Piracy: The Moral Theft

                Piracy is illegal. To download a movie online without paying for it is a crime. In 2004, Motion Picture Association (MPA) launched a short video to start a campaign against piracy. Their message was simple: You wouldn't steal a car. You wouldn't steal a handbag. Why would you steal a movie? Yet millions of people download and torrent movies off the web daily without considering that they are committing a crime. We fail to acknowledge piracy as a crime because we consider that everything online is under public domain. If we download a movie without benefiting from it monetarily, why is personal use of media illegal? Piracy is theft only when you view the production of material as private property. But in the age of new media, does originality still exist?

                

               Ramon Lobato defines piracy in his essay, Six Faces of Piracy, by uncovering its six facets. Piracy cannot be linked to one sole definition because its meaning is different to the consumer and the producer. In his segment, Piracy as Authorship, he explains that both authorship and creativity are piratical: “The act of creation [is seen] not as the labor of a unified expressive soul but as the selection and combination of fragments of already existing discourse.” The flaw in considering piracy as theft lies in the fact that every piece of new media originates from preexisting media. Yet piracy is such a saturated conversation because of its deep connection with money. Major US studios estimate they lose $6.1 billion globally as a result of piracy. $6.1 billion U.S. dollars is A LOT of money, and certainly enough for them to make piracy a legal issue.

               In the legal world, piracy exists as a continuous, cyclical blame game. This TechNewsWorld article goes as far as blaming search engines for piracy, tackling the question: If there is no legal intention, is it still piracy? Very much so. Following the construct of any legal matter, intention isn't considered a viable excuse. Lobato explains that piracy exists because there is a rift between consumer and producer. The problem with piracy rests in the lack of access the audience has to a specific medium. Understand that certain films that are no longer in circulation can only be obtained through piracy. More so, as prices of DVDs and movie tickets continue to skyrocket (in order to compensate for the money lost through piracy), poorer communities lose the means to participate in the film culture. In context, piracy is no longer just a disagreement between consumer and producer – it plays a great role in changing class politics, hierarchy and social stratification.