. I also believe the conversion to digital formats like eBooks and mp3’s has made it easier to pirate these types of products. What are your innovative ideas to reduce this problem? This is a battle that I feel the software industry is losing although they have put up a fight. We have seen torrent sites shut down, individuals jailed, and people fined and yet pirating only seems to grow. Popular sites like isohunt and Demonoid which were shut down by the MPAA have resurrected their torrent site in different countries. Over the years the software industry has tried numerous methods including serial numbers, activation, and more recently online activation and authentication as Microsoft started with the new Office 2013, but it seems hackers continue to find methods...
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...in the store. Why would I do that, instead of just pirating them off the internet (which I have the technical know-how to do)? First we look at all the benefits steam has to offer. Back in May 2008, Valve brought cloud storage to Steam, allowing for all saved games, replays, screenshots, and other files found in any Steam game to be saved on Valve's servers. This enables gamers to access their save files regardless of what hardware they're using. Simply logging into your Steam account will allow you to pick up right where you were last playing, even if you happen to be on somebody else's PC miles away from your own. Second, Steam has a social networking service built-in that lets me see what games my friends own and are playing, and helps me find people to play with. Steam is always offering crazy sales. You'll turn on your computer and routinely see games marked down by 75%. These sales are for "a limited time only" and you practically feel like you're losing money if you don't buy something. In consequence, my hard drive is filled with games I haven't even had a chance to play yet. Lastly, Steam is a very small and clean program. All your games are packed into one program that installs them neatly and efficiently, leaving your computer desktop clutter free. This overall ease of use is why Steam is so popular today. Steam has some disadvantages, most notably that you need to be connected to the internet to play your games. Also the fact that I don’t have hard copies of the...
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...pirated goods have increased. Comparing to 2006 we see an increase in almost all product sectors. Besides medicines, which have gone up by 51% compared to 2006, the 264% increase of intercepted articles for personal care is also a very worrying factor considering that creams, toothpaste and razor blades are amongst them. Another worrying sector is the one of electrical equipment in which we find fuse boxes, switches and other safety equipment under the seized goods. The increasing use of the internet to sell fakes (mainly medicines) and the fact that the high quality of fakes often makes identification impossible without technical expertise, increases the challenge customs face. One of the reasons for this explosion in trade in fakes is that criminals can now produce them on an industrial scale. This provides increased profits and a lot of international criminal organisations are now involved in counterfeiting. It is also believed that terrorist groups are involved in counterfeit and piracy as a means of financing their...
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...* Motives in pirating a “LOADED” employee/officer of competitor? (1) The company wants the experience and skills of employee. * By headcounting, the 2nd company will definitely benefit from the training, experience, and solid background the pirated individual has acquired from the 1st company. (2) Wants to acquire its competitor’s trade secret. * Not only experience but also the acquisition of the trade secrets or confidential information from the 1st company – like techniques, methodology, marketing strategy, classified formula, exclusive non public data or style. Example: BPI – pioneer automated teller machine and computerized banking * What is digital video recording? * What is Technology Piracy in Digital Recording? * Unauthorized...
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...in discussion for years, and that is the comparison between the revenues of digital music that can be obtained through the internet to that of CD’s. There is also discussion of what the future may hold for the music industry. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has recently stated that there has been an 8 percent increase in global revenue for digital music in 2011 which is a $5.2 billion dollar increase from last year. Because of this increase that means there has to be a decrease somewhere, the decrease is found in the decline in sales of physical formats (CD’s), this market has dropped to 3 percent which is about $16.2 billion dollars. There is belief that in the future all physical formats of music will be a thing of the past and everything will be found digitally. The reason for this belief is that downloads of single digital tracks (which Apple iTunes capitalized on) rose to 11 percent in volume and digital albums rose to 24 percent. There is also discussion of what subscription music services such as Rhapsody, Spotify and Deezer have done to the music industry and its revenue. With these subscription music services there has been a 64 percent increase of subscribers since 2010 and a $13.4 million dollar increase. Recently the US has proposed two laws that could put an end to peer to peer sharing, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Because of these two laws the shutdown of the file sharing website...
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...which didn’t host any files more than it takes to supply a website with navigation capabilities? I’m not underselling this either, Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij of Sweden were handed down a very harsh sentence from Stockholm, Sweden’s district court in the 2008-2009 case against The Pirate Bay for hosting a website people were using to (technically) only share the links to copyrighted material. When you think of an internet pirate, do you imagine someone taking the livelihood away from a rich Hollywood bigshot, robbing a human of their ability to live and take care of themself? Chances are that isn’t the image that comes to mind to the average American, nor the average Earth citizen. Now, the statement that “piracy is a victimless crime” isn’t completely wrong or completely wrong from my view. I can understand the side that says that it isn’t a victimless crime, because the creators of software or media do rely on that money to make a living in some situations. I see the other side too though. The side that says that piracy is a victimless crime. A great deal of available software and media have quite a few steps between the end user and the actual creator or whatever the digital good is. Movies have many production companies, including 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures, and many, many other studios. These are the companies of which you see the logos before almost all movies. These studios are owned by the biggest...
