Stopping piracy is a constant battle for those who create and sell movies, songs, video games, and software. Public education campaigns, technology such as copy-protection software and digital rights management systems, and legal action are all used to combat piracy. However, legal action is usually a last resort due to the global nature of the internet and varying piracy laws.
For the people who make a living creating and selling movies, songs, video games, and software programs, the effort to stop piracy is a constant battle. Protecting intellectual property rights requires using different approaches while adapting to a market with an endless appetite for new content. While the general public may think of piracy as a victimless crime, this form of copyright infringement harms the creative professional’s ability to make a living from their work.
Public education campaigns are generally considered the first line of defense against piracy. To help stop the piracy of DVD movies, for example, filmmakers began placing a short ad at the beginning of each disc that equated buying a pirated copy of a DVD to shoplifting. Individual artists, ranging from musical celebrities like Metallica to stay-at-home mothers who sell digital scrapbooking kits in their spare time, often speak out against piracy when talking to their fans. Grassroots organizations also work to educate the public about intellectual property rights through online marketing campaigns.
Technology has been a key component in helping stop piracy. Music companies have experimented with ways to put copy-protection software on the CDs they sell. Software programs can be created to request authorization codes or online registration forms which serve to make piracy more difficult because they only come with legal copies. For downloadable content, digital rights management systems limit the number of devices that can play a particular movie or song to prevent people from sharing unauthorized copies. Similarly, some sites sell downloadable files with a fingerprint that allows the original source of pirated copies to be traced. Unfortunately, enterprising hackers and people in the piracy business keep finding ways around these measures.
Legal action may seem like an obvious way to stop piracy, but legal action is usually a last resort. With the global nature of the Internet, it is time-consuming and expensive to track down all parties that would be involved in a lawsuit. Piracy laws also vary from country to country, making enforcement quite difficult. For large companies, negative publicity is also a factor. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) came under fire in 2000 for suing thousands of people accused of illegally downloading copyrighted songs through Napster®, including college students, stay-at-home parents and retirees.
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