Internet Piracy and What it Means to You

Internet piracy is at an all time high when we compare today's internet to statistics from the early 90's. This has a lot to do with more people using the internet across the world. In simple terms, piracy is the act of copying software or other copyrighted material and making it free to the general public. This is more common with films and tv shows than it is with other media. Computer software and video games are also very popular items that are pirated. How does this effect you and the corporations that produce this content?

Common Forms of Internet Piracy

The most common thing that is pirated on the internet is movies and tv shows. Some argue that this is in part the fault of the big corporations that produce these films. When we examine sources such as YouTube we find that a lot of television production companies do offer their shows for free online. This is a direct response to the pirating that they have experienced thoughout history. The assumed direct impact of this is a decline in DVD and Video sales as they relate to these shows.

So why do they offer them for free? The truth to this matter is a twofold answer. The first is that the shows were originally aired on cable or satellite television for free or included in the subscription price. Some of these programs are totally free when picked up with over the air television. In this sense a consumer can watch the show for free in the first place so the company isn't doing anything different by showing their programs on the internet. The belief in this system is that consumers will be tempted to go out and purchase the DVD copies because they don't want to always sit in front of their computer to see the show.

The second part of this is the change in technology as it relates to internet browsing programs. The original idea behind offering shows online for free works in theory but is decimated by todays advances. With most internet browsers today, such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, you can download add-ons to make them more effecient. These add-ons can include programs that allow a user to download files off the internet that are embedded into a webpage. What this means for YouTube and similar sites, is that the videos they offer can be downloaded by anyone and then put on CD or DVD for use at home.

YouTube uses a file format called FLV, that is an embedded video file. The idea behind this was that the files would be secure and that they could only be used as YouTube desired. The program Add-ons mentioned allow a user to download this file and then convert it to a standard video file. Once a user has this file they can put it on DVD or CD and watch it on their home theater. This creates a major mess for the big corporations that offer their content on the internet for free, as the information isn't as secure as they may believe.

How This Relates to Movies

The major motion picture industry also suffers from internet pirates in a similar way. When movies are released to the box offices worldwide, some unethical viewers will film the film with home video cameras and then upload that content to the internet. This seems to be more common in foreign markets such as China, and Korea. A lot of movies can be seen on, or before, their release dates on the internet from these foreign sites. While the quality of the video is poor and often times it is very slow for a USA user, it can still be watched. These files can also be pirated in the same way that YouTube videos are pirated with the same technology.

When a movie comes out on DVD it becomes a new game altogether. There are several programs available on the internet, both commercial and "Homebrew". Commercial programs usually require a fee or have a purchase price associated with them and "Homebrew" programs are free programs developed under the Open-Source Public License. These programs allow a user to decrypt a DVD file and save it to their computer as a standard movie file. These files are often very large, taking up 2GB or more. Many pirates take these files and shrink them down by converting them with DivX or some other program.

These files are then entered into a database where the general public may then find them, download them, and share them. A file called a Torrent contains the information of where the original file is archived and which users share that data. As more people download the same Torrent the network of people sharing grows. This allows for more and more people to get the pirated file and to do so with speed.

Many of these public databases do not give out direct information for the pirated movie file. Instead, they provide information about the Torrent files that tie the network together. Offering Torrents for download is not currently illegal in the United States and doesn't directly pose any copyright infringment. This allows sites like Piratebay.org, and Torrentz.com to continue to allow users to provide pirated content without fear of being shut down.

What does this mean to the Film Industry?

Since these Torrents are almost impossible to track as to a direct source, prosecution of the original pirate is hard. The film industry suffers by not being able to sell the DVDs and Movie Tickets when a film is released. Most films don't make much profit, and instead break even on their financial investment. If pirated DVDs and films weren't around it is possible to say that the big corporations would make more money.

An example of a pirated film and how many people get illegal copies is "The Dark Knight". This movie was just released this month onto DVD and did very well in the box office. Currently on just one particular Torrent file, under the name "DarkKnightDVDRip", has over 4000 people that have downloaded it and are sharing it in the Torrent network. Assuming this DVD sells for $20 worldwide then the figure for just this file alone represents $80,000 in retail dollars that has been taken away from the economy.

This not only hurts the retailers of these films, who are forced to sell their copies at a discount, but also the distributors of these films. The distributors have made deals to sell these DVDs at a set price to the retailers on behalf of the film company. The retailer pays this price and in some cases has to be refunded by the distributor if the product doesn't sell. This creates a chain effect that eventually comes back to the film production company and hurts them in the long run. For the consumer it makes the prices go up when you decide to purchase the DVD honestly.

In Closing

Internet Piracy is a hard thing for the government to police because of how the system works. Pirating a DVD movie or computer program is a personal decision and if you choose to participate its really up to you. The internet has made this a very easy task, where in the past you had to know people who could copy videos for you. It really boils down to ethics, and in my opinion legislation can't keep up with the advancements of technology. If you choose to Pirate its your decision but I hope that you can see what the effects of those decisions are.