Online piracy: Difference between revisions

One of the earliest recorded acts of unauthorized content copying was when fourteen-year-old [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] visited the [[Sistine Chapel]] around 1771 and heard [[Gregorio Allegri]]'s ''[[Miserere (Allegri)|Miserere]]'' being performed.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Roche|first1=Jerome|last2=Allegri|last3=Scholars|first3=Tallis|last4=Phillips|last5=Palestrina|last6=Mundy|date=June 1981|title=Miserere|journal=The Musical Times|volume=122|issue=1660|pages=412|doi=10.2307/961024|jstor=961024|issn=0027-4666}}</ref> The piece's sheet-music was only authorized to be owned by three people: [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]], [[John V of Portugal]],<ref>{{Cite documentencyclopedia|last=Stevenson|first=Robert|titleentry=Barbosa Machado, Diogo|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|seriesencyclopedia=Oxford Music Online|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.02018}}</ref> and [[Giovanni Battista Martini]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grove, George, 1820-1900.|title=Grove's dictionary of music and musicians.|date=1954|publisher=Macmillan|oclc=36817387}}</ref> After having heard it for the first time, Mozart went back to his hotel and transcribed the entire piece from memory, coming back again two days later to proofread the transcription against the performance.<ref name=":1" /> In the months following his transcription's publication, Mozart's fame for the act had grown to such an extent that [[Pope Clement XIV]] summoned him to [[Rome]] in order to grant him [[Order of the Golden Spur|papal knighthood]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vatican-archive-to-display-mozart-honour-q8q0vkwl86x|title=Vatican archive to display Mozart honour|newspaper=[[The Times]]|access-date=2020-01-30|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

Starting in the 1980s, the availability of [[Modem|dial-up modem]]s led to the creation of the first [[warez]] distribution groups.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Choi |first1=David Y. |last2=Perez |first2=Arturo |date=2007-04-01 |title=Online piracy, innovation, and legitimate business models |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497206001040 |url-status=live |journal=Technovation |language=en |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=168–178 |doi=10.1016/j.technovation.2006.09.004 |issn=0166-4972 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120174304/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166497206001040 |archive-date=January 20, 2022 |access-date=August 2, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nikkel |first=Bruce |title=History of Hacking, Part 2: Dial-up Modems |url=https://www.digitalforensics.ch/nikkel20c.pdf |journal=[[HISTEC Journal]] |language=en |publication-place=[[Switzerland]] |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211105351/https://www.digitalforensics.ch/nikkel20c.pdf |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |access-date=August 2, 2022 |via=[[Swiss computerEnter museumMuseum]]}}</ref> [[Internet Relay Chat]] featured file servers and [[XDCC]] prior to numerous methods and still continue to be used.

The release of [[Napster]] in 1999 caused a rapid upsurge in online [[Music piracy|piracy of music]], films and television, though it always maintained a focus on music in the .[[MP3]] format.<ref name="ConsumerGift2">{{cite journal|last1=Giesler|first1=Markus|date=1 September 2006|title=Consumer Gift Systems|journal=Journal of Consumer Research|volume=33|issue=2|pages=283–290|doi=10.1086/506309|s2cid=144952559 }}</ref><ref name="NapsterNightmare2">{{cite news|last=Fusco|first=Patricia|url=http://www.isp-planet.com/politics/napster.html|title=The Napster Nightmare|date=March 13, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019152028/http://www.isp-planet.com/politics/napster.html|archive-date=2011-10-19|publisher=ISP-Planet}}</ref> It allowed users to share content via [[Peer-to-peer file sharing|peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing]] and was one of the first mainstream uses of this distribution methods as it made it easy for regular users to get free music. Napster's popular use would only be short lived, as on July 27, 2000, it was ordered to be shut down by a federal judge; it was officially shut down July 11, 2001 in order to comply with the order and the case was officially settled on September 24, 2001.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119627&page=1|title=Napster Shut Down|website=ABC News|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref>

Although it was short-lived, Napster's reign allowed its users to dive into the grey area of content piracy. Following its shutdown, many other popular P2P file sharing programs arose: the creation and usage of [[LimeWire|Limewire]] quickly followed suit. Learning from the mistakes of Napster, Limewire decentralized their servers by implementing the [[Gnutella]] network.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://computer.howstuffworks.com/limewire.htm|title=How LimeWire Works|date=2008-01-25|website=HowStuffWorks|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> The success of the BitTorrent [[communication protocol]] led to the rise of many other popular programs that are still widely used today including [[μTorrent]], [[Transmission (BitTorrent client)|Transmission]], [[Deluge (software)|Deluge]], [[qBittorrent]], and [[Tixati]].

