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maffew -> RE: is piracy REALLY killing the film industry? (30/5/2012 1:00:06 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Dpp1978
quote:
ORIGINAL: maffew
...On a side note actually, there's another thing that I've noticed recently - "casual pirates" is the phrase i've coined.. it's people who take part in pirate activity without realising it.. for example, i was talking to a musician friend of mine, I asked if they download music.. they said 'no no, i'd never do that!' 'oh' I said 'would you take music off someones hard drive?' 'oh yeah - i do that all the time, my entire itunesis just all my mates music off his hard drive' well thats THE EXACT SAME THING! People who maybe wouldn't download a film would gladly stick a bunch of DVDrips on their hard drive off a mate.. I know I have, I've done it with music as well in the past.. My band got signed a few months ago and we're bringing an album out later this year.. if it's a success I don't doubt it'll climb to top of the torrent sites before it even reaches the itunes chart - piracy is clearly going to affect my career, but I'm not bitter - the people who steal our album will no doubt come to the live shows, it's a bit different - you can't really pirate a gig.. I just thought it was interesting that people don't seem to notice what they're doing.. you don't have to download a film to be a pirate..
M
That is a real issue, and one where the law is far behind the times.
If we take the definition of piracy at its broadest: that is any unlawful use of copyright material, I'm sure there is not a person on this board who isn't guilty. If I were to categorise the levels of culpability I'd probably have 4, albeit with plenty of room for overlap among them.
First, and with the lowest level of culpability is what I'd probably class as innocent piracy. Every time you rip a CD you have bought to an mp3 player, every time you back up a DVD you own to a media centre, every time you archive a broadcast (be it on tape, hard drive or DVD) for purposes other than "time shifting" you breach copyright. In the UK there is no fair use defence. These are things which the rights holders have to be pragmatic about. They received payment and trying to police the issue would cost far more than any hypothetical loss they could have made. Hopefully the oft mooted but as yet still as far away as ever shake up of UK copyright law will remove this by introducing a fair use defence in the future.
The second is the one maffew talked about, and for want of anything better I'll continue to call it casual piracy. This is when you share copies of music or movies between friends or where you rip something you have bough and then sell or give away the original. Watching copyright material on Youtube etc. probably falls into this category. The mix-tape of my youth would probably also fall into this category.
Third I would class as an overt pirate. These are the people who download from illicit sources or partake in pirate DVDs and other media. They may also rent or borrow media and make a copy for themselves. They may or may not share these files online. These are the people, by and large, the advertising campaigns (including those annoying, unskippable adverts on DVDs which pirates will remove and probably never watch) refer to. They are more culpable than the first two as they are more proactive and almost certainly aware that what they are doing is illegal: with the first two it may be reasonable for them to be unaware what they are doing is against the law. Ignorance is not a defence, but it does mitigate culpability somewhat.
Finally, and at the most culpable level, I'd class as the organised pirate. They may or may not be commercially motivated. In the past the big gangs sold their bootlegs primarily for commercial gain, but now with the arrival of large scale online piracy it is just as likely to be based on ideology. These are the groups (and they often will be groups, either tightly or loosely affiliated) who the authorities have the best chance of tackling. Included in this are those who run the warez sites, the file sharing sites, the torrent indexing sites and assorted fora related to the "scene".
Copyright remains a largely civil offence. Criminal charges can be brought but it is very unlikely a casual pirate or even a reasonably overt one would ever face them: civil claims are rare enough. When The Pirate Bay was blocked recently it was because of a civil injunction not a criminal investigation. Not that it has done much good. The site is still up and available if you spend 5 minutes looking up how to find it.
Which is the real dilemma for those trying to control the issue. It is like an immense Hydra; cut off one head and more grow to take their place. The organised groups are far more adaptable than the authorities and are often based in places where they cannot be reached by the IP holders. That is without considering the unorganised hoards who help propagate the issue over the relative anonymity of the internet.
It is an unwinnable scenario. All that can be done by the IP holders is to make the pirate redundant somehow; much as how the file sharers have all but done with the pirate DVD vendors. But in an industry where IP is often the most valuable asset the company holds, building a model which essentially opens it up without devaluing it is a very tall task.
After all, these are people who refuse to pay the £6 or so it costs to get a Lovefilm subscription.
Wow... You sir, are excellent!!
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