The Problem of Illegal Movie Downloads

2732 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The failure of blockbuster

Imagine an individual pouring every fiber of their being into something that they treasured and yielded great passion for. Now imagine the product of that person’s intensive work being stolen right out from under them by a complete stranger that they will never meet. This is the gut wrenching case that filmmakers face with illegal movie downloads. The fact is that movies are not only the collective work and effort of just a filmmaker, but rather the joint endeavor of many people. In the film industry, illicit movie downloads not only hinder the efficacy of diligence and commerce, but they also deter legitimate services that contribute to the original creators of creative works, thwart societies’ traditional values of movie screening, and promote disobliging attitudes towards society as a whole. It is evident that throughout the course of history, that society as a whole has progressively become less and less conservative. Subjects ranging from family values to portraits and morals in the media have changed vastly. Unlike the old days where people made an entire outing in pursuit of a drive-in movie, film screenings are no longer “events” to go to. Although it is granted there are still drive-in movie theaters, it is blatantly evident that society is changing in terms of how people participate in social and entertainment events. Statistics show that drive-ins continue to close down due to the fact that it is not a modern facet of society, and is considered rather out of date. In 2000 there were reportedly 443 drive-ins open and operating in the US. The numbers have dropped slowly over seven years to 405 running drive-ins in 2007 (“Drive-ins.com”). There is a steady closure of facilities still occurring. If this consis... ... middle of paper ... ... 14 Oct. 2010. . Fithian, John. "NATO | Statistics | Average U.S. Ticket Prices." Welcome to NATO. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. . Liedtke, Michael, and Mae Anderson. "Blockbuster Bankrupt: Video Chain Files For Bankruptcy Protection." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. . Lukitsch, Laura J. "Senior Exit Project Interview." Personal interview. 13 July 2010. VanAirsdale, By S.t. "Blockbuster Going Out of Business - Blockbuster Video Declares Bankruptcy -Esquire." Beautiful Women, Men's Fashion, Best Music, Drink Recipes - Esquire. 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. .

Show More
Related

  • An Ethical Evaluation of Peer-to-Peer File Swapping

    3209 Words  | 7 Pages

    Taking a global perspective, one must keep in mind that the term “copyright” is not universally defined, accepted, or enforced. We must therefore use the term with the United State’s definition as a basis. However, absent U.S. law, we must also consider the creator’s intent as it relates to the distribution and use of his or her work. This exploration will lead us to a universal position – one that claims that the wide-scale, free exchange of Intellectual Property by means of P2P technology is unethical.

    Read More

  • The Effectiveness of Anti-Piracy Tactics

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, despite the strong copyright policy and punishment of the United States Federal Copyright Act, as enforced by police as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), piracy still rages on, especially...

    Read More

  • Piracy in China

    1307 Words  | 3 Pages

    Piracy causes people to lose the motivation to create. Companies, filmmakers, and musicians are all interested in producing and selling their products. However, many companies and people lose motivation to create products if they cannot make a profit from their products. For ex...

    Read More

  • Online Pay-Per-View Movies

    2696 Words  | 6 Pages

    I choose to discuss the topic of the internet as a new medium for pay-per-view movies because I feel it is a very fresh and new topic that has not been discussed, nor received much attention. The onset of this new medium comes from an attempt to deter online movie pirates from stealing the movies to actually purchasing them for a low price. I feel this is especially important for me to be writing this on a college campus because that is where a great deal of movie pirating occurs due to the fast online connections that the universities provide. File sharing programs like Kazaa and Limewire run ramped on college campuses making this an interesting alternative to explore. With this subject hitting close to home, I choose to research it and find out why it would be a good alternative to the free downloads that we receive from online people to people file-sharing programs. While there are a few sites out there that offer this kind of pay-per-view service, I choose to specifically focus on the site Movielink.com because it is backed by five major Media Corporations comprised of Universal, Sony, Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, Paramount, and Warner Brothers. For this reason, it was the ideal internet site to explore to show the recent trend towards getting new movies online, even if only for a short time.

    Read More

  • Fighting To Maintain the American Dream

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Movies have been one of the most popular pastimes for Americans for decades. They are the topics of conversation, a place for lovers to go on dates, and an industry that the general public seems to have a fascination for. However although we think of movies as another entertainment source, they were not always as socially accepted by the people. In 1904, Harry Davis opened the first freestanding moving-picture theater. Although he was met with much skepticism, his idea would have a lasting effect on America's culture. When they first opened, the people were not immediately accepting. Safety, cleanliness, and price were a few of the concerns the public had. After a few changes however, the "nickelodeons", as they were called, started booming. Flashing lights were put up wherever there was room on the façade of the buildings. Ventilation systems assured people that they were br...

    Read More

  • Modern Piracy and Their Hotspots

    2451 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is first beneficial to know the definition of piracy. Piracy has been characterized multiple ways from multiple disciplines. For the purpose of this paper, I will apply the definition of piracy from the 1982 United ...

    Read More

  • Redbox: The Movie Rental Industry

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    Movie theaters have been around for a long time. As time has evolved movie demand was increasing and wanted a more convenient route. “Blockbuster was founded by David Cook, who had previously owned a business that provided computer software services to the oil and gas industry in Texas. Cook saw the potential in the video-rental business and after opening the first Blockbuster in 1985 (A&E).” and was the only company to provide a walk in store for movie rentals. This business was booming and most of the rental sales came from the first three weeks after a movie was released to VHS or DVD. This niche in the market is rapidly failing today.

