Essay Sample about Crimes Associated with Digital Content

There are various crimes associated with the making of digital content including digital piracy, bootlegging and counterfeiting. Digital theft refers to the unlicensed trade that deals in software, and other digital products such as digital videos without the permission of the owner (Lawson, 2017). Those engaging in this kind of malpractice sell the digital content at a low price. Piracy is against the rights of the individual possessing the copyrights to the digital content. Bootlegging, on the other hand, is the production of artist records when performing without their consent and selling the videos to other people. Bootlegging usually makes digital content that does not have the official trademarks of the recording companies authorized to record the artists. Bootlegging became illegal in the year 1996.

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Counterfeiting refers to the act of making copies from sound recordings that have trademarks, logos and graphics without the required permission from the owners of the digital content (Wang, 2017). Various measures have been created to combat these malpractices. One of the effective ways to reduce the duplication of digital material without the owner's permission is anti-piracy laws. The laws are part of the NET (No Electric Theft) Act of 1997. The decree is against any individual duplicating copyrighted content. Another act is the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which was enacted in 1998. DMCA made it hard for people to interfere with copyright technologies for they are materials owned by specific individuals. The law also ensures that ISPs have to work with copyright owners at occasions when he/she is in business with pirates. It is impressive to learn that close to sixty billion worth of software was stolen in 2010.

The illegal downloads made around the world showcase 95% of the music downloads made by people. The central question that is left in my mind is whether the remaining 5% of the music downloads indeed comprise the music acquired by people through the proper channels. I came to learn various things that had not crossed my mind before such as the most pirated T.V show was Game of Thrones. I also came to learn about the different ways through which one can avoid pirated content. They include evaluating the nature of the material in question as to whether the material sold at one location matches that sold in another place. If the quality of the content does not match then it is likely illegal (Danaher, Smith, & Telang, 2014). If the seller is not well known, there is the likelihood that the content is pirated.

The outlook of the DVDs and CDs can also be used to establish if the CDs are authentic or not because original copies always have seals on them. The price of the digital content on sale is also an option that can be applied to distinguish between fake and original content. It is because when the prices do not match the material in question one should be suspicious of the CDs or DVDs in the market (Dziwak, 2017). I will apply what I have learned to discern different types of digital content available in the market. I will be in a position to know whether I am dealing with pirated or counterfeit content. In my opinion, the many corns associated with piracy need to be aggressively addressed because piracy hurts the economy and the artists. More solutions of rectifying the theft need to be developed because the notion that piracy is incontrollable discourages artists from making digital content. It has reached a point that artists believe that piracy is normal and have developed means of enduring piracy.

References

Danaher, B., Smith, M. D., & Telang, R. (2014). Piracy and copyright enforcement mechanisms. Innovation Policy and the Economy, 14(1), 25-61.

Dziwak, O. (2017). A reader in international media piracy: Pirate essays.

Lawson, S. (2017). Access, ethics and piracy. Insights, 30(1), 25.

Wang, S. (2017). The cloud, online piracy and global copyright governance. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(3), 270-286.