First of all, before I begin my writing I just want to say that I don’t really understand how to explain about it. So, if my writing is messy, I do apologize.
Technology has improved through time and it has made our life as easy as clicking the mouse. The Internet has transformed information and the way we interact with it by creating an easily accessible, dynamic, shared information space (Litman, 2003). It has been a great advanced since internet was widely used in 1990s. People can easily listen to the music they want and watch the movie they like. Unfortunately, this condition is not good news for the people who own the copyright for the production.
First of all, we must understand the meaning of copyright. A copyright is the set of exclusive legal rights authors have over their works for a limited period of time. These rights include copying the works (including parts of the works), making derivative works, distributing the works, and performing the works (this means showing a movie or playing an audio recording, as well as performing a dramatic work). Currently, the author's rights begin when a work is created. A work does not have to bear a copyright notice or be registered to be copyrighted (“Copyright Law and Fair Use”, 2002). By having work copyrighted, creators’ can benefit financially and provide them an incentive to continue (Ovalle, 2005).
Copyright usage is to protect those who create an original expression for their work so they can receive appropriate compensation for their intellectual effort. But, more and more people are violating this law. According to a new Pew Internet and American Life Project survey Two-thirds of Internet users who download music are unconcerned that they are violating copyright laws, while only 29 percent say they do care and 6 percent have no opinion on the issue (Moore, 2003).
People do not feel guilty as they perceived it as victimless crime because they think what they did is not wrong. Mind my word, I say “not wrong” not correct. People just do not realize that they are stealing other’s work, it‘s what we call an ‘Intellectual Property”. Intellectual property is abstract and usually uses to describe the products of thought. People feel guiltier when they steal something physical but not something abstract. This is why copyright on music or book or movie is not useful when its goes online.
Some scholars have thought about a way to prevent piracy. In my opinion, I do not think that any law can forbid someone from copying ‘thought’ illegally. Some of the creator may have thought of using software that could track back an illegal user. But there will be a higher mountain. There will be another available source that could feel pleasure to give away the ‘thought’ for free. It’s just like Iceberg. Although the government could track back or prevent an illegal copying, there is still lots and lots user who won’t even care the hard work of the creator.
Back at my hometown, people are selling pirated DVD for just RP.5000 which is equal to S$ 0.9. As you can see, people like something cheap that they can afford to buy. Some of they choose not to buy the original one although it is better than the pirated one.
Even I, myself, prefer to buy the pirated one. It’s not because I do not have the money, it’s just because I do not like something that I will not use it or watch it in the future. But in my opinion, illegal downloading has its own positive way, music downloading for example. Musicians in a certain way do advertising through the downloading. People got to know what they will get if they buy the album. It’s like a sample but not in a good way.
Copyright and piracy, for me both the words cannot be separated as they cause one another to happen. If somebody copyrights something, it makes us want it more in illegal way. It’s kind of scarcity tactic that I learned in previous semester. When you copyrighted something, the more people want it illegally.
So, try not to copyright and see the result. Who knows everybody will start paying for it?
References:
"Copyright Law and Fair use". (19 December 2002). Stanford University Libraries. Academic Computing Publications. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from <http://www-sul.stanford.edu/cpyright.html>
Litman, J. (23 November 2003). "Sharing and Stealing". Social Science Research network. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=472141>
Moore, C. W. (8 august 2003). "Is Music Piracy Stealing?". Applelinks. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from <http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/pirate.shtml>
Ovalle, C. (2005). "An Introduction to Copyright". Retrieved February 2, 2007 from <http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%7Ei312co/1.php>
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1 comment:
Interesting that you shared your views from an Indonesian perspective. Indeed, even where people might no have access to internet, they buying pirated DVDs / CDs are still way cheaper in some countries, and really puts to the test of risking legal action vs. the reward of affordable entertainment.
Full grades awarded.
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