You might find it surprising to know that people other than middle-class Americans are participating in online piracy.
According to a report by Elizabeth Flock, a staff writer for U.S. News and World Report, people working in the congressional office are illegally downloading seasons of Dexter, The Middle, CSI: New York, and much, much more. I don't know what's worse: their choice of TV episodes or their bad decision making skills.
ScanEye is a website that monitors BitTorrent downloads, a protocol that supports digital piracy. The website is very useful because people who are illegally downloading copyrighted material could face criminal charges. ScanEye is helpful in determining and bringing to light what the people in Congress are downloading. Although, should we really be surprised? Should we be disappointed in the actions of our government?
I used to download illegal music from places like Napster, and before I knew there were viruses in the music files, I crashed 3 computers, so I will never download another thing illegally.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised the government wants to put a stop to digital piracy, nor do I mind. There is a reason it is illegal, in a way, it is stealing. There is a lot of money involved in making music, and movies. If we are all downloading them for free, there will be no money supporting these industries.
Personally I don't feel bad for the recording industry or movie studios for not keeping up with the times. My first mp3 file sharing was in 1998, and it was about 2006 or so when I couldn't finally buy a legal digital copy online. The few remaining recording labels are lucky to still be in business and will hopefully continue to change their business model to better match what consumers want.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe viruses are a good reason not to download media, as it's too easy to get around that. Whatever happened to being able to try something (more than 30 crappy seconds) before you buy it? Why can I watch something (i.e. music video) on YouTube for free, but not download it to see if I like it? What if I plan to buy it later?
Oh, and the background image used on this blog is an example of digital piracy... (not that I personally find anything wrong with that, or that it even has a copyright)
http://memeburn.com/2011/06/media-piracy-you%E2%80%99re-not-as-anonymous-as-you-might-think/
I also used to download music off of Napster/Limewire (I do not know anyone who didn't). I really don't know if you can truly stop people from doing so. It seems like every time a downloading website is shut down, another one pops up. But no, I am never surprised by the actions of our government.
ReplyDeleteLeeanna, I completely agree with what you said here. There is a significant risk in downloading illegal material and it increases the chance that your computer can be effected. Joseph, you made a good point that most people do not feel any sympathy for the recording/film industry. The issue with the "try now buy later" approach is that most people would not feel the need to pay for the material if they already have it for free. At the end of the day, they are in the business to make money so I can see why they would be upset about it. Garrett, there are a ton of torrent sites out there and that is the industry's biggest challenge. It is almost impossible to put an end to illegal downloading when there are so many people that are participating in it.
ReplyDeleteI used to download music from Napster all the time. I never thought about it being illegal, but I was a lot younger then. I now just go to iTunes for all of my song purchases. As people have begun to steal more and more from the Internet, I am not surprised about how the government is reacting. I am disappointed about the episodes that were downloaded and about who downloaded them. This article does not portray the goverrnment favorably in the war against piracy, especially since their own people are committing such acts.
ReplyDeleteJoshua
Wow growing up I had an iPod that I would always illegally download music for. Various softwares made it so easy to. Limewire & Frostwire were my favorite! At the time, I never thought I was doing any harm. I always thought that the artists make so much money already, how will it hurt them if I don't pay?
ReplyDeleteMy illegal actions have come to an all time low, I no longer have an iPod, so no more illegal downloading for me!
I'm honestly not surprised that government officials are downloading things illegally. I have long lost trust in the fact that our government would hold themselves to a higher standard. Actually, I do not know if I ever trusted in the first place. Your point about the type of shows being downloaded made me laugh...I seriously do not know what is worse either! You would think that if our government officials were going to go ahead and download things illegally that they would at least make it worthwhile!
ReplyDeleteWith the ease to download and watch shows and listen to music online some do not see the issue in it. Ask yourself this what is the difference in watching an episode of family guy on YouTube or paying for it on Hulu. It is very hard to distinguish the two. Everyone I believe that uses the internet for movies and music in one way or another has all been apart of digital piracy. Not the best thing to admit but like I said not a big way to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteNick, in reference to being able to watch shows on YouTube, that is still a form of digital piracy and copyright infringement. There are many videos that break copyright laws on YouTube but they are constantly trying to take them down. I do know that they have a video service where you can pay a fee to watch shows and movies now. By charging the fee, similar to what Hulu does, they are able to pay royalties back to the respective owners.
ReplyDelete