Why illegal downloading of content makes a person not a pirate, but a thief

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

We don't let the pirates make excuses and tell them how to watch TV shows, listen to music and use software and not go broke.

This article is part of the "" project. In it, we declare war on everything that prevents people from living and becoming better: breaking laws, believing in nonsense, deceit and fraud. If you've come across a similar experience, share your stories in the comments.

Why people download illegal content

Pirates have a thousand excuses, and almost all do not stand up to scrutiny.

What is in the public domain belongs to the whole world

Of course not. The fact that the distributor of pirated content has taken all the legal risks and made the content publicly available does not mean that you can watch the series online without a twinge of conscience. Seasonvar, Kinogo and FreeSoft exist only because pirates use them.

The authors will not lose

By convention Universal and Warner Bros. you really do not harm: big corporations think through all the risks. But more vulnerable, independent and self-sufficient creators will simply perish if they write books, make films and record music, relying on money from the sale of licenses. It's all because of the pirates.

We asked art workers, a writer and a musician about how much money you can earn from music and literature if you are not Monetochka or Sergei Lukyanenko.

Anton Obrazina Vocalist of the Moscow noise-rock band Jars. Jars performs in Moscow once every couple of months, goes on tours, publishes music on streaming services and on physical media.

Actually, I don't have such a serious prejudice against piracy, but I can understand the musicians who are fighting it. Our streaming revenue has never surpassed $ 100 per quarter yet. This is so insignificant that I do not even remember the amount. We receive the main money from concerts, sales of merchandise and media: cassettes and records. But all this instantly eats up a recording, filming a video or other production activities. So far, it seems to me that going to zero is already an indicator of a certain success for a DIY artist.

I must say that streaming gives me serious questions. Yes, it’s a convenient way of delivering your music to the listener, but the payoff is absolutely miserable. There is not much more justice in this than in outright theft, except that it seems to be legal. Only major artists receive some tangible income from streaming, and they can also relatively significantly suffer from piracy. And small and niche musicians will always suffer. Or they will never suffer - it depends on how you look.

Artyom Soshnikov Young writer, graduate of the Literary Workshop of Astvatsaturov and Orekhov.

For young prose writers, the phrase “a writer’s earnings” evokes nothing but a smile. Graduates of our literary workshop publish in thick magazines, literary collections, they publish books - but no one expects money for their work.

They say that if the first book is successful, you can count on 30-40 thousand rubles in royalties. Perhaps you will be paid royalties on the sale of the print run. The starting circulation of the leading publishers is plus or minus 3,000 copies, from this amount you will get … well, another 30 thousand. The publisher is always interested in paying less, not risking.

The novel, on which you spend a year and a half of sleepless nights, evenings and weekends, is estimated in the market as two salaries of a McDuck employee.

A good novel can win an award. For example, the winner of the Nationalbest will earn 900,000 rubles. But victory is not guaranteed to anyone; you should not count on this money.

Most writers do whatever they can: teaching at universities, working as lawyers, writing scripts … and so on. Of course, there are exceptions on the market like Sorokin or Pelevin. But even Prilepin has his own business, and Alexei Ivanov receives the main income from scripts and film adaptations. In order to live with literature, you need to take into account the desires of the audience, be able to sell and present yourself, make acquaintances … this is a very difficult and complex task. Talent alone, the quality of prose alone will not work.

Literature ceases to be a profession, but it remains a vocation, so I don't worry. If you want to make money, it is better to become a sought-after specialist or businessman. People do not write for profit, but because they cannot help but write. Of course, market mechanisms stifle talent, prevent us from writing much and regularly. But those of us who overcome the difficulties will eventually become strong authors, authors-titans. And we will, of course, take the plots from our everyday life.

Draw your own conclusions.