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...As a privateer, he had to share his loot with the government. Also he can rob loot freely without the fear of getting in trouble. On the Biographical Essay of Blackbeard; on paragraph 1 it says, “When the war ended in 1713, he turned to Piracy, like other former privateers.” He did that because after the war, there wouldn’t be many ships to rob and as a pirate he can rob anyone anywhere. By 1716, He was serving inder the command of Thornigold. Thornigold and his men started to rob ships in the Americas. On the Biographical Essay of Blackbeard; on paragraph 2 it says, “On Thornigold’s ship, he sailed from New Providence in the West Indies, to the American mainland.” In America, there were many ships to rob. Also many trade ships entered and left the Americas. They attacked a French trade ship in 1717, which Teach took over as the ship’s captain. On the Biographical essay of Blackbeard; on paragraph 2 it says, “In 1717, after the pirate crew attacked a large merchant ship headed for France, Teach took over the captured vessel’s captain.” Now they can rob more with two ships. It will also be better to have two ships in a battle. Works Cited Farmington Hills,Mich. “Edward Teach.” Outlaws, Mobsters & Crooks: From the Old West to the Internet. U*X*L, 1998. Biography Resource Center Gale. Sugarland FBISD. 11 Feb...
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...Is It Ethical to download illegally movies from internet:- The circulation of movies has altered dramatically over the past ten years. Sales of substantial goods, CD’s and DVD’s, have dropped harshly since 2000 when diverse online groups were built to share and download pirated movies with each, conceiving conflict of interest and promise loss for the business. The movie industry is feeling the agony of online piracy, as sales of DVD’s in 2008 fallen to their smallest levels in five years. A lone video, “the Dark Knight” was downloaded at smallest seven million times around the world in 2008. This pattern of illegal downloading in the joined States is mirrored in other nations as well. In a latest study of Japanese Internet users, it was reported that between 2005 and 2008, the number of illegally downloaded movies and songs almost increase two-fold. Whereas the movie commerce has become more aggressive in their methods to stop illegal downloading, they appear to be battling an uphill battle. The tremendous rush in popularity throughout 2008 and 2009 of communal newspapers sites such as Facebook and Twitter has helped give illegal downloader’s another way to converse with like minded persons and find new ways to pirate videos. The theme of illegal downloading of copyrighted material extends to be of interest to the movie industry. Actual marketplace purchase/download demeanor is adversely affected by illegal document sharing. Without conceiving about the communal ethics, persons...
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...Prison Term Policy Recommendation Proposal Priscilla Williams CJA/314 September 3, 2013 Robert Williams Prison Term Policy Recommendation Proposal I have been hired as a criminologist advisor to one of the state legislature. The state legislature will soon vote on a bill that, if it passes will double the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery. This bill is very important and needs to be examined to see if it would be a solution to decrease arm robberies. The reason I am writing this proposal is to point out different solutions that might be very beneficial. I am examining the new bill to see if the changes are necessary and beneficial. Army Robbery is a very serious crime and seems to be on the rise since the country has been in recession. Robbery is a crime of theft and can be classified as Larceny by force or by threat of force. The elements of the crime of robbery include the use of force or intimidation and all the elements of the crime of larceny. The penalty for robbery is always more severe than for larceny (Dictionary). Victims of armed robberies want nothing more than to see justice served and to feel safe. When an individual is robbed, it hurts financially, mentally, and sometimes physically. The US government also pays a very high price due to robbery. Although crime seems to be declining, the US government incurs heavy cost attributed to armed robbery crime. According to the 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report, an estimate of $456 million in...
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...the ensuing civil war in Somalia in 1991. With permission of the corrupt military leaders and landlords, they greedily over-fished leaving the poor Somalian fishermen with very little. By 1997, several European countries had polluted Somali waters with their waste worsening the problem for the locals. This forced the Somali fishermen to become the Somali pirates (AEDI 5). Pirates are very wealthy men in their country. In a place where everyone suffers in poverty, a little wealth can seem like the cowl of a cape crusader. Despite their reasoning, the actions of the Somali Pirates are negatively affecting Somalia, neighboring countries and the countries who are taking anti-piracy measures to stop them. In 2010 it is estimated that pirates indirectly cost their neighbors about 125 billion dollars (“Maritime piracy costs”). Egypt is losing revenue that comes from the fees they charge ships to use the Suez Canal. What would be Suez Canal bound ships are choosing to re-route to avoid the chance of pirates violently seizing their ships and potentially holding valuable passengers and cargo for ransom. This ultimately results in the increase of the final price of the re-routed ship’s contents executed through increasing the cost of shipping. A notable case...
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