The economic loss caused by digital piracy before the year 2000 is estimated to be worth $265B and in 2004 it was found that 4% of box office receipts were lost. Both piracy and economic losses due to piracy are both trending upwards. Lost revenues due to digital piracy couldwere estimated to reach $5 billion by the end of 2005.<ref name=":03"/><ref>Al-Rafee, S., Cronan, T.P. Digital Piracy: Factors that Influence Attitude Toward Behavior. J Bus Ethics 63, 237–259 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-1902-9</ref> Understanding digital privacy can be supplemented by the exploration of the consequences of digital piracy, using a base model and several extensions (with consumer sampling, network effects, and indirect appropriation).<ref>Belleflamme, Paul and Peitz, Martin, Digital Piracy: Theory (October 27, 2010). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 3222. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1698618</ref> According to the IP Commission Report the annual cost of [[intellectual property theft]] to the U.S. economy "continues to exceed $225 billion in counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets and could be as high as $600 billion."<ref>{{cite web |title=IP Commission Report |url=https://www.nbr.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/IP_Commission_Report_Update.pdf |website=NBR.org |access-date=1 September 2021}}</ref>

The groups and individuals who operate piracy websites potentially earn millions of dollars from their efforts. This revenue can come from a number of sources, such as advertising, subscriptions, and the sale of content.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCOYD|first=Ed|date=January 2012|title=Online piracy of publishers' content: a primer|journal=Learned Publishing|volume=25|issue=1|pages=21–28|doi=10.1087/20120104|s2cid=2912597|issn=0953-1513|doi-access=free}}</ref> Piracy behavior demonstrated that economic theory explains a notable part of the individual variation in a survey study. Individuals with a low net valuation of an original when a copy is available are more prone to engage in piracy than individuals with a higher valuation. Individuals with a low cost of obtaining and handling copies are also more engaged in piracy. The country-wise variation can also be explained by economic variables; GNI/capita and judicial efficiency explain a substantial part of this variation.<ref>Holm, H. J. (2003). Can economic theory explain piracy behavior?, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 3(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.2202/1538-0653.1082</ref>

While these sites are occasionally shut down, they are often quickly replaced, and may move through successive national legal jurisdictions to avoid law enforcement. These efforts at detection and enforcement are further complicated by the often prohibitive amount of time, resources and number of personnel required.<ref name="Scott20162">{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Gini Graham|url=https://archive.org/details/internetbookpira0000scot|url-access=registration|title=Internet Book Piracy: The Fight to Protect Authors, Publishers, and Our Culture|date=22 March 2016|publisher=Allworth Press|isbn=978-1-62153-495-2}}</ref>

==BenefitsImplications==

Online piracy has led to improvements into file sharing technology that has bettered information distribution as a whole. Additionally, pirating communities tend to model market trends well, as members of those communities tend to be early adopters. Piracy can also lead to businesses developing new models that better account for the current market.<ref name=":03"/> It has been argued that online piracy may help in preventing businesses from investing in unnecessary marketing campaigns. In addition to helping screen businesses, research proposes that some organizations may be better off servicing only their most valued and legitimate customers, or those who buy legitimate copies of their products. Because pirated copies of software are expected to attract customers who are sensitive to price, it may not be to businesses’businesses' best interest to engage in extraneous price wars with their competitors or invest heavily in anti-piracy campaigns to win target customers.<ref>Ernan Haruvy, E. ,Vijay Mahajan, V. and Ashutosh Prasad, A. (2004), “The effect of piracy on the market penetration of subscription software”, Journal of Business, Vol. 77 No. 2, pp. 81–107.</ref>

Despite the discourse on the digital threat of piracy, it has been shown that innovation and the creation of new works is flourishing more than ever on the Internet.<ref name=":2">Frosio, G. F. (2016). Digital piracy debunked: a short note on digital threats and intermediary liability. Internet Policy Review, 5(1). DOI: [https[doi://10.14763/2016.1.400 10.14763/2016.1.400]]</ref> Piracy has also benefittedbenefited users in countries where content is either unavailable or delayed. In the case of [[ABC Studios|ABC's]] ''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]'', the fear of its last episode being pirated in European and Middle Eastern countries pushed the network to accelerate the episode's distribution to those countries, resulting in the episode being available in those countries 24–48 hours after the original American broadcast.<ref name=":2" />

In many countries the laws on copyright are clear and penalties are heavy. The prevalence of piracy in face of these potential penalties is due to the fact that individuals do not see piracy as inappropriate, let alone illegalagreeing on its illegality, instead viewing it as ethically acceptable due to the core execution of piracy being that: it creates a copy of the file;, thus nothing tangible is being taken away from the inventor of the work.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite journal|author1=M. Limayem, |author2=M. Khalifa and |author3=W. W. Chin, "|title=Factors motivating software piracy: a longitudinal study," in ''|journal=IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management'', vol. |volume=51, no. |issue=4, pp. |pages=414–425, |date=Nov. 2004. |doi: [https://=10.1109/TEM.2004.835087|s2cid=12666182 10.1109|url=http:/TEM/aisel.2004aisnet.835087]org/icis1999/12 }}</ref> Additionally, despite the massive realm of copying and sharing digital content, consumers who pirate are more willing to pay for legal content when the content is consumer-friendly.<ref>{{cite conference|author1=P. D. M. Fetscherin and |author2=P. D. C. Lattemann, "|title=Motives and Willingness to Pay for Digital Music," ''|conference=Third International Conference on Automated Production of Cross Media Content for Multi-Channel Distribution (AXMEDIS'07)'', |location=Barcelona,|date=Nov 2007, pp. |pages=189–196. |doi: [https://10.1109/AXMEDIS.2007.41 =10.1109/AXMEDIS.2007.41]}}</ref> A person's ethical and moral predispositions and the judgments that they use to make decisions may indicate consistency across various ethical dilemmas and also indicate their likelihood to pirate software.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Wagner, S.C.,|author2= Sanders, G.L. |title=Considerations in Ethical Decision-Making and Software Piracy. |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |volume=29, |pages=161–167|date=Jan (2001). https://|doi.org/=10.1023/A:1006415514200|s2cid= 141745605}}</ref>

