The Effects of Piracy (by Jake Brisk) Steal This Film spends a great deal of time covering some of the effects of piracy. The interviewees claim that file sharing and piracy promotes creativity, because intellectual property owners need to come up with new and creative ways to earn a profit from their work. Additionally, the interviewees say, piracy is promoting creativity in the general population as well. File sharing has created thousands of new singers, rappers, and DJs, because anyone can take a copyrighted song, and remix it, or use parts of it in their own songs. Free file sharing, the interviewees argue, will eventually bring forth a new economic model that we have never seen before; one where every consumer can also be a producer.
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The researchers hypothesized that the results of the study will support the belief that piracy hinders innovation; however, they unexpectedly found that in certain situations the opposite is true. They discovered that the threat of piracy motivates producers to innovate, and come up with new and creative ways to earn a profit (Lahiri & Dey, 2013). Lahiri and Dey’s findings directly support the claim made by Steal This Film that online piracy promotes creativity and innovation. Contrarily, however, research by law clerk Charles H. Low, shows that piracy does hinder innovation. Low examined the impact that virtual reality might have on the music industry. Low suggests that as virtual reality becomes more advanced, many producers will want to port concerts to virtual reality devices. Low then examines the potential effects that piracy of such virtual reality performances will have on the music industry, and finds that the development of this groundbreaking new entertainment medium is hindered largely because of piracy fears (Low, …show more content…
Lee Marshall, a distinguished researcher at the University of East Anglia, may have the answer to the constant contradicting reports on the effects of online piracy. Marshall argues that it is impossible to ascertain the effects of piracy because there are three main issues that are not accounted for. First, piracy is a blanket term covering a wide variety of activities. Some of these activities may result in a loss of revenue, while others do not. Still, many studies focus on only one category of piracy, and apply the findings to the blanket term, which results in misleading findings. Additionally, those who engage in online piracy, are generally secretive about their activities. Therefore, any figures of losses, are hypothetical and cannot be relied upon. Lastly, Marshall argues, statistics do not account for why people pirate. Perhaps some who pirate music still purchase it as well, and others would not purchase music even if pirating it was impossible (Marshall, 2004). Therefore, we find that the actual effects of online piracy are extremely difficult to determine. Many studies on the subject are deeply flawed, and cannot be relied upon. Nevertheless, we also cannot simply assume that there are no negative impacts from piracy, and therefore, the effects of piracy presented by Steal This Film are not to be relied upon
The researchers hypothesized that the results of the study will support the belief that piracy hinders innovation; however, they unexpectedly found that in certain situations the opposite is true. They discovered that the threat of piracy motivates producers to innovate, and come up with new and creative ways to earn a profit (Lahiri & Dey, 2013). Lahiri and Dey’s findings directly support the claim made by Steal This Film that online piracy promotes creativity and innovation. Contrarily, however, research by law clerk Charles H. Low, shows that piracy does hinder innovation. Low examined the impact that virtual reality might have on the music industry. Low suggests that as virtual reality becomes more advanced, many producers will want to port concerts to virtual reality devices. Low then examines the potential effects that piracy of such virtual reality performances will have on the music industry, and finds that the development of this groundbreaking new entertainment medium is hindered largely because of piracy fears (Low, …show more content…
Lee Marshall, a distinguished researcher at the University of East Anglia, may have the answer to the constant contradicting reports on the effects of online piracy. Marshall argues that it is impossible to ascertain the effects of piracy because there are three main issues that are not accounted for. First, piracy is a blanket term covering a wide variety of activities. Some of these activities may result in a loss of revenue, while others do not. Still, many studies focus on only one category of piracy, and apply the findings to the blanket term, which results in misleading findings. Additionally, those who engage in online piracy, are generally secretive about their activities. Therefore, any figures of losses, are hypothetical and cannot be relied upon. Lastly, Marshall argues, statistics do not account for why people pirate. Perhaps some who pirate music still purchase it as well, and others would not purchase music even if pirating it was impossible (Marshall, 2004). Therefore, we find that the actual effects of online piracy are extremely difficult to determine. Many studies on the subject are deeply flawed, and cannot be relied upon. Nevertheless, we also cannot simply assume that there are no negative impacts from piracy, and therefore, the effects of piracy presented by Steal This Film are not to be relied upon