Piracy has existed in one form or another for almost as long as movie, music, and software files have been in existence. When the Internet opened up to consumers of the world, it was like opening up Pandora's Box. The cat is out of the bag and the recording industries as well as software authors do not like it one bit.

Piracy is Not the Correct Word

Equating copyright infringement with piracy is exactly what the owners of the copyrights want and they know it's not the same thing. Pirates of the high seas were thieves, usually working for one government against another, but thieves nonetheless. File sharers are not thieves because sharing isn't stealing. Stealing something means depriving someone of something they own. With file sharing on the Internet, no one has been deprived.

Regardless of proper word usage, the word "pirate" is now synonymous with "thief" when it comes to file sharing as far as ordinary consumers (and politicians) are concerned.

Piracy is Caused by the Recording Industries Themselves

The recording industries are causing piracy to occur by being unable or unwilling to change their business models. They get copyright laws enacted to protect their rights while trampling on the rights of consumers.

One law exists on the books (in the US) that allows each of us to make one archival copy of any recorded media we own. Another law exists that says we can continue to do so as long as we don't circumvent any copy protection. With CD music, this isn't a problem since most of it doesn't have any copy protection embedded. With movies, almost all of it has some form of copy protection. With software, copy protection isn't a hurdle, but losing a software license will be.

What's really irritating about the recording industries is that they honestly believe that if you want an archival copy, you should have to buy it. Buy two plastic discs instead of one and your problem is solved, or so they think. The problem with plastic media is that it doesn't last as long as it's supposed to, even if toddlers don't get their hands on it and destroy it for you.

Even with that mentality, driven by the recording industries, it wouldn't be such an issue if the prices were reasonable. No one should have to pay full price for a copy of anything they already own.

Of course, I'm only touching on a couple of reasons the recording industries have broken business models. There is a solution to their dilemma, but they won't like it at all.

Video Streaming and Downloads

The reason that downloading music and movie files is so popular with a small percentage of the population (it really is small in comparison to the number of people who still buy the media) is that it's more convenient than buying the same products. It's not because they don't want to buy it most of the time, despite what people will tell you.

Okay, with the newer stuff, it's pretty easy to buy it, even if you don't agree with the prices. It's the older stuff that disappears from store shelves and becomes harder to obtain, especially at video rental stores.

If the recording industry offered wide scale streaming downloads of all the digital media they put on disc, and charged a reasonable fee (monthly is a good idea), I'm sure they'd make money hand over fist. A lot of people who download the files (not streamed) only keep the files temporarily, especially with movies. Why anyone would want to keep a copy of Gigli is beyond me. Streaming downloads don't have to replace sales of physical media; they just need to augment the physical sales.

Pissing off consumers doesn't work to their advantage either. How many times do they expect to make money off the Beatles White Album anyway? If you already bought it on vinyl, it shouldn't have to cost full price when you buy it on cassette or CD. Are cassettes still sold? It's up to the recording industry to track sales and they should have the capability, especially with the current state of technology, to offer copies or replacements at reduced rates.

Of course, there's no incentive for any industry stuck in the past to embrace the future. They do not care about what's good for consumers; they only care about their bottom line. Companies that embrace consumers are doing very well in the marketplace. Failing to produce what consumers want and treat consumers with respect is what results in things like piracy.

Personal Experience

I no longer buy any form of recorded media. If I can't buy it and download it in one form or another, I won't bother. I watch movies (rarely) at the local theater and I listen to music (sometimes) through online music services and most of that is completely free.

All it took was for me to have one of my favorite movies on DVD become unplayable due to a single scratch for me to come to that decision. Of course, I don't listen to CDs in my car or try to play movies anywhere other than my computer.

When I lived in the US, I rented movies through Netflix because I was happy with paying $19.95 a month for having 3 movies in my possession at all times. Services like that don't exist locally or I might be inclined to do it here, even if I have to drive to swap them out.

There are other things I could do, that I won't do, simply because I'm not interested in doing things that way. I know that I can download any music album, any movie already out on DVD, and any software title (already cracked) if I want to and there's not a damned thing that can be done to stop me since I don't upload anything anywhere and downloading anything is not illegal. The only reason I don't is because I'm just not interested in what the industries have to offer. What I'm doing right now is what interests me.

I have hundreds of DVDs on disc stored in closets in this house that I never watch. Some of them, given to me, haven't even been watched for the first time. I have disc cases full of CDs with music from various artists sitting in other places, which I never pull out to listen to. The last thing I need, at this point in my life, is more stuff that I won't listen to or watch.

Getting Back on Topic

Sorry if I tend to ramble. The point is that there is no longer anything the movie, music, and software industries can do to stop Internet piracy. They can slow it down and make it go further underground, but that's about it.

Movie, music and software piracy is here to stay. The best thing the industries involved can do is to produce what consumers want and allow them to use it in any way the consumers see fit. When file sharing becomes a waste of time, it will stop on its own. Judging by the actions of the industries involved, I don't think that will ever happen in my lifetime.

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