By Susan Jennings
Years ago, when I was a student at Penn State, I was more than happy to take advantage of the dorm’s high-speed Internet to stay in touch with family and friends via instant messenger, surf the web, and, of course, download massive quantities of “free” music via Napster.
The words “online piracy” didn’t really mean much to me and I only slowed down my thievery after persistent e-mails from the school’s IT department warned me that I was using too much bandwidth and that my web access was about to be cut off.
It wasn’t until years later while working as a journalist in a newsroom that was getting ready to add a pay wall that I began to fully understand the real-world effect of expecting that all online content should be free.
The people producing that content – whether they’re musicians, actors or writers like me — are professionals working to support their families. By demanding that their music, films, shows, games or stories be available free of charge, I’m making it more difficult for them to make a living.
A study by the Institute for Policy Innovation found that piracy of sound recordings alone results in an annual loss of $12.5 billion to the U.S. economy, in addition to more than 70,000 lost jobs and $2 billion in lost wages.
I know that when my kids are old enough to go online, we’ll make sure to include a discussion about digital piracy along with conversations about safely using social media and protecting their online identities.
To prepare for that chat, I thought it’d be helpful to have a quick overview on online piracy.
What is digital piracy?
Digital or online piracy is a form of copyright infringement – when copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed or derived without the copyright owner’s permission. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, some of the most common forms of online copyright infringement include:
— Sharing digital files of songs, videos, TV shows or games on peer-to-peer software, BitTorrent search engines, link communities and digital locker services
— Downloading unauthorized copies of copyrighted content to your computer from the computers of other network members
— Paying a fee to join a file-sharing network that isn’t authorized to make copies of or distribute copyrighted material
— Transferring copyrighted material via instant messenger or e-mail
— Using a CD/DVD burner to burn copies of music, movies or games you have downloaded to share with others
In addition to file-sharing sites, there’s been a rise in mobile applicationsthat allow smartphone users to access unlicensed content.
Penalties for piracy
Any of these actions could subject you to civil or criminal liability. Offenders could face paying thousands of dollars in damages or fines and end up with a felony record and jail time.
The RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America have not been shy about taking legal action against copyright violators. A former Boston University student was ordered to pay $675,000 to be split between four record labels for illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs (that’s $22,500 a song).
Beyond all the legal concerns, there’s always a potential that you could put your computers and mobile devices at risk for malware and unwanted viruses when downloading files from an unknown source.
Despite the risks, online piracy continues to grow. A 2013 study from NetNames found that in January 2013, 432 million Internet users worldwide “explicitly sought” copyright-infringing content online.
“It just shows how embedded this particular activity has become in people’s lives,” NetNames director of piracy analysis David Price told U.S. News and World Report (how long ago?).
Alternatives
These days, there are plenty of places you go to find legitimate and affordable entertainment online.
If your kids are looking for options, point them to iTunes, Pandora,Rhapsody or Spotify for music or Hulu, Netflix or Amazon for video. This content can be accessed for free, via a monthly subscription, or for a one-time fee.
And if they whine about having to pay a dollar for their new favorite song, remind them that if they really love the song and the artist, then they should be willing to support them.