While completing a lot of research lately about copyright laws and DRM, I’ve noticed that many people seem to think that piracy shouldn’t be taken so seriously because downloading a file online for free is no different than borrowing a book, CD, or movie from your local library. Unfortunately, while it sounds like a great metaphor, it’s not exactly a fair comparison to make.
The materials that you borrow from a library have several properties that electronic media files just don’t have, which sets them apart and makes “borrowing” them a legally approved action.
First of all, books and discs have an attrition rate much higher than that of computer files. While libraries lend copies out for free and specialty retailers sell used products, there is a limit to just how many times an item can be lent or sold before it’s likely to wear out and need replacement. This will spur more sales of a creative work over time. Electronic files may occasionally be corrupted, but it is much easier to produce copies of an MP3, PDF, or any other type of media than with physical items.
Due to the high cost, production of physical media items is generally limited or discontinued once the popularity begins to wane. Older items become rare and eventually end up increasing in value. This is not something that will ever occur with an electronic file, again because they can be copied with ease. Vintage book stores sell original printings of more popular literary works for hundreds of dollars or more. An original copy of an e-book will likely never enjoy the same value.
This value is created by an emotional attachment to the physical item that people just don’t get with bits and bytes. Think back to the 1980s and early ‘90s when photos had to be developed onto paper in dark rooms. How did you feel looking at those photographs compared to browsing through digital images on your computer? It’s much more difficult to feel sentiment for an object on a digital screen than then when you have something tangible you can feel in your hands.
It’s the same way with books, music, and movies. There is something about flipping the pages of a book or owning the DVD of your favorite movie that lends more perceived value to the creative nature of the product than just downloading a file from the internet.
Books in particular have existed for centuries, and other modern forms of recorded media have existed throughout the twentieth century. Now, technology has radically changed the way the world can access information, essentially deconstructing physical barriers that existed less than twenty years ago.
Piracy and the current copyright law and DRM nightmares that are plaguing citizens and government officials worldwide are because of the unique situation the internet has caused. There are no quick or easy solutions because we have created something that is like nothing that has ever existed.
What do you think?
