Just to re-emphasize, the
majority of people who use the internet have participated in internet piracy in
some form, regardless of intention.
Def. of Internet Piracy: "the
unlawful reproduction, distribution or usage of copyrighted digital property,
i.e. copyright infringement"
No? Think about it.
The word "usage" should be highlighted because this essentially means
that watching a YouTube video containing copyrighted content without legitimate
permission to be uploaded, such as a song lyric video, is considered piracy.
Over 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube per minute, and as you can
imagine, this happens all the time.
As you've heard in recent years, there have been increasingly aggressive bills and initiatives
proposed to stop piracy, enforced
with harsh penalties. The question at large is who is going to be criminalized?
Every average John/Jane Doe on YouTube/ the Internet? and since piracy is such a common
"crime", will they threaten privacy, innovation and free speech
rights? As piracy and the internet develop, industry and legal policies will too,
and these policies could potentially put crippling limitations on the way we
use the internet and digital technology in the future. The internet could
evolve into a strictly censored place where anonymity no longer exists, or one
where extreme piracy could make it a dangerous place for not only businesses, but also users and their security of private information.
The central
idea here is that Internet Piracy is an obscure matter that is both a gift and
curse, but will remain a concerning problem if not resolved, because misled
legal and industry reactions can severely backfire in way that will warp our beloved
internet. Internet piracy is a continuous issue, and it will never be stopped, but it can be effectively
reduced and managed by shifting industry and consumer attitudes, new business
models and an appropriate legal policy. (Details.)
All in all, it is important for all of us to be informed, aware, concerned, and proactive of whats going on in this "War on Piracy" in order to preserve our rights and a free and growing internet. One easy thing we can do is simply talk about it with our peers to spread info and awareness.
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