Say No to Piracy
Making unauthorized copies of a software programme, a movie or a song is stealing.
When creators of movies, music and novels cannot make a living because of rampant piracy, the quantity, variety and quality of new movies, music and novels will be reduced.
Because technology makes the stealing intellectual property so easy and so safe and the fact that one can do it without fear of getting caught, the guilt that a normal crime could evoke is absent, and this is not right.
It is because we do not see the victim, we do not know how he or she is affected by acts of intellectual piracy, we do not care.
One reason why we do not think nor create is that there is someone out there who has done the thinking for us and all we need to do is to is to use a search engine to locate the idea and copy it. It is no wonder then that we have become more intellectually lazy and less original.
When you purchase counterfeit products the money goes directly into the pockets of the pirates. Who do you prefer to support? Pirates and crooks or legitimate businessmen? It is a fact that the pirated copy is a lot cheaper and this may be a major consideration for you but remember that you may well be getting a very inferior product for this money.
Original computer products come with guarantees of quality, support and upgrades. What do you get with pirated products?
The price of software is high partly because the producers need to ensure that the limited copies they sell will be sufficient to cover authoring, producing and distribution costs. If large companies do not have to pay the billions of dollars they are paying to ensure that copyright materials are being protected, the price of software and other products can be substantially lowered. Thus by engaging in illegal copying, you are actually keeping prices high for the buyer of legal copies.
"I am only making one illegal copy for myself. It is not like I am making thousands for sale and distribution." If millions of people think this way, then only one copy of the original will be sold.
If you love watching exciting shows like the X-Men movies then you should ensure that more movies in this series can be made by giving the actors, producers etc their due. Deprive them of their livelihood and the series will come to an abrupt end. Will this benefit you?
It's not hard to see what attracts criminals to the software racket. A drug dealer pays about $47,000 for a kilo of cocaine, and can sell it on the street for about $94,000, a 100% profit. But for the same outlay of $47,000 — and a lot less risk — an enterprising crook can buy 1,500 pirated copies of Office 2000 Professional and resell them for a profit of 900%. (Time, Nov 8 ,2002)
Why we exercise copyright, however, and we don’t put it in the public domain, we have a fairly sophisticated licensing procedure, is actually to protect the integrity and accuracy of our information….people can rely on the information they receive from us. It also enables us, if we are licensing on the Internet, to withdraw that information when it becomes out-of-date and when a new version is available. (WHO spokesman, 21-22-Feb 2002, Commission on Intellectual Property Rights)
Still, someone not having the money to buy the game is not excuse to use a hack. Now, suppose you go to a store and really want to buy a game, but don't have the money. Is the store going to let you have it for free? No! In my opinion, using a hack is almost exactly the same as stealing. So really, I don't see what's so 'honest' as some people say about hacking. It's stealing, plain and simple, at least in my opinion. (Bulletin board contributor)
I certainly do not condone software piracy. People should be paid for their work. But ethics is a dual edged sword ... You can only expect others to be ethical towards you if you yourself are ethical. We would be remiss in discussing the ethics of those who make so much money in the software business. ((Bulletin board contributor)
Discussion:
What are some arguments against the copyright laws?
Should intellectual and creative works be protected? How?
Labels: please comment (: (Kendrick's group)
7 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
I agree with the author that the quality and the quantity will be affected by rampant piracy. For example, when an artist produces an album, it is hes creativity and hard work. Because of piracy, these effort and original piece of work is being stolen, technology is one of the main factors which spreads piracy. Like the author said, technology makes the stealing of intellectual-property so easy and safe and the fact that one can do it without the fear of getting caught, the guilt that a normal crime could evoke is absent, however this should not be happening. The internet makes it so easy for people to download the latest music, movies and music videos online which promotes stealing online. Getting these pirated musics online is not the only way of violating copyrights law, by buying pirated CDs, it shows that one is supporting these pirates instead of the original director or artist. If everyone switches to purchasing pirated goods, nobody would want to pay so much for getting original and therefore the actors , producers and directors et cetra, are not getting their due.
