Peer to Peer Piracy and the Film Industry Essays -- Exploratory Essays

Peer to Peer piracy and the Film IndustryIntroductionEach day an estimated 400,000 films exchange hand through the Internet. Movie piracy, once reserved to pirate syndicates and illegal extra factories, has become a common staple among college students with high-speed profit access. With ripe(p) compression technology, movie files can be transferred crossways continents in hours and across campus networks in under ten minutes. File-sharing is seen as a victimless crime, that the relocation picture industry is expected to lose $3.5 billion this year al star due to piracy. Pirate activities undermine every aspect of the legitimate filmmaking disdain since legitimate retailers cannot possibly compete fairly with pirate business. Therefore, piracy negatively affects all aspects of film-making including the studios that invest in the film, the distributors, the retailers and foreign and local filmmakers. Economic carry on intellect property (TV programs, movies, etc) is an incre dible source of emersion for the American economy. Intellectual property is not only Americas largest trade export, but it is creating new jobs at triple the rate of the rest of the economy, and is responsible for more than five percent of the GDP. The movie industry alone has a bare balance of trade, something no other American company can land claim to. Moviemaking is a risky business, for it is not always profitable. Only one in ten films ever recovers its initial investment from theatrical exhibition. In fact, four out of ten movies never recoup the original investment. In 2000, the average studio film terms had a total cost of over $80 million per film. No other industry in the world risks that much capital to make, finance, produce ... ...ue entertainment in a lawful environment.The attitude of entitlement that many internet users exhibit with regard to internet piracy must stop. The movie industry will not ache the pillaging that has been inflicted on the music industr y by casual pirates. modern efforts to prevent piracy are currently being undertaken and they include seek to new technologies to prevent piracy and copying, strengthening laws to inflict harsher penalties for copyright infringement, and educating the prevalent about why copyright protection is imperative to economic growth and the negative effects that file-sharing has on the American consumer. Works CitedValenti, Jack. Thoughts on the digital Future of Movies, The Threat of Piracy, The Hope of Redemption. Motion Picture Association of American Press Release. 30 Sep. 2003