What Is Piracy? Part One
I’ve been having some interesting discussions in the backblog about piracy and related issues, yet the one thing we haven’t fully defined is “What is piracy?” This is not an idle question, nor is this post going to answer the whole question. What should be an easy answer becomes mired in a series of “What ifs?”
What is piracy?
- Reselling media without paying the license holder?
- Downloading from a website without paying for the content?
- Taping songs off the radio/
- Buying a used book or CD?
- Watching broadcast television but skipping commercials?
- Making a copy of a CD for the hot chick in biology?
- Getting fed up because you’ve already bought, like, ten copies of London Calling — why should you have to pay for it again?
Depending on who you talk to, piracy might be all this and more. If we take the simplest definition, which applies to the first and the fourth items on my list, then you lose the right to a long-affirmed privilege: the doctrine of first sale. But if I buy an entire album (also known as “collection of songs designed to be sold as a unit”) from iTunes and decide I don’t really want to keep the music in my collection, am I allowed to sell those songs on eBay…if I promise to limit my sale to only one bidder — and delete the music from my hard-drive once the sale is consummated?
Is that piracy? I’ve legally purchased the music, and, under the first-sale doctrine, I have a right to resell it. But things get sticky when it comes to digital media, don’t they? What if I don’t delete the music from my hard-drive? What if I’ve accidentally left a copy on my iPod?
How do my rights as a consumer come into play in the era of digital media? At what point in the process can I safely say that I “own” my music? This is not rhetorical question — I keep harping on the upcoming Zune versus iPod wars. Not because I think there’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight on the streets between fans of each device, but because I think people are going to get very angry when they realize there is no device portability for their music. Most people don’t know from digital rights management (”DRM”), and don’t fully grasp that the songs they buy won’t be playable on new, cooler devices.
So my question is, again, what is piracy? Shouldn’t we, as a planet, have a common definition of the crime before we start to legislate the punishment?
Technorati Tags: piracy, drm, zune, ipod, first-sale doctrine
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7 Comment(s) so far
1. What Is Piracy? Part One - Zune-Gear - Your Zune Connection wrote on November 6th, 2006 at 10:26 am
[...] Original post by Medialoper [...]
2. Jim wrote on November 6th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Holy crap! I’ve done every single one of those things on that list! The problem with some definitions of “piracy” is that they set the bar so very low that everybody becomes a pirate.
Including taping songs off of the radio on that list means that I became a pirate at the age of 10. Arrgh!
3. Kassia wrote on November 6th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
But Jim, you didn’t answer the question. What is piracy? Let us, for the moment, forget that you were living on the wrong side of the law way back when you were ten. My list didn’t necessarily define piracy — it merely laid out a few thresholds. Where does real piracy fall?
It’s a serious question that needs to be answered. People are being sued in this country — are they pirates, uninformed, confused, or legitimate consumers? I think I know my answer to this question, but I’m curious about other people. What is piracy?
And, no, you can’t ask the RIAA. They won’t tell you. Really. They will not give you a definition of piracy. It’s a bit like their version of pornography. They refuse to draw clear lines for consumers, yet expect consumers to follow the rules. It’s a bit unfair — and maybe it’s time that we, as consumers, started developing our clear definitions. I’m not convinced that people want to break the law (yes, there are some). But I am convinced that a lot of people don’t know what constitutes piracy.
(PS - A lot of us are wondering how you managed to make a copy of a CD for the hot chick in your biology class. We can do math, you know.)
4. The Weekly ‘Loper - November 12, 2006 | Medialoper wrote on November 12th, 2006 at 10:20 am
[...] What Is Piracy? Part One - One wonders that if you believe the broadest definition of piracy applies — say, giving a mix CD to someone makes you a pirate — then why bother worrying about being a pirate? In other words, if you are already an outlaw, then you might as well be an outlaw. [...]
5. Who Is Hurt By Stealing Music? | Medialoper wrote on November 28th, 2006 at 7:05 am
[...] Let’s be honest here. Piracy hurts every single person and business in the chain. It hurts the artist, it hurts the labels, it hurts the retailers. If you’re talking in terms of physical media, it hurts the people who drive trucks and work in warehouses. It hurts artists who haven’t yet been signed to labels. You might not think there’s an impact, but you’re wrong. One thing that we have had a tough time doing is defining piracy. We’re not alone; if you ask the RIAA, point blank, to help you understand what is stealing and what is not, they won’t answer you. This is why they’re taking the rather unfortunate step of suing people left and right. What will end up happening is that the definitions of piracy will be decided through litigation rather than serious discourse. [...]
6. TAMMY wrote on January 22nd, 2007 at 1:23 pm
THIS IS VERY EDUCATIONAL BUT HOW DO YOU DO PIRACY BY SKIPPING COMERCIALS ON TV. JUST A QUESTION
7. Kassia wrote on January 22nd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
In the US (and, I believe, on the Canadian “networks”), the programming is supported by commercials. The consumer “pays” for programming by watching commercials. There are extreme viewpoints that suggest the mere act of skipping the commercials is stealing. This is why there is opposition to products like TiVo — skipping commercials, it is argued, will ultimately lead decreased advertiser dollars.
Granted, the airwaves being used for broadcast are in both countries owned by the people.