Either the copyright holders within the software and entertainment industries do not understand the real reasons the number of copyright infringements are continuing to rise, especially on the Internet, or they don't care. I'm concentrating my opinions on movies, but the same arguments can easily be applied to music and software.

These industries have resorted to using misinformation to combat the piracy instead of taking steps to make piracy less attractive. The MPAA, for example, advertises that downloading pirated movies over high speed Internet is illegal and compares it to the theft of physical items. This is an intentional lie. There is no law in any country (that I'm aware of) that makes any form of downloading illegal. The copying, sharing, or sales of copyrighted works without permission are the actual acts of copyright infringement. Please understand that no one has ever been sued solely for downloading pirated movies, songs, or software. It's not feasible and it's downright scary to even think about it. It would require the individual to determine the status of the file or files before downloading. Some would be obvious as pirated copies while others wouldn't. Still, the law would have to assume that everyone was computer literate enough to tell the difference in advance.

Prices for movie tickets and various forms of media are too high and the pirated items are not available in some areas except through receipt of pirated copies. Let's look at movie prices (the prices I mention are in in US dollars). Movie ticket prices have reached $10.00 or higher. The cost of concessions has risen to ridiculous levels as well. A single viewer will usually spend more than $20 to watch one movie. A family of four will usually spend around $80. When the movie comes out on DVD, the price will be around $20.00. A lot of people buy the DVD instead of going to the theater because the economics of it makes sense to them. $20 for a family of four as opposed to $80, but the price is still too high for many people. Why else would many of the copies of the movies never get sold at full price and end up in the "bargain basement" section of video stores and supermarkets? The solution is to reduce the retail as well as rental prices until the profit levels are down to a level where new video sales increase. Why would anyone want to download a movie of questionable quality when they could buy the physical media for a reasonable price? I'm sure it would still happen. People living paycheck to paycheck just to pay their monthly bills and eat every day would not be concerned with buying luxury items, and movies and music certainly fit in that category.

A lot of media available in the US and other technologically modern countries is either rare or not available in other countries. Let's look at television shows and the Philippines as an example. The latest episode of Smallville broadcast was from the 3rd or 4th season (I don't remember which). The 6th season is being broadcast in the US. Many Filipinos download the latest episodes because they don't want to wait two or three years to catch up with the US. Other television series are not broadcast here at all and probably never will be. They still get downloaded and you might wonder why someone would take the trouble to download a television series they had never seen before. You won't wonder if you realize that many Filipinos have been to the US and other countries where those series are broadcast.

Theater movie prices in the Philippines are reasonable but DVD prices are outrageous. Most Filipinos cannot afford to buy a DVD at American prices and it's not hard to figure out why. A DVD is sold here for the same price as it's sold for in the U US d it's equal to a week of pay for most Filipinos. Why would a Filipino spend that much money on a DVD when pirated movies are easily bought for the equivalent of one to two dollars? The solution is to reduce the price of a new DVD to a price that the average Filipino can afford and increase distribution channels for new movies. I can personally attest to the fact that only a fraction of new movies are even available here on DVD. The pirates are smart enough to download a file from the Internet and produce VCD-style disks at a huge profit, yet affordable for most Filipinos, before the DVD distributors even start moving the product.

Piracy will always exist but the rampant growth will only continue as long as the prices stay too high for the average consumer. The industries need to understand this and do something about it, instead of suing people into poverty. I realize that in the corporate scheme of things, I'm a nobody. I'm afraid it's going to take a few million nobodies to make them wake up. Oh wait… that's already happening with the wholesale peer-to-peer file trading on the Internet. Change is imminent, but how long is it going to take and how many people are going to get sued in the meantime?