Raid on Sydney pirate pay TV outfit
Police have raided the Sydney arm of an alleged global piracy outfit which they say was selling unlicensed pay TV subscription packages offering over 1000 channels for A$50 a month. Ref. Source 4
Online entertainment piracy still soaring
Despite the growth of Netflix, Amazon.com and other legal channels for watching entertainment online, the volume of pirated movies, TV shows, music, books and video games online continues to grow at a rapid pace. Ref. Source 5
A social reboot for illegal downloaders
Unauthorized downloading of digital goods, including copyright music, videos, computer games, and images has become an increasing problem for content providers and those who hold the copyright on such goods and expect remuneration for distribution. A new research study suggests that content providers must take a pragmatic view based on social consensus to persuade illicit downloaders that their behavior is economically and ethically unacceptable behavior among their peer group or other social group to which they belong. Ref. Source 1a.
I strongly resonate and agree with this latest article. Most people I know who download movies, music, or books illegally, do so because they don't want to pay and think the corporations make enough money off of other people. When I was younger, I downloaded a few things illegally, but then I heard about how it hurts the economy (Not just the companies that hold the copyright), and I changed to support those things I think. I think people can vote strongly with their dollars and have an obligation to do so. If you want more things that match what you like, then you need to pay for things that already are similar to your preferences, otherwise companies are going to make what it seems like people are buying. Also if people continue to undercut companies then they are going to have no choice but to go with cheaper budgets and that usually means making it outside the United States and under less than desirable conditions. If we want ethically sourced things, then we need to be willing to pay a premium for those things.
Some countries have no laws for this so it happens abroad way more than it does here at home. Look at a place like India. There are hundreds of million of people there with nothing stopping them from downloading what they want.