If someone asks me whether I used to download piracies from the internet, I will answer them ‘YES’ with no hesitation. Who in this world have never downloaded the music or movies illegally from the websites? I don’t think there are many people that haven’t done that. When I came across the article “Piracy websites attract billions of visits”, it really attracted me as I’m the one who love to listen to music and watch movies. The article is totally related to me in any way.
In the article, there’s a study on the numbers of the file-sharing websites’ access which shows that the 43 fire-sharing sites generated more than 53 billion visits per year. Those websites are popular because people can share piracy contents like music and films by peer-to-peer technologies. Even though the amount of the site visits are not equal to the numbers of downloads of illegal materials, it shows that downloading music or films on those file-sharing sites are more popular than getting them from non-network based methods. Consequently, there are many trials brought to the court to close those websites down or find some measures to control the file-sharing. Therefore, this problem is too complex to be controlled by the court anymore. It’s time to find another solution to handle it.
Since the internet has become easier to access by anyone, the world has totally changed. People from across the overseas can communicate each other so easily. Not just the communication, the internet makes our lives easier. You can do almost everything through the internet without going out from your home. You can purchase things you like and pay for it via online shop and online banking. The world has got smaller. Alongside the good things of using internet, it has also brought about the bad behavior of sharing things illegally through the internet. As I have mentioned above, I believed everyone used to download pirated music, films or any other stuffs at least once. Since it is so easy to do that and you don’t have to pay for it, I’m also the one who used to do that. However, have anyone thought about the artists, the directors or the other one who related in the production of both music and films? How hard they put their efforts on the works? How much money they spend on those production? I quite sure that everyone who downloaded piracies knows that it’s illegal and they violate the creators’ rights. Those people do the music and films for their living and then we just find their works on the internet and download them without pay. I think about it a lot and I’ve tried to change my habit. I’ve tried to support the artists I like by purchasing their CDs. I also bought the DVDs of my favorite movies. Like it was said in the article, the problem about piracy is out of control nowadays. I think we can solve this problem by starting with yourself. Be more sympathetic to others, try to think that you’re the one in the production and maybe you can realize why you shouldn’t download them for free ever again.
Piracy websites attract billions of visits. (2011, January 11). BBC News. Retrieved January 14, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12163161
The first thing I thought of was that this blog has only had 22,541 hits since I started it in 2008. We're no where near the billions mark yet.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with Niche's comments: it's very tempting to steal, but stealing is actually wrong, it does harm other people, and it's immoral. I like free things, but if someone works to create something I value, I think it's fair that I pay them for the value I've received. If I don't think it's worth paying what they are asking, perhaps that means I don't value it enough to want it at all.
Unfortunately, you might sometimes have a problem with a couple of the websites on my suggested reading list: they are subscription sites, so not all of the content is freely available. I value them enough to pay the subscription fees, but I don't expect you to do that. It does, however, mean that you might get the first tantalizing bit of an article and not be able to read the whole story. As you can see, there is a link to the Oxford English Dictionary's [OED] Word of the Day, but not to that excellent dictionary itself, the reason being that it requires a subscription. But the OED is quite decent, and it lets me email a working link to an entry that allows access for a few days, and I do occasionally do that, although for our purposes, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary [OALD] is a very good dictionary, and the online version of that is complete and free.
As I was having my morning coffee (pleasantly later than the last few days), another thought occurred to me: the most tempting criminal download (or pirated disc purchase) is probably software, such as MS Word.
ReplyDeleteIs that ever just and moral, or is such stealing also always wrong?
Stealing never gets this easy. Unlike shoplifting or other crimes, commiting piracy happens pretty fast and simple. We just google files and hit the download button. Next thing we know, stealing achived.
ReplyDeleteThe world has changes rapidly and people might struggle to wrap their heads around the idea that piracy is as serious as other crimes. I know it's a bad habit of mine getting used to listen/watch media files without paying for them, even if I would end up buying everything I actually like later on. But this is no free sample, I shouldn't take it like there is one.
However, I always hated buying a cd and figured there was only one decent song which is the one that was promoted, so, piracy does make my life easier and my shopping list more productive.
I think we need to find the balance between customers' satisfaction/convenience and the benefit of the company, especially when there are so many excuses for us, customers, to go ahead and commiting piracy. Since we all couldn't help but agree that the affects of piracy is not as clear, dramatic, and intense as actually go out to a mall, take a DVD, and run!
I agree with some of your comments, Roong. I think people have the idea in their heads that downloading piracy isn't wrong. That makes the rate of file-sharing are increasing and very popular nowadays. Stealing is wrong no matter what excuses were given. However, downloading piracy is different. It's sort of abstract, unlike the shoplifting. That's why everyone doesn't feel guilty when they download music or movies for free.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that I wanna pay for stuffs that I really like and worth enough to pay for. I'm now falling in love with iTunes store. The iTunes store provides the sample of every song and movie they sell. The length of all samples are long enough for me to know that whether I like it or not. It's very useful before I decide to pay for the song or movie. I think these are the balancing that Roong has mentioned. Unfortunately, there are still less online stores that provide us the sample like iTunes.
I think that even if right pirate is wrong, sometime it give benefits to singers. I have heard a singer say about the good way of pirate and I think it seem fair. She think today the situation about pirate is like the period before had tape cassettes. In that time, artists had to tour concert for their survival. Then, they had to be slaves of companies for singing and dancing to record in memory recorder which make major benefits to companies not artists. Now, Mp3 force artists to tour concert and it make artists to be well-know. Therefore, I think some artist think right pirate is ok and help promote their songs.
ReplyDeletePoome,
ReplyDeleteI think that some artists are now using online distribution to cut out the companies.
If artists are happy for their work to be freely downloaded, is that still piracy?
I think it's not piracy, Peter.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the purpose of each product. If the creators want to sell their works for living, downloading their works for free is absolutely piracy.
However, as you said, If the artists are happy for their works to be freely downloaded or the creators want to provide their work for education, then it's not piracy.
Yes, piracy is a big problem for producers and I think they realise this problem and they know that it is hard to control. However,they try to create new strategies to stop or decrease this problem. For example, they produce the 3D movies to attract our attention to go to cinema more than to download from the internet. This stategy effects on me because I really want to go to the 3D theatre instead watching on the computer.
ReplyDeletewhen i want to see thai movie i buy a ticket and watch it in the theater. because i would like to support thai film maker. i can't buy thai piracy dvd because i feel shame on that and another reason it so cheap and easy to find. when i find alternative film from other country that is not come from USA. i buy dvd at Jatujak Market. it is piracy dvd that sell freely on the street. I want to support them but I can't find the place to buy and buying from website is not my chose because it is too expensive and too complicate. i can't afford that. i understand that my habit effect to their selling point but i have no shame to do that.
ReplyDeleteDoes this problem course from the demand and supply that is not balance?. if all dvd easy to find and not too much expensive for people to support. Why people will wast their time for downloading?
Western have sharing culture which is very interesting. if you are invented new program and you share it to other people in network for free or let them give you a support via donation to continue your new invention. this is a good idea that should teach thai children. it might help them realize that piracy is not allow to do with no shame.