Writers, musicians, filmmakers and artists love to create. Online pirates love to steal their creations.
Artists whose creations have reached a modicum of success have spent years honing their craft. They’ve spent countless hours writing or recording only to spend countless more hours re-writing and re-recording to get their book, song or screenplay to a point of artistic expression they can be proud of.
Online pirates love to sit at their computers looking for creative works to steal and disseminate. They get a thrill from stealing, hoping to make money while not getting caught. Or, they feel justified in downloading their favorite TV series for free. After all, don’t those big production companies make millions?
Pirates rob, plunder and hijack. Artists produce the music, art, and films that fill voids in our lives.
Just as you want your personal property to be protected, artists deserve to have their intellectual property protected by our laws.
Based on the number of downloads, BitTorrent reported that “Game of Thrones” was the most pirated TV show in 2014. It was downloaded 8.1 million times. The second most downloaded show was “The Walking Dead” with 4.8 million downloads, then “The Big Bang Theory” with 3.9 million downloads. That’s a whole lot of plundering and hijacking.
Arts.mic reports that “Game of Thrones” costs 6 million per episode to make. “Big Bang Theory” costs 2 million. Without profits, which are diminished by online piracy, these productions would cease.
As reported at RIIA.com (the Recording Industry Association Website), digital content theft of music has been devastating to the industry. “Employment at the major U.S. music companies has declined by thousands of workers.”
Think about the fact that every time you pirate digital media in the form of music, movies or a television series, you are contributing to taking someone’s job away.
Has the Internet become today’s worldwide pawnshop?
Former White House Science Advisor on computer security and privacy, A. Michael Noll wrote, “Suppose someone brings stolen property to a pawnshop, and the pawnshop takes it not knowing that the property was stolen. Later, the pawnshop is informed that the property was stolen. The pawnshop then has a responsibility not to sell the property—and also return it to its rightful owner or to the authorities.
“Search engines are like pawnshops. Once they have been informed that they are enabling access to stolen material, they have a responsibility to stop doing so.” Professor Noll speaks from personal experience having had his book pirated.
The online piracy wars wage on between the servers who bring us arts over the Internet, the artists themselves and lawmakers. The wars waged in the high seas of digital media are just beginning.
Listen this weekend to “The Joan Jerkovich Show” where I talk with two authors about the discipline of writing. When you hear what they have to say about the work it takes to create original material, you will understand how a writer deserves not to have their work pirated.
Joan Jerkovich, BCC
Board Certified Life Coach