However, on the other hand, I disagree with the author that we should say no to piracy. Piracy is an easy way to earn big profits, like the author states that with an outlay of $47,000, an enterprising crook can buy 1,500 pirated copies of Office 2000 Professional and resell them for a profit of 900% and it also have a lower risk of getting caught. I am not trying to promote the sales of pirated goods but thinking in a logical way, pirated goods are much cheaper compared to the original product, the original product is overpriced in the market. Because they spend unnecessary money to ensure copyrights material are protected, it causes the price of software and other products to be highly priced. Even if they spend the money on getting copyrights, people would still find a way to get the pirated copy therefore wouldn't it be useless to spend billions of money on copyrights. In this way, the prices of software and other goods would be lowered and people would consider getting the original product instead of the pirated goods as now the difference between these 2 products isn't very great, thus they would eventually choose to buy the original product as it provides quality, support and upgrades.
In my overall view, I would agree with the author that we should say no to piracy, although piracy has its benefits, but we should still support the creators of advanced products. This would motivate them to create more products which will satisfy us, as when these people stop producing original copies due to piracy, it would affect the entire population because without the original product, there will not be pirated product leading to an economic crash.
- Kendrick -
O.o -=(HAM FTW)=- o.O
I agree with the author that creators of movies, music and novels cannot make a living because of rampant piracy. Due to large amount of people producing pirated products, original products have since lost its placing in people's heart. For example, people can easily get to watch movies or download the movies online to enjoy them rather than having to make the trouble to go to cinemas to watch and wasting money in the process of enjoying the movie. This results in more and more people not wanting to watch movies in cinema leading to a loss in profits to the creator of the movies since they have to rely on the number of tickets sold for their profits. Music can also be found anywhere in the internet whereby one can easily click on the download button to download it and instantly get on hands to the musics. This results in people only wanting to get the musics online for free and waiting for other people to upload them online resulting in fewer and fewer people buying the original albums and so artists are not able to earn money from selling their albums as supported from what the author said, "I am only making one illegal copy for myself. It is not like I am making thousands for sale and distribution." If millions of people think this way, then only one copy of the original will be sold."
However, I disagree with the writer in saying no to piracy. Sometimes, piracy might be the only way out for people to be able afford the products. Original products to them might be too expensive for them to buy and thus they have to go for piracy goods. Although the goods might not be as good as original ones in terms of quality, but it will at the very least give them some sort of satisfaction whereby they also do have the same kind of goods as others. Thus, it's impossible to some people to say no to piracy.
On the whole, I would agree to the author in saying no to piracy as by creating pirated products will lead to original creators not wanting to create more products in the future as they will find that even if they create new kind of products, it will still get replaced by the pirated ones and they will not make money from the products they create thus we should support the original products and say no to piracy.
Eugene
This comment has been removed by the author.
The author believes that the reason why we are indifferent is because we are unaware of the consequence/impact of our actions towards victims of piracy. I disagree with the author’s point. I believe that it wouldn’t make a difference even if we were to know the impact of our doings on the victims.
I feel that, even if we were to know the consequences of our actions, we would not feel the need to care, especially since everyone is doing so too. (Everyone’s doing it; so why should I be the one who has to care) Also, since it has become so common, we believe even if were to avoid it, the impact we have would not be so significant. As such, we would still commit the crime because we believe that would not be sole culprit to whatever impact it brings.
Furthermore, we are led to believe that our impact on victims of piracy is not as significant, especially since the victims are probably the ‘already rich’- Hollywood movie actors or directors. Even if these people are not the only victims of piracy, this is the common perception of consumers. Thus, even if we see the victim, and know how he or she is affected by acts of piracy, we still would not care.