I have no money

Indeed, for a good game from a large brand on the PlayStation 4, you will have to pay up to 5 thousand rubles, and the conditional Photoshop costs almost 1.5 thousand per month. But there are arguments against:

• Content is becoming more accessible, and many licenses are cheaper here. For example, now instead of buying an album for 109 rubles in iTunes, you can buy a subscription to Apple Music for 169 rubles a month and listen not only to it, but to all the albums of the world. And yes, in America such a subscription costs $ 10 - more than 600 rubles.
• You just don't need a lot of content. How many movies remain in memory after watching? Two, three a month? How often do you listen to music? How many books do you read? We are not encouraging to consume less content, we simply suggest calculating the budget that you would spend on licensed films, books and music. Perhaps not much will come out.
• Conditional Photoshop and Lightroom are professional tools. Builders buy screwdrivers, DJs buy consoles, and photographers and designers buy Photoshop and Lightroom. If you do not use the software as a professional, then you can consider budget or free alternatives, and leave serious toys to those who make money on it. There is a chance that you will become a designer in the future, but you do not steal a guitar to become a musician?

Not everyone has the ability to purchase legal content. Not all elderly people, children or, for example, computer science teachers who put pirated Windows on school computers. But usually this argument does not come from them.

The authors themselves are not against pirates

Indeed, sometimes the authors themselves advocate the free distribution of creativity, say thank you to the pirates and upload their works to non-commercial platforms. You can treat Oxxxymiron in different ways, but he eloquently voiced this position back in 2013.

Another example, which you don't have to look far for, is the reaction of the creators of "Game of Thrones" to the fact that many viewers did not pay to access the series. Techdirt posted comments from director David Petrarch and WarnerMedia CEO Jeff Bukes. They seem to be happy with everything.

David Petrarca One of the directors of Game of Thrones.

The illegal downloads of Game of Thrones sparked a buzz around the series and made the show flourish.

Jeff Bewkes CEO of WarnerMedia, owner of HBO.

Yes, I think Game of Thrones is the most spiraling show in the world. And this title is better than an Emmy.

And yet this is not an excuse. It is permissible to use the content for free, but only if the author himself has provided all the possibilities for this.

Pirated content is a self-contained product

Yes, we also love all this, but there is nothing to romanticize about modern piracy. It's not about creativity and talented interpretations of someone else's material. It is about mediocre theft, bright banners, the Amigo browser and endless sports betting.

I will definitely buy a license if I like the product

Well, first of all, most likely, the person will not buy anything anyway. And secondly, no one bites an apple in the store before buying?

What I need just can't be bought

This is perhaps the only excuse that works.

It is inconvenient to use licensed content

You only have to work with most popular services once: create an account and link a bank card. The modern pirate is faced with a lot of inconveniences: intrusive advertising or, for example, unstable software, which can be much more difficult to "grunt" than to buy.

Others do it too

Yes, many people steal content too. And many do not steal, and to be in the second group, in our opinion, is somehow more correct.

What are the consequences of piracy

There is no crime without a victim. And in the case of piracy, the victims are content producers, consumers and, most unfortunately, art.

Authors don't make money

Even 10-15 years ago, our culture of legal content acquisition was completely undeveloped, and it was not easy to buy something honestly: licensed discs were not sold in every city and cost several times more than "pirates". It may seem that in the era of streaming services and software by subscription, when most of us are used to paying for something on the Internet, the situation has changed, but no.

The portal MUSO, which specializes in research on copyright infringement, reports Global piracy increases throughout 2017, Muso reveals that in 2018 the number of visits by users to pirated sites increased by 1.6% compared to 2017. Russia ranked second in terms of the number of offenders, behind the United States.

According to the Subscription Mooching study. Examining Who Really Pays for Video Streaming Services, run by video streaming services blog CordCutting.com, Netflix loses $ 192 million every month from users sharing their account with friends. 40 and 45 million - losses of Hulu and Amazon Prime services, respectively.

IFPI's annual report: Music Consumer Insight Report of the International Federation of Phonogram Producers says that one in three users listens to music illegally.

Most of the research findings point to massive losses incurred by corporations due to piracy. But for smaller players, things are even worse: some companies are downsizing and saving on production, others are closing down, and free lone creators die in poverty or go to their main job, doing creativity on weekends.

