The U.S. Department of Justice is taking action in order to stop copyright piracy. Vice President Joe Biden called a meeting in December which was attended by Attorney General Eric Holder, other cabinet officials, and top executives from the movie, music, and book industries. They announced the creation of a task force that would combat this type of crime at a state, federal, and international level. As a result there will be increased focus on links between piracy and international organized crime. There are estimates that companies lose billions of dollars per year due to copyright theft.
What will this mean for us, the people? Public Knowledge’s Art Brodsky hopes the emphasis will be on shutting down Chinese DVD and CD factories rather than going after individuals. I agree with him. I think that going after the “big guys” first will have an important effect on the piracy market. People can’t purchase illegal movies or buy CDs, at a lower cost, if there’s no one to reproduce them. Those are the ones who are making a profit. It’s true, I can argue that individuals who illegally download movies and music in his or her home for non-comercial use are also making a profit by not having to purchase them; but it’s so accessible that it’s impossible to find one person who doesn’t know anyone who doesn’t do it.
In order to successfully carry out this task, I think it should be divided into two parts. The first focus is going after the “Chinese” factories that are reproducing the DVDs and CDs at a mass value. It’s important that the ones on the top are knocked down first so the people will be aware of what’s going on, and their options will become limited. The second part involves the people. The government, or those enforcing the law, should warn the people who download illegally through individual notifications. An example is the NYU warning e-mail that many people have received, which has been cited in a previous post. I’m sure most students heard about that notification, but how many of these students have stopped illegally downloading because they simply heard of it? Take it a step further. If I were one of the people who received an e-mail, with my name on top, stating I should stop or further action would be taken, I’d think twice about downloading something illegally. It’s playing on people’s fear, but I think it’s the most effective way to decrease the number of illegal downloaders. And eventually implement further action if those individuals didn’t stop. Once people realize it isn’t a joke, we will see a positive outcome for those who want to protect their intellectual property.
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I think that’s a good point to distinguish who the perpetrators are because the scale of infringement done abroad is much different to that of one citizen who downloads for personal use, whom has very little impact on the digital economy. Attacking these individuals doesn’t solve the larger problem, but I definitely agree that those letters that say “we know what’s going on, and you should stop” really do change people’s activity, and also save our tax dollars on court fees, saving that money for the big infringes.