Digital Piracy

All around the world people connected to the internet are downloading free digital content through P2P file sharing software.

Intellectual property rights are being broken as people are downloading free content through P2P (Peer 2 Peer) networks, and illegal websites online. Production companies can't do anything about that because developers of this type of software can't be blamed for what people share. And no one can track the people behind the illegal websites.

Production companies took a bold step forward by uploading their content online. People now are not obliged to buy a full album to listen to one song, for a minimal fee you can buy the track you want, the same goes for movies and electronic publications. The downloaded files though will be digitally protected so that only the person who downloads them can use them, and he can't share them at home or with friends. Even with this step from production companies, a large portion of people who download music still do it for free. Moreover hackers came up with new ways to remove the digital copyrights so the same as before one downloads music and distributes them around.

The Industry gets its revenue from selling this content whether it's online or in stores, this funds new projects and allow for better products in the future. The public should be aware of this, downloading the content for free, and not buying it will decrease revenue for the companies stopping them from undertaking future projects.

"Production companies should lower the price on their products, I can't buy music for at least 20$ per album and DVDs for 30$, I only make 200$ per month," said George Issa a music fan who spends most of his nights downloading music from the internet, "when there is an album or movie that I really like, I try to buy it legally, I don't think I am doing anything wrong, they are wrong making money of our backs," he added.

"Surely I can buy a CD and rip it on my computer, but I can also get it for free without buying it, and this is what I will do," said Ali Agha a second year student American University of Beirut.