The amount of piracy occurring worldwide continues to grow at an alarming rate. File sharing through mediums of file sharing sites and P2P (peer-to-peer) programs culminates into billions of dollars lost resulting to an alarming total lost output among all U.S. industries of 20.5 billion annually. These staggering statistics do not only affect the motion picture trade, but all U.S. industries from distributors, retailers, and shipping commerce just to list a few. Drawing useful resources from every hardworking American. Thus piracy is a worldwide dilemma resulting in massive revenue losses. The gargantuan task on how to police file sharing sites has human rights advocacy groups and others noting the implications that such laws bring with them. However the practice of illegal file sharing must be stopped as its effects are wide reaching. Not only affecting the copyright holder but also the potential to impinge whole economies.
Ever since the dawn of the Internet, sharing files, texts, and other media throughout the world is much easier. It has made communication with ones relatives simple. However the illicit sharing of copyrighted material is no longer confined to plastic discs. Everyone shares that same satisfaction of unwrapping a new DVD case or admiring the album artwork of an album just purchased. All the hard work put into creating that song or movie scene is disregarded as trash when it is downloaded illegally, not compensating the artist for the hard work put in. To put it in simple terms piracy is theft and anyone who downloads intellectual material illegally is in violation of the law.
Internet piracy did not achieve national prominence until the development of Napster in 1999. Since then music sales have dropped 47 percent, from 14.6 Billion to 7.7 Billion. These astonishing numbers have not only led to a significant loss individual record sales but a declination in the overall value of the business. In the United States alone the online pirating of software cost the software industry 3.2 billion dollars. That within itself only accounts for a sliver of the total billions if not trillions lost worldwide. It is imperative to at least curtail or if not completely stop file-sharing to cease the degradation of the entertainment industries that are so vital to the U.S. and world economies.
Piracy profoundly affects the music and film industries, however its ripple effects are so far reaching illegal file-sharing compromises the economic strength of the U.S. economy. In 2005 the RIMS II mathematical model maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) examined motion picture piracy and its results were shattering. Coming to the conclusion that Motion picture piracy costs governments at all levels $837 million in lost tax revenue. Absent piracy, an additional $147 million in corporate income taxes from motion picture corporations, $91 million in other taxes on motion picture production or sales, and $599 million in personal income taxes from employees would have been paid annually to federal, state and local governments. The tax money that could’ve been earned was all obliterated due to piracy. This is money that could’ve have been spent on infrastructure, jobs, or a multitude of other projects. The illicit sharing of intellectual material also damaged the U.S. job market. It is noted that without piracy 141,030 new jobs would have been added to the U.S. economy. More jobs yield to more economic activity and strength, however piracy is keeping people unemployed and struggling to find work.
Therefore the theft of electronically counterfeited goods remains a worldwide issue that in summation results in trillions of lost profits and injured economies. Piracy is prevalent in all parts of the world. While the literacy rate in some of these regions is below 50 percent the piracy rate is booming. The regions of Central Europe, the region of Middle East/Africa, and the region of Mexico, and Central and South America shape out the top 3 in terms of piracy rate, at 76 percent, 63 percent, and 62 percent respectively. Altogether monetarily culminating into 2.04 trillion dollars in losses. These astonishing number do not only represent the scope of the issue but the amount of changes that need to take place at the legislative level. Never the less the problem also has to do with education, as many people do not understand the strain they’re causing on so many individuals. Therefore we direly need our politicians to draft international legislation and acts to combat piracy. As these acts of theft will continue to persist without any intervention or consequence.
Besides that the amount of stress that is put on the Internet in terms of bandwidth use in illicitly downloading files through websites or peer-to-peer programs significantly slows down Internet speeds for all overall as there is only a limited amount of bandwidth available. Bandwidth is simply the amount of data that can be transferred through a given connection. An Internet provider usually sets the amount of bandwidth allotted to a network. Hence if an Internet user or users are utilizing massive amounts of bandwidth to download unauthorized files it will slow down the Internet for not only the people who are using the same Internet Service Provider but overall all internet users. As the Internet is a mass congregate of computers around the world connected to each other. This is considerably relevant as file sharing sites constitute 7 percent of all Internet traffic, while 91 percent of the links found on them were for copyrighted material. Whilst 7 percent may not seem like such a significant number, the repeated accessing and downloading of files on such sites aggregates to a colossal number. Seeing as the digital theft of music, movies, and copyrighted content takes up… 24 percent [of bandwidth] globally and 17.5 percent in the United States. Even though the digital counterfeit of electronic goods may not be affecting you financially or directly. You are however indirectly suffering the ill effects of slower Internet speeds, though you may not notice it due to the large amount of bandwidth being consumed to ingest illegal materials.
Although proponents of measures that would keep peer-to-peer programs and file-sharing sites alive and flourishing say that enacting policies and legislation to take down such mediums of file-sharing sites would set a disastrous precedent for speech. Others allege that it would take about 5,000 downloads to displace sales of just one physical CD. Both of the above serve as a hypothetical basses as to why policing the Internet could set a virtual doomsday. They bring up valid points however neither addresses the illegal file-sharing market that is crippling economies worldwide. Not one has confronted the fact that Internet users annually consume between $7 and $20 billion worth of digitally pirated recorded music. Or that free speech does not constitute the legality of sharing digitally counterfeited goods, a violation of the law. Fundamentally it is what we have to do to secure the vitality of our economies and success in the future.
The threat that piracy can cause to impede whole economies and industries is very tangible. The effects of digital theft are felt from the artist all the way down to the average everyday Internet user. We all play a part in helping Internet piracy come to a halt for the betterment of our children, our economy, and our future. Digital counterfeiting endangers the future of our economy and stability. Having a piracy free Internet also ensures us with a cleaner, and safer Internet for everyone to enjoy.
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