Movie Piracy Is Stealing

With the growing number of internet users participating in movie piracy, this creates a network of users who no longer need to go the movie theatre or video store to watch a movie. Movie piracy has grown enormously in the past few years making it easier than ever to find box office releases with the simple click of a button. This creates a world where it is okay to steal billions of dollars from movie producers, because most of those participating in piracy see nothing wrong with it. Although there are consequences for downloading copyrighted content, it is nearly impossible to prosecute each user who is downloading a particular movie. Instead of relying on punishing those who are downloading the content, it is most important to make this content unavailable getting rid of this problem altogether.

In a recent survey conducted on 3600 internet users in nine countries, it was reported by the Motion Picture Association of America that twenty-four percent of internet users have downloaded a movie over the internet, and seventeen percent of those who hadn’t said they expect to start within the next year (Pruitt). Just about any internet user can easily find and download a movie within a few hours by typing its name into a search engine. With this method being more convenient and less costly than going to the movie theatre, it should not be a surprise that so many people are doing it.

“Only two years ago, it took 72 days to get a highly watchable version of "Finding Nemo" online.” (Hernandez) Today, in the world of movie piracy this would rarely happen though. Most box office releases are available online within a few days or even hours of the box office release. “Last summer's blockbuster "Spider-Man 2," for example, was downloadable in first-rate form within seven hours of its premiere to the public…” (Hernandez). This shows that movie piracy is becoming more important to internet users, and piracy will continue to grow unless something is done about the problem.

With the availability of pirated movies being so great, you cannot place all the blame on those who are downloading the files, or buying the bootlegs. The problem is those who make these files available. The website vcdquality.com lists releases of pirated movies, and the source of the release. The most common source for movie releases is CAM or telesync (VCDQuality). This means the video was directly recorded with a camera in the movie theatre. The second most common way movies are pirated is through the copying of a screener, a pre-release for promotional use (VCDQuality). Both of these ways allow access to a movie while it is still in theatres affecting box office sales dramatically.

“The MPAA estimates that piracy costs Hollywood $3.5 billion a year in lost ticket sales and home video rentals” (Bowles). This may not seem like much of a problem to those not involved in the MPAA, but as Dan Glickman, head of the MPAA said, referring to piracy, “..an A-list actor isn't going to be hurt by it. This industry employs 750,000 people, most of whom don't make a ton of money. They're hurting everyday folks just trying to make a living” (Bowles). And, although many internet users do not see anything wrong with piracy, it is stealing. Piracy could be compared to walking into a video store and stealing a video rather than purchasing it. I’m sure many people would find this to be wrong, but would still continue to pirate movies.

As I have already mentioned movie piracy happens everyday and costs Hollywood billions of dollars a year. Aside from costing actors money, piracy is also stealing. Piracy affects many internet users destroying their moral values, enticing those to steal who never in their right mind would think of doing so. Many of those users may not see anything wrong with piracy, because the problem is so widespread. This is why we must stop the problem before it hits home. By decreasing the number of pirated releases we can diminish piracy, and allow internet users to realize that it is wrong. Because of the many sources of piracy it will take a few steps to make a difference, but it can be done by increasing security and enforcing laws. If these steps are taken movie piracy will no longer be a threat to anyone.

The first step in diminishing piracy is to increase movie theatre security. Since the majority of pirated movies are made available through the recording of the movie at the movie theatre, increasing movie theatre security could make this source of piracy less threatening. Security in movie theatres, especially where I’m from, does not seem to be a concern of pirates. Someone may come in once during the movie and quickly walk the length of the theatre. It is probably not even possible for