Conversely, those same individuals{{who|date=January 2024}} cited that the prevalence of piracy is due to the industry's inability to cater to the consumer. Many{{who|date=January 2024}} cite unsatisfactory industry practices such as obtrusive [[Digital rights management|DRM]] in paid software, overpriced media, and split markets as their reason for pirating.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Al-Rafee|first1=Sulaiman|last2=Cronan|first2=Timothy Paul|date=February 2006|title=Digital Piracy: Factors that Influence Attitude Toward Behavior|journal=Journal of Business Ethics|language=en|volume=63|issue=3|pages=237–259|doi=10.1007/s10551-005-1902-9|s2cid=143769363|issn=0167-4544}}</ref> Digital piracy has posed a significant threat to the development of the software industry and the growth of the digital media industry, it has, for the last decade, held considerable interest for researchers and practitioners.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Yoon, C. |title=Theory of Planned Behavior and Ethics Theory in Digital Piracy: An Integrated Model.|journal=Journal Jof Bus Ethics |volume=100, |pages=405–417 (|date=2011).-11-21|issue=3 https://|doi.org/=10.1007/s10551-010-0687-7|s2cid=14395090 }}</ref> In the context of Indonesia, moral equity has affected digital piracy behavior negatively. Therefore, efforts to reduce piracy have been focused on highlighting the importance of fairness and justice.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Arli, D., |author2=Tjiptono, F. and |author3=Porto, R. (|date=2015), "|title=The impact of moral equity, relativism and attitude on individuals’individuals' digital piracy behaviour in a developing country", |journal=Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. |volume=33 No. |issue=3, pp. |pages=348–365. https://|doi.org/=10.1108/MIP-09-2013-0149|hdl=10072/169704|hdl-access=free}}.</ref>

Studying the causes and effects of digital piracy is one way of evaluating the ethics of how our society consumes and spreads media to one another. Ample research in the study of digital piracy can help better understand the psychology and ethics of digital ethics. One of the research approaches that has provided a theoretical framework for studying software piracy has been to place the illegal copying of software within the domain of ethical decision making assumes that a user must be able to recognize software piracy as a moral issue. A person who cannot recognize a moral issue will fail to use moral decision-making schemata. There is evidence that many individuals do not perceive software piracy to be an ethical problem.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Glass, R.S., |author2=Wood, W.A. |title=Situational determinants of software piracy: An equity theory perspective.|journal=Journal Jof Bus Ethics |volume=15, |pages=1189–1198|date=Nov (1996).|issue=11 https://|doi.org/=10.1007/BF00412817|s2cid=145568208 }}.</ref> Research findings{{by whom|date=January 2024}} suggested that personal morals decrease digital piracy mainly in the first phase, whereas neutralization is used by individuals to support their behavior throughout other phases.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mathupayas Thongmak, "|title=Ethics, neutralization, and digital piracy", |journal=International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, Vol.|volume=8, No.|issue=1, pp.|pages=1–24, |date=2017|doi=10.7903/ijecs.1436 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

As more content is fractured into different services, consumers gravitate more towards piracy due to the inconvenience and prohibitive cost of managing multiple service subscriptions to different entities that provide their own content service such as [[Netflix]], [[HuluApple TV+]], [[Amazon Prime Video]], [[HBOHulu]], [[Fandango at Home]], [[Peacock (streaming service)|Peacock]], [[Max (streaming service)|Max]] and [[Disney+]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hern |first=Alex |date=2021-10-02 |title=Streaming was supposed to stop piracy. Now it is easier than ever |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/02/streaming-was-supposed-to-stop-piracy-now-it-is-easier-than-ever |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802183040/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/02/streaming-was-supposed-to-stop-piracy-now-it-is-easier-than-ever |archive-date=2022-08-02 |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> A surge in this practice occurred in 2023, where nearly 229 billion visits to piracy-related websites were recorded, and [[Quartz (publication)|''Quartz'']] partly attributed certain platforms' subscriber losses, namely Disney+ and Hulu, to increased piracy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-10 |title=Disney+ and Hulu are losing subscribers as people flock to piracy sites |url=https://qz.com/disney-plus-hulu-subscriptions-down-piracy-rising-1851241355 |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Quartz |language=en}}</ref>

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