Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photos By Meghan See

Is piracy really a problem?

How do you stand on illegal downloading? Is on-line piracy a serious threat to the music and movie industry?

Some people claim that it is a theft of intellectual property and that it damages the revenues of studios and the recording industry, and its not just the music industry that is being affected. Movies, television shows and music videos can be downloaded for free, which is drawing people away from purchasing them, which they say is as bad as stealing.

On the flipside, others are quick to point out that the music industry doesn’t make as much money from CD sales as it does concerts and merchandizing and that the penalities for downloading movies and music are too harsh. Another argument is that people wouldn’t buy the music or movies that they’re downloading anyway. If they wouldn’t get purchased either way, no money is really being lost. Some also argue that some of the files that are downloaded are not available for purchase, so they couldn’t buy them even if they wanted to.