The Piracy Problem
The music and movie industry is bilked out of millions of dollars every year because people have found ways to download music and movies from their computers. Instead of using them just for their own private collection, they make copies of them, called burning CD’s and sell them. Even if they only sell them for $5 or $10, they are making a huge profit. The quality is often good enough that people are willing to pay it. In most cases it saves them a great deal of money, and they can get new release movies before they come out on the market.
Piracy is an illegal act, as it violates copyright regulations. You can be fined or face criminal charges if you are caught with items you illegally sold or you illegally purchased. The laws regarding piracy have gotten tighter. In some jurisdictions, it is considered a violation of copyright regulations if you purchase music or a movie legally and then make a copy and give it to someone instead of selling it to them. This is because it is viewed as still keeping that individual from paying for something they would have if the illegal act had not taken place.
Piracy has began to include software with the unbelievable amount of people who are accessing the internet. To prevent this, many software companies have started using long serial numbers and codes. You have to use this code to activate your software. That activation code is stored in a database so it won’t do you any good to sell the software to someone else. The codes are very long to prevent hackers from being able to download and access free software.
In the end, piracy just costs the consumer more money. Making movies, music, and software is very expensive. The actors, musicians, and software designers demand large amounts of money for their productions, and the overhead is unbelievable. The consumer will find movie tickets to increase and the cost of a movie or CD to jump by a dollar or more per copy. Software will become more expensive to those who do pay for it to help compensate for those who have been accessing it for free.
You can do your part to prevent piracy by only using the music, movies, and software that you purchase for your own individual use. If you know someone who is engaging in piracy, contact the local authorities. While it may not prevent them from returning to the act, it may discourage them or at least result in cut backs. Remember, as a consumer you end up paying for what they are profiting.
