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Composition I

Argumentative Essay

2 May 2018

Thief in the Clouds

A Seemingly Impossible Task to Prevent Movie Piracy

Digital movie piracy is the illegal obtainment of infringed copyrighted digital files by

downloading torrent files or streaming from websites that post illegal movie content (Charlotte &

Kenhove 441). Piracy negatively impacts the profits of the movie industry, and it is a growing

problem globally with the advent of cloud computing. Governance over the cloud has stumbled

upon obstacles such as foreign servers, foreign jurisdictions, and the complexities of the cloud

(Andrews 27). The movie industry claims billions of dollars lost to this crime. However, digital

movie piracy appears to be unstoppable due to society’s acceptance of the act, lack of perceived

risk, and the complexities of global cloud computing. The only thing that may diminish the

demand for illegally obtained content is the increasing use of legal streaming services and free

videos distributed with advertising.

The first reason that digital movie piracy is unstoppable is that it is accepted by society. If

the average person is told that stealing from a mini-mart is acceptable, they will likely disagree.

This is not true with the theft of copyrighted movies. Half of adults and 70 percent of youth in

the United States and Germany admit to copyright infringement. In fact, 24 percent of internet

bandwidth is used for this purpose (Wang 271). It is not a new crime. Prior to digital media,

people taped copyrighted content from the television on to video home system (VHS) tapes. This

was on a much smaller scale than the digital piracy that occurs today (Charlotte & Kenhove
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441). Since it has been happening for decades, it is considered a subjective norm that is not

subject too much ethical consideration or guilt. It is common among peers and those of similar

social standing, so it is not considered harmful behavior. The population that commits movie

piracy is called heterogeneous, meaning it crosses all social boundaries (Charlotte & Kenhove

442).

To give an idea of the scale of video piracy, one can look at the numbers in regards to the

Home Box Office (HBO) series, Game of Thrones. The seventh season of the series was pirated

1.03 billion times, which is ten times more than the series was watched through legal channels.

HBO has attempted to decrease pirating opportunities by eliminating paper scripts and

eliminating advanced screenings for the press, but it still occurs (Andrews).

The second reason that digital movie piracy is unstoppable is that the perceived risk is

minimal (Charlotte & Kenhove 442). Even those who view the act as criminal are not prevented

from committing copyright infringement because they feel there will be no consequence. With

the numerous streaming services that offer illegal streaming content and sites that offer the

downloading of illegal content, it is difficult to apprehend and prosecute offenders. Also, many

of the companies are foreign, which creates locally consumed content from a foreign source,

which results in a jurisdiction and enforcement complications (Wang 271). In this respect, those

who feel that movie piracy risks are minimal are correct.

The third reason that piracy of movies is unstoppable is that it is too complex to stop.

Because it is global, and global regulations would have to be created, it is unlikely that countries

will cooperate in the prosecution of offenders. There have been numerous attempts to set up

international laws to stop movie piracy, but they have been unsuccessful. In 2012, two bills were

introduced in Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act. This
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would have given the government more international ability to fight piracy, but internet service

providers (ISPs) protested with an internet blackout. Internet users also opposed (Wang 272).

There is not enough support and too many players involved in movie piracy to successfully stop

it.

Movie piracy may be unstoppable, but it is still harming the movie industry. In 2010, The

Directors Guild of America estimated that movie piracy cost America 25 billion dollars a year,

and 375,000 jobs have been lost (Andrews). However, the U.S. Government Accountability

Office found that the industry cannot substantiate their numbers because there are assumptions

made about the amount of harm it does. For example, there cannot be a one-to-one substitution

rate assumed in losses because nobody can know how many people would purchase the movies

if they could not get them for free (Wang 276). While it is correct that movie piracy does harm,

and many agree there should be a way to stop it, there are few alternatives. Even if a regulation

and prosecution strategy could be developed, the question arises as to whether or not it would

last and if it would cost more than it was worth.

Movie piracy is unstoppable, and the only ways to diminish its effects are to change the

methods in which people obtain digital media. The idea of ownership has plagued digital media

providers, as those who allow legal content downloading combine it with restrictions, and the

downloads cost a lot when considering the number of items desired. Subscription models, such

as Netflix, and advertising-based models, such as YouTube, that allows people to view without

ownership. In the current state of the internet and movie piracy options, it is impossible to stop

piracy because society accepts it, there is minimal risk, and it is simply too complicated. As the

world gets used to the idea of streaming instead of downloading, there will likely be a decline in

movie piracy, and the movie industry will earn its income through legal streaming services.
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Works Cited

Andrews, Travis M. ‘Game of Thrones’ was Pirated More than a Billion Times — Far More than

it was Watched Legally: While the Numbers are Striking in their Own Right, they Hint at

how Widespread the Piracy Problem is for Hollywood. WP Company LLC d/b/a The

Washington Post, Washington, 2017.

Charlotte, Emily De Corte and Patrick V. Kenhove. "One Sail Fits All? A Psychographic

Segmentation of Digital Pirates." Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 143, no. 3, 2017, pp.

441.

Wang, Shujen. "The Cloud, Online Piracy and Global Copyright Governance." International

Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, 2017, pp. 270-286.