Copyright is a difficult topic in regards to computer science and piracy. Piracy is extremely prevalent especially among computer science majors and the more technologically adapt users of the internet. The DMCA has helped Hollywood and other media groups to protect their IP and has helped to grow the industry.
The DMCA protects copyrighted works from infringement and gives the aggrieved party a method to fight back if an area is infringed on. This can result in monetary fines, the works being taken offline, and many of legal possibilities. The DMCA also has the “safe harbor” section that has been critical to the growth of the internet. Section 512 states that companies like Youtube can not be held legally responsible for the content that is put on their website by third party users. This protects ISP’s and many other internet based companies from being sued into Oblivion by something an errant user does. Safe-harbor has been crucial to the growth and quick adoption of media and I believe is one of the best parts of the DMCA.
Copyright and its relation to piracy is actually a more complex issue than I had first thought. I had no idea that the DMCA protected companies with the safe-harbor act. Also just the ethics behind piracy are complicated and challenging to decide on what is right. I think in most cases it is wrong to pirate media from the internet and share it with others. I do believe that if the users already own the media and they are not being allowed to access it in a certain way and want to show it to their friends they should be allowed to. However, this is a really challenging issue.
I have used pirated movies and media. I always justify it by saying that I am in college and do not have the money for this media and they are making tons of money anyways. However this is a pretty weak argument. While these things are true, it is no reason to steal content from others. I should not do it, but I do anyways. It is something that is tough to stop once you know how easy it is to do.
I think one of the biggest reasons people use and steal copyrighted material is the ease of access. With all the illegal sites for streaming and stealing the material, it is often easier for me to get the material illegally than it is to procure it by legal means. I think that if material is easier to access and cheaper, it will be less stolen through illegal sites.
I think stealing copyrighted work is a problem, but not a major one. In order for the work to be stolen it usually has to be big enough to be at least slightly popular and likely is making the producer at least some money. I think this is a problem that will never be completely solved but with better access to content and more work on protecting content we can see the problem at least diminish in scale.
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