Pop culture is getting more primitive

Filmmakers understand that they can only count on rentals, releasing spectacular trailers and films of unstable quality. Musicians move away from complex forms and strive to interest the listener in the first seconds of the track, until he skips it in the VKontakte player. Game designers who have been nurturing projects for years are simply afraid to take risks. It's easier to make the game shorter and make money from in-app paid content and add-ons.

We are not snobs advocating the elitism of art, but the presence of Artur Pirozhkov in the tops of Yandex. Music is not even an alarm bell, but an alarming rumble of a bell. As well as the fact that Vladimir Medinsky is discussing with Alexander Nevsky the fate of Russian cinema.

Not by piracy alone - other reasons also contributed to the formation of a sad picture. Someone's bad taste, someone's lack of talent.

The pirates themselves consume a product of dubious quality

Here's what you have to put up with:

• with ads before songs and TV shows, sometimes in the middle of a series;
• games with bugs and the most sudden glitches;
• lack of timely updates and support from the manufacturer;
• the likelihood of infecting your computer or smartphone with viruses.

How the law punishes piracy

It all depends on what the person has done.

• If he has read a book, watched a series, or listened to a song online, he is not in danger.
• If you downloaded something to a computer or smartphone, and the copyright holder somehow found out about it, he can Chapter 70 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Copyright (current edition) to demand compensation in any amount. In what he wants.
• If you shared a pirated file or a link to illegal content and even just participated in the distribution on the torrent network, then everything is serious. Law Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Violation of copyright and related rights (current edition) interprets this as the use of copyright objects and provides for up to six years in prison as a punishment.

More details about the legal regulation of piracy can be found in Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Chapter 70 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

There were not many precedents in Russia, but the likelihood that lightning will strike you is always there. The court punishment has already overtook the administrators of the torrent tracker, the Lopukhov family and an active user of the torrent tracker Alexei Semyonov. Also, a criminal case was opened against the unfortunate director of the village school Alexander Ponosov, who put computers with pirated Windows in the classrooms.

How to live an honest, fulfilling life and not be a pirate

Not being a pirate in 2019 is easier than ever. Here's what you can do.

Buy a subscription to a music streaming service

The most popular of them are Apple Music, Yandex. Music, Deezer and Google Play Music. Here are the rates:

	Individual subscription	Family subscription	Student subscription	Free period
Apple Music	169 rubles per month	269 rubles per month	75 rubles per month	3 months
Yandex. Music	169 rubles per month	-	-	3 months
Deezer	Regular subscription - 169 rubles per month, subscription with music in FLAC format - 339 rubles per month	255 rubles per month	84 rubles 50 kopecks per month	30 days
"Google Play Music"	169 rubles per month	269 rubles per month	-	30 days

Buy a subscription to an online cinema

In order not to search for TV shows and films on suspicious sites, you can subscribe to an online cinema with a monthly payment. Netflix, Amediateka, ivi.ru, Kinopoisk - there are a lot of options. In this case, choosing a service is better based not on the price, but from the catalog.

Find free alternatives to expensive software

Most users don't need expensive Photoshop or Audition. To crop a picture, paint. NET editor is enough, and to glue two pieces of audio - free Audacity.

Instead of buying the program or looking for its "cracked" version, try entering into Google the query "* Program name * free alternatives". Most likely, something will be found.

Buy music and films on media

A collection of things that you can touch is always nicer. And with discs, LPs and cassettes, you won't feel like you paid for air.

Play by the rules of the site

You can buy an album from iTunes, or you can "pull" it from YouTube - a service where there is any music, and protection from downloading is as easy as shelling pears. And here it is important to catch this line: listening to music on YouTube is not piracy, but downloading it using third-party programs is already yes.

Sentence

Statistics hint that piracy will live on for a long time to come. But that doesn't mean it's right. We have always called for the observance of ethics on the web and respect for other people's intellectual property. In 2019, it is as easy as shelling pears to do it.

If we have not convinced someone and you remain a pirate who, in principle, does not pay for content, well, perhaps we will live to see the moment when time will throw your principles into the dustbin of history. Together with all torrents, sports betting and TV series without SMS and registration.