Opinion
No good excuses for flouting copyright
Story by Emma Schmautz | October 17, 2007
Montana Kaimin
I often feel like the lone Jim Hawkins in a world full of Long John Silvers.
But unlike the gold-seeking pirates of “Treasure Island,” the pirates of my world steal Adobe Photoshop, Kanye West’s “Stronger” and the film “300.”
Many of my friends, coworkers and classmates think nothing of sharing copies of software programs, illegally downloading music and burning DVDs.
They look at me with surprise or confusion when I explain that I don’t own a single unpurchased song, copied DVD or illegal computer program.
Has the law of copyright lost all integrity and value?
Even with stronger copyright laws and punishment for violators in recent years, the burning of copyright material continues to spread like a wildfire.
Last year, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed movie studios in the United States lost $6.1 billion due to worldwide piracy, with $1.3 billion of that loss coming from American pirates. The MPAA said college students are responsible for 44 percent of the theft.
In 2006, college students also made more than 1.6 billion illegal music downloads, according to market-research firms working for the Record Industry Association of America.
But the largest loss of money due to piracy last year occurred in the software industry. A study conducted by the Business Software Alliance found 35 percent of the software installed on personal computers worldwide in 2006 was installed illegally. This led to nearly $40 billion in global losses.
I know your arguments.
I’m a poor college student and can’t afford expensive computer programs.
Well, there are many things we would like to own, but cannot afford. This doesn’t mean we should just steal them.
The record, motion picture and software industries are extremely wealthy and a few lost sales – even a billion dollars worth of lost sales – won’t make a dent in their overall profits.
Pirating copyright material is against the law and degrades the creativity, hard work, and accomplishment of all the people who produced that product. The fact a company makes a high profit does not change this.
Recording artists make most of their money through concerts and memorabilia. Bands want you to download their music so you will become a fan.
If a band releases a statement saying they want their music to be freely shared, or offers free downloads on their Web site, by all means jam away. If not, respect the artist and the law.
But when I can get music, movies and software faster and easier for free, really why would I pay for it?
Because morals should be more important then saving money and time.
Copyright laws deserve our respect and it is legally and ethically wrong to disregard them.
If you like that CD, movie or software program enough to own it, then make the commitment to legally buy it.
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Comments
This is an issue I’ve given a lot of thought to recently. It was only this summer that I got hooked into the bittorrent world and began downloading music illegally for the first time since the hey-day of napster. I know that for many people the availability of free music means the end of the trips down to the record store but for a few of us (at least I hope I’m not the only one doing this) free online has had the opposite effect. Now when I hear about some new band I can check out their entire album, and if I really love it I’ll go buy it on vinyl from ear candy or, even better, go out to see them on Saturday night when they swing through town, pay the cover, buy the t-shirt, and the album and whatever else they have to offer. The exposure to so much music has led me to buy more records in the past few months than I have in the past three or four years. I love music. I have a brother who is an up and coming musician and I have the utmost respect for musicians with who are putting out worthwhile material. But that’s the catch I want to support the music that is worth supporting, and everyone knows there’s a lot of crap to sift through these days. I actually think that free online music is an amazing tool for music enthusiasts to do that sifting, expand their musical horizons and decide if an album is worth their ten to twenty dollars. The music industry is changing dramatically right now and, if anything, it is empowering the artists not hurting them. But there’s that catch again, if you want to make it now you have to have something to offer. The days of riding a hit single, a video, and million dollar promotional package are coming to an end, and if you really love good music that’s terribly exciting.
Posted by Dan Batey on 10/17/2007 at 6:41 pm