    Read More

  • Online File Sharing and Internet Piracy

    1780 Words  | 4 Pages

    "4 Ways In Which Internet Piracy Can Be a Good Thing." MakeUseOf. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Film Industry Converges with the Internet: Beneficial or Detrimental

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some individuals consider the Internet to be one of the greatest inventions of our time. Their reasoning is due to the positive outcomes that have come with this such as connecting people around the world and aiding in education, research, new, etc. Specifically, in relation to the film industry, the Internet has provided positive and negative outcomes. The Internet allows for consumers to download films illegally, which lowers ticket sales and profit. At the same time, the Internet has become an essential tool for rising filmmakers and has also helped movie industries to advertise new films for little to no cost. Overall, it is a two-sided argument of whether the film industry’s convergence with the Internet has been helpful or detrimental.

    Read More

  • Internet Piracy: Theft of Intellectual Property

    1757 Words  | 4 Pages

    Physical piracy-the copying and illegal sale of hard-copy CDs, videotapes, and DVDs-costs the music industry over $4 billion a year worldwide and the movie industry more than $3.5 billion. These numbers do not factor in the growing (and difficult to measure) problem of Internet piracy, in which music and movies are transferred to digital format and copies are made of the resulting computer file. Journalist Charles C. Mann explains why Internet piracy has the potential to be vastly more damaging to copyright industr...

    Read More

  • Media Piracy

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s technological age and consumer-driven economy, there is no doubt that media piracy and file sharing are in demand and makes a big business. Not only the so called “bootlegged” materials cost less, but most of it also managed to completely imitate the quality of the original materials. It is much easier to people to download movies or music online or buy bootlegged DVDs for 5 dollars than to watch the movie in theaters or pay for the whole CD when there is only one song that the person likes. People know about the possible consequences of these actions, but they do not have a choice especially in these times of economy recession, plus everyone nowadays is doing it, so it would not be considered such a big deal at all if they illegally download or purchase copyright materials. On the other hand if everyone is doing it, why there are still some people getting caught? Not that they should not be punished, but being put into jail and paying a fine that is ridiculously impossible to pay are just practically harsh. Maybe if those people are business tycoons of counterfeit materials, but the fact that most of those people getting caught are just ordinary people trying to be practical and doing what the rest of the world is doing which is doing these “illegal” downloading or purchasing bootlegged movies and music. The government and the entertainment industries are using ordinary people as scapegoats and have been doing draconian methods in moms, children and maybe even old people by suing them for downloading or sharing pirated materials for free, because of the fact that they are having a hard time pursuing the big time “master minds,” who are making a profit out of someone else’s work.

    Read More

  • Digital Piracy

    369 Words  | 1 Pages

    All around the world people connected to the internet are downloading free digital content through P2P file sharing software.

    Read More

  • The Most Overlooked Crime: Piracy

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Online piracy is a huge problem, one which costs the U.S. economy between $200 and $250 billion per year, and is responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs. These numbers seem huge: $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs – that’s twice the number of those employed in the entire motion picture industry in 2010 (Freakonomics). In 2010, the Government Accountability Office released a report noting that these figures “can be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology,” which in English means these figures are legitimate and that piracy really does hurt our economy.

    Read More

  • Against Illegal Downloading

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the dawn of the internet, many things such as books and text became obsolete, due to insufficient monitoring of internet activity and sites. Individuals were able to gain free access to books and publications that normally needed to be bought, or required a fee. This is something that has caused problems for booksellers and publishers. Now, as technology advances, it also begins the decline of music, software, and television industries—but something can be done before it’s too late. Illegal downloading is a problem that affects us all, either directly or indirectly. Many people do not take it too seriously. They have not realized that it is an epidemic; like a disease that keeps growing as people become more knowledgeable about computers and learn more about how software runs. People openly burn music CDs and download music and movies for friends who in turn give it to their friends; it’s a never-ending cycle on illegal practices. The problem started when Napster came out and should have ended when it was shutdown. Unfortunately, not enough has been done to stop the illegal transfer of files. It’s time someone takes full action and ends this detrimental offense.

    Read More

  • Downloading and Uploading Copyrighted Materials Should be Legal

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first reason why downloading and uploading copyrighted materials from the Internet should be legal is that downloading copyrighted materials positively affects the economy. The European Commission Joint Research Center reported that the profits of music companies would be 2% lower if uploading and downloading copyrighted materials were banned. However, music companies are able to acquire more profits despite illegal downloading because many people tend to purchase CDs or DVDs after watching or listening to copyrighted materials for free. Moreover, the research showed that people who download music illegally spent more money to buy music than people who did not download illegally. In addition, research conducted by the Swiss government informed that one-third of Swiss people downloaded copyrighted materials from the Internet because personal use of copyrighted materials is legal in Switzerland. Even though there is a fact that many people can download copyrighted materials from the Internet legally in Switzerland, the amount of money that people spend to buy copyrighted materials is not f...

    Read More

More about The Problem of Illegal Movie Downloads

Open Document