Piracy is stupidly easy.
In previous editorials, I have made comments about the Internet on a variety of topics, including one regarding online anonymity. In that particular editorial, I was rather against the grain with the opinions of the general online community. On this topic, however, I am confident I fall right into alignment.
Let’s talk about piracy.
As defined by Webster’s Dictionary, piracy is “the act of illegally copying someone’s product or invention without permission”. By that mere definition, almost every person who went through puberty in the past ten years is a pirate. I cringe as I watch adults (to be defined in this case as people a generation above me) outline policies and push for more control over online piracy. I cringe for two reasons: first, I don’t want them to succeed. Second, I know for a fact that they cannot succeed.
Do you have any idea how stupidly easy it is to break the law online? I guarantee that everyone at this school has either downloaded one song, or knows someone who has, free of charge. That right there, by technical standards, is illegal. But yet, we do it? Why? It isn’t like it is some form of rebelliousness. No, it more or less pertains to the “now” nature of our generation. If we want to listen to a song, we want to do it right away, we don’t want to bother paying for it, that takes time and money. And for some of the songs we want to listen to, they aren’t (or at least, in my youth, weren’t) readily available. If I wanted to purchase a song legally, like for instance the background music to a video game like Sonic the Hedgehog, it would be borderline impossible to purchase from anywhere but Japan or somewhere similar, and usually for 30,000 yen. But if I searched “Sonic the Hedgehog music download free,” I would find what I was looking for, and then some, thanks to the viruses that find their way onto those websites.
Oh yeah, and you know all of those episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender you watched on that one website that you didn’t pay for? Piracy. Streaming videos is no better than blatantly downloading content.
Again, stupidly easy.
Why do I specifically want this industry to prevail? Because I like being able to watch my anime shows without going to Japan, or purchasing a set that I haven’t seen before for $200.00. If I really like someone’s creative output, I contribute to it by making purchases that ultimately go to them.
Industry, if you are seriously concerned about piracy, the best way to fight it is not to limit it. That will just make people angry and bitter and come up with better ways to steal. When the Stop Online Piracy Act fiasco blew over, and all anime hosting websites suddenly cleaned up their act, all of my anime disappeared for about a week, and I was pissed. But, a week later, new hosting sites appeared and everyone got on with their life. Rather than trying to stop it, prevent the content from getting to the internet in the first place. Trying to collect stolen digital files online is like trying to perform reverse-diffusion on chemicals in an ocean – it won’t work. Instead, making content more available and affordable will help offset piracy.
But please, people from generations above me, stop trying to stop piracy. You look silly trying. You have no idea how widespread this activity actually is.
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