The author believes that one reason why we lack originality and creativity is because of the ease of which we can copy people’s ideas. I agree with the author’s point. We often would not bother doing the thinking when someone else has done it for us. In addition, it can be obtained so easily. The workload and effort of which we are required to put in is also so much less. It is no doubt that we often choose shortcuts. As such, I believe that this is a valid point as to why we should not condone piracy because ideas of which have been so carefully crafted with much effort are stolen so easily, sometimes even without recognition of the author.
I also agree with this point because its validity can already be seen in school itself. When students are given a project/task, most would not bother to brainstorm for ideas. Instead, the first thing we do is to type it out on Google. Our requirement to complete Project Work is evidence to prove the impact that this “shortcut” has on students. Because students are so used to finding or copying ideas from someone else, and not thinking of it ourselves, when we are forced to generate ideas on our own (which is what is required in PW), some of us find much difficulty in this. Because we are “allowed” to copy, the current generation has become intellectually lazy and less original. I thus agree with the author that we should not condone piracy because of the impacts it may bring to the current generation.
The author believes that allowing piracy would not benefit anyone, because it deprives actors and producers of their livelihood. Consequently, the movies and television series which we enjoy watching would come to an abrupt end. I disagree with the author as I believe that the majority of actors and produces are already earning more than enough. And thus supporting piracy would not have much of an impact (if any at all) on their livelihood. This claim only holds true for those who genuinely need the support- not Hollywood celebrities, but local film makers so on and so forth. Also, this is not a strong point as more often than not, people could not care less if they can no longer watch movies in cinemas, what they really care about is they are paying is really worth their money. Why pay more for a product unnecessarily when the same thing is available for much less in the form of DVDs? Furthermore, allowing piracy can actually affect the livelihood of those who sell them. Although it is an illegal trade, majority of those who tout these items do so as they are desperate for a living. They risk getting caught by the authorities so that they can get by. These people need money much more than Hollywood actors and actresses. Thus, I disagree with the author as I do not believe that supporting piracy deprives actors and producers their livelihood.
Hanisah
Some interesting arguments shown, with good substantiation of points/ideas. Well done!
I agree with the author’s view in saying no to piracy. He brought up a good point discussing how one person’s thoughts i.e. “I am only making one illegal copy for myself.” could echo millions more.
The Internet along with download programs is easily accessible to users so it is not a hassle to make a copy of a work. As an increasing number of people start following the trend, downloading can be regarded as a social norm and thus people would not see the crime in doing so. This is a major issue because the legitimate owners of the creative works would not be paid for their diligence and efforts. As the author mentioned, piracy is equivalent to stealing. Simply said, people are no longer paying to be entertained and that is unfair for the entertainers who worked hard to provide quality entertainment. By refusing to pay, we as the viewers are stripping these entertainers of their livelihood. More people prefer to skip over the payment when they watch movies online or “own” a song with the click of the button. Piracy is a definite no to protect the creative works of artists and to keep the entertainment industry alive.
However, I disagree with the author who stated our ignorance on the severity of piracy as the reason why people support piracy. He wrote the since we don’t see our victims, the guilt that is associated with stealing (virtually) is absent. I disagree because there is a majority who is aware that piracy is illegal and morally wrong but they continue to engage in the trade either as a consumer or a producer. Generally, people have the mindset that since everyone is doing it, there is nothing wrong if one more person joins the bandwagon. Thus, they might have known the consequences but chose to ignore it either for self-assurance or simply do not take in the consideration of the work hard that is involved in producing the creative works that they conveniently download. People in this era are generally not ignorant and they have chosen to support piracy knowing full well of the wrong in doing so.
Overall, my stand is against piracy. I do not think it is worth settling for something that is low in quality despite it being cheaper as compared to a piece of work that is of substantial quality. Continual support for piracy will eventually lead to the death of original creative works because the producers would lack the motivation to come out with new material for they are not paid. It would be a real pity to see the disintegration of the entertainment industry just because general preference to free things (i.e. illegal downloads). A firm stand against piracy will boost the entertainment industry which in turn would be beneficial for the economy as well as provide viewers with better creative materials in the future. Hence, say no to piracy.
Sharifah
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