What Does On-line Piracy Cost?

The actual cost on-line piracy poses on the U.S. economy is a debatable, and at times, difficult figure to pin down. As stated in the previous post, on-line piracy is a growing concern. That is something all parties can agree upon. The more difficult task at hand is to determine how to interpret capital losses.

RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America: The RIAA feels on-line piracy is a punch to the side of the U.S. economy. They state piracy cripples those who invest much of their lives to produce quality music/art. According to a credible study by the Institute for Policy Innovation, piracy costs the U.S. economy $12.5 billion per year, eliminates 70,000 jobs, and takes away $2 billion in lost wages.

MPAA

Motion Picture Association of America: The MPAA, like the RIAA, has a firm stance against piracy. According to the MPAA, the motion picture industry provides the U.S. economy $175 billion annually, employees roughly 2.1 million workers, and contributes $15 billion annually to federal and state tax coffers.

The RIAA and MPAA feel industry contributions to the U.S. economy and American entertainment, provide great benefit to the U.S. society and culture. Piracy is devastating to all parties involved and should not be underestimated or under-calcualted. 

                                                                                                                                       
Many opposing views state piracy has a minimal impact on the U.S. economy and entertainment industry as whole. According to an article found on washingtonpost.com, the actual capital cost is up for interpretation. The film and music industry may calculate losses based on overall value of that particular film or song. However, the opposition states more times than not, the film or song would not have been purchased if it were not free. This point-of-view is difficult to asses. The fact of the matter is the song or film isn't free and a monetary value has to be placed on the production.

Overall, piracy is a real issue that affects industries, jobs, economies, and lives. Once again a common ground needs to be found in order to establish a standardized interpretation of monetary losses. We look forward to your comments and feedback on blog 2!

Next time: SOPA/PIPA

(I do not own any of the following information. It is simply being used for educational purposes only.)

Sources: http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy_details_online ; http://www.mpaa.org/policy ; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/how-much-does-online-piracy-really-cost-the-economy/2012/01/05/gIQAXknNdP_blog.html

What is on-line Piracy?

Welcome to our discussion of on-line piracy. This twelve blog series is for a class project that we are undertaking at UNCC in Charlotte, NC. The contributors are Lloyd, Douglas, Curtis, Justin and Michael.

Throughout these postings we will present  information on on-line piracy that range from the social impact, the laws aimed at suppressing piracy, the reaction to these laws and some of the consequences of legislation.

We hope that you will follow along with us as we present these topics in what we hope will be a logical and meaningful manner.

So here we go.......

What is piracy? According to Dictionary.com, piracy is...

"(T)he unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc."

 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piracy?s=t,

   

On-line piracy is making these reproductions by digital means. 

In this and future blogs, we will make reference to websites and videos that present both sides of the piracy wars. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) as well as pharmaceuticals makers and the US Chamber of Commerce are strong supporters of strict and far reaching legislation aimed at shutting down violators of copyright infringements. Those opposed to strong legislation internet icons like Google, Wikipedia and Mozilla, stating that such legislation will infringe on the First Amendment's right to free speech and foster internet censorship.  Some of the legislation is SOPA, PIPA and the OPEN Act. The evidence for both positions will be presented later in the series.

We are going to visit topics of Fair Use and who decides what Fair Use is. We explore ethical responsibilities of individuals. Issues like what if you bought a 45 rpm record and wanted to store it on your Ipod? Ipods don't play records. You have paid the royalties, should you be able to download a digital copy for personal use? Suppose a recording is out of print? If you have to buy the recording on the secondary market, there is no royalties to the artist. Should you be able to download that for free? We will look for your feedback in future blogs.

We hope you will stay with us during the course of these twelve postings and provide your relevant feedback. This is a hot topic and strong evidence can be presented to justify any position you choose. One thing is clear to all parties concerned, something has to be done. We just need to find a common ground.

Next time: What does on-line piracy cost?

 

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 "Unless noted, content on this site is waived of all copyright and related or neighboring rights under the CC0 PD Dedication. See Policies"

http://openclipart.org/collections  

Paid Royalties

I wanted to quickly post and discuss about our recent conversation regarding "paid royalties". A quick overview of the email discussion explains the prior purchase of  45rpm records and the ability to legally download the same music located on the 45's.  The assumption is since the buyer of the 45's  has paid for the music at a previous date, that should be efficient payment to legally download the same music in a current format (ie ITunes). This is a very good thought and topic for debate. One may say this is accurate thought given the prior payment. However, the opposing view would state you paid for the music on a given format and that isn't transferable to new/different formats. What do you all think??