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Piracy is illegal?
Most of us are law abiding, peace-loving citizens. We speak of ‘other people’ who commit crimes with barely concealed contempt. However that does not stop us from committing a crime that is no different from stealing when we use pirated digital content, whether in the form of movies, music or software. However, most of us don’t feel guilty about it, in spite of knowing that it is illegal. When asked to explain the apparent clash between our law abiding nature and the act of piracy, we often justify it with the non-affordability argument or by taking the moral high ground in the fight against the evil big corporations. However, the real reasons are different.
First of all, there is the difficulty in tracking all transactions, the ease of availability and the very low probability of punishment. These are some of the simplest explanation for most people using pirated content, but the last we will admit as our real motivation. Obviously there is nothing heroic about buying pirated movies because you are very unlikely to get caught. But there is something definitely heroic about taking a stand against the big corporations who are out to do evil. This is manifested in the non-affordability Argument. This argument goes like this: “The movie DVDs are so expensive that I cannot afford to buy them. The big studios have overpriced the DVDs so much that movie fans like me can watch only pirated movies. So blame the extortionist movie studios for piracy, not me. Through piracy, I’m
taking the fight to the studios.”
To understand why this argument is flawed, just replace movies with cars, studios with auto companies and piracy with stealing in the above statement. Of course cars are not softwares, but the logic is the same. Pricing is the prerogative of the company selling a product/service in a free market (subject to monopoly laws) and hence cannot be used as an excuse for using pirated content.
A far more important reason why piracy is considered acceptable is the distance of the victim. If I were to contemplate stealing an Audi, I can be pretty sure that the owner of the Audi would be mighty pissed about his missing car. He would complain to the police and seek justice. However if I were to copy a movie from my friend, he would not have to give up anything in the process and I would get a perfect copy of the movie. The only victim is the movie studio which is far far away and has no clue about the transaction that just happened. Not only is it easier to commit a crime if I don’t see my victims, but also much easier to convince myself that there is no victim at all. Even if I know there is a victim, I could even convince myself that he doesn’t mind this small crime. And since nobody has any special love for the lone victim (the Big Corporation) nowadays, some might do it just for the pleasure of sticking it to the man and gain appreciation from his peers for doing so.
Digital content has been around for a very short time. Whatever be the field, laws take notoriously long time to evolve. The conflict that happens before laws finally gain widespread acceptance is actually good. Whatever be the reasons for piracy, there must be some legitimate concerns of users of data that must be addressed while framing any law. Similarly, there are legitimate concerns of creators of content that must also be addressed. The conflict is the only way in which we can arrive at a compromise between the two parties. Laws do not mean anything unless most of the society accepts them. Therefore, anti-piracy laws will be difficult to enforce unless large sections of the society agree that it safeguards the interests and is fair to all parties. Once that happens, people will start accepting the fact that there is a real victim of piracy whose rights need to be safeguarded. It will become easier to enforce a law that is acceptable and availability will go down. Till that happens, companies will continue to wrestle with new technologies and innovative revenue models, and pirates will continue to try their best to outsmart the companies.
Categories: Business Processes
digital content, Piracy
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Philip Eranat
RaghavFeedback
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Domain of Thought 
Piracy or copyright infringement has been given an interesting angle called guerrilla innovation. Chinese excel is in “bandit” or “guerrilla” innovation, known as shanzhai. They quickly produce copies of softwares/hardware/gadgets which are cheap yet usable. Although not so prominent or evident on the digital content as the original copy is good for use and only needs to be copied, on the electronic gadgets side it gives a lot more scope for innovation like solar powered battery chargers etc.
I have no clue where do you draw the line, but you have rightly pointed out that unless laws are fair to all and foster competition (thereby improving quality and driving down prices) piracy is here to stay.
Not that I promote piracy but I feel that some of the Anti Piracy measures that have been pushed forward are rather heavy handed.
The most lame baked of all these measures is DRM. In your cars analogy, its akin to Audi telling me ‘Here are the keys to your new car. It has been designed such that only you will be able to drive it’. I agree with the old policy where buying an audio tape gave you rights to keep one copy of it, irrespective of whether it was in your possession or your pal’s possession. Duplication, even then, was illegal.
The other thing that corporations don’t think is that DVD’s have this irritating tendency to NOT work. There need not be any scratches on the DVD, but the DVD player would just refuse to read. Case in Point: I had purchased DVD’s for Rock On and now the DVD has gone bust. There is not a single scratch on it, and I had watched the movie only once. Quite naturally, I feel cheated that these corporations charged exhorbitant prices for a movie that I wanted to collect. If they really care shit about their consumers and their content creators, they would have given me some sort of guarantee ‘You ensure you don’t duplicate this; in case this fails over the next year, I will give you a replacement’.
I believe that if corporations want more Anti Piracy legislation they should also start caring about what their consumers actually want.
@ raghav: I agree that it is very difficult to draw the line. In a way, these ‘innovators’ really do play a part in helping cut prices of new technology and driving innovation. Sometimes, they are more in touch with the needs of the consumers than the big tech companies.
@martin: You definitely deserve a replacement on your DVD, and that is because media companies have not adjusted well to the changes in their industry. They are still trying to wish away the changes when they should be embracing them. I think that is the reason why progressive practices in media have been delayed, and why you don’t get a replacement 🙂
Piracy is much more rampant in countries like India and China – which to me suggests that there is a cultural element to how we see piracy. Unlike western countries, the concept of intellectual property is new to the developing world; and people might not see piracy as a very grave crime. Not that piracy does not happen in developed countries, but I suspect there it is better explained by the affordability or “taking a stand” reasoning.
Also, while pricing is entirely the manufacturer’s prerogative, it is very apparent that as the divergence between selling price and marginal cost increases, the tendency to look for illegal deals increases. Companies like Moserbaer seem to have figured this out.