Ethical Issues Regarding the Download of Movies and other Media

Question: Write an essay on ethical issues regarding the download of movies and other media. Answer: Introduction: - Ethical issues regarding the download of movies and other media content have raised extensive debates over whether the method called Piracy is ethical or not, besides its undecided regulation as a legislative offense. According to Jewkes Yar, (2013), the media personalities have found it analogous to stealing; while others have found it helpful on the grounds of distribution of access from multiple sources for the patrons. The essay is on the Intellectual Property ethical issue and the ethical analysis of piracy on various grounds. The scenario: - In Australia, downloading entertainment content is legal, as argued by Jon Lawrence of Electronic Frontiers Alliance and Geordie Guy because the downloader just gets a copy of the content, while the owner still has the copyrights to make duplicates and generate revenue. On the contrary, Robert Kirby labeled it as stealing, similar to leaving the bookstore without paying for the book that the visitor took and had favored the promulgation of legal oppose to it. However, downloading differs from theft because it does not completely strip the owner off his belonging. As pointed out by Attorney General George Brandis, Australia lacks legislation against "illegal" piracy, unlike many advanced nations. The case of piracy, raising various opinions and labeling, is a matter of Intellectual Property issue in ICT ethics (Life, News, crime, 2014). As discussed by Cornish, et al., (2013), Intellectual property refers to ones right to his brilliance. But, in the era of extensive ICT implementation, the control over intellectual property is loose bound and must be hardened for financial gains. The intellectual property lies on four domains, which are Patent, Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Secret. Patents: - They are the strongest of security, granted legally for the creation acquisition and trading of the property, for a long span. However, they have disadvantages like long expenses, technical complexity and widespread detailing for marketing (Merges et al., 2012). Copyright: - It is easy to obtain, and its infringement is illegal. As it protects the rights of speech and media, it is implemented for writings and music or theater industry (Merges et al., 2012). Trademark: - Trademark speaks for a product and makes it unique. Infringement of trademark results in legal suing and compensation. It prevents the counterfeit or replication of a product. Trade secret: - The riskiest of all, it binds a products rights to its owner, but if revealed, it can cause a huge loss. Reverse engineering replicates any and every product but not those with trade secrets (Merges et al., 2012). Intellectual property in classified as industrial products, which use the trademark, trade secrets, and patents and on the other hand, the music related and film or theater works, those have copyrights (Merges et al., 2012). The stakeholders: - The stakeholders in illegal download and piracy are discussed in the table below. Serial number Stakeholders Functions 1 Cybersquatters and framing They usurp the domain credentials of other domains mainly the domain name to extort revenues from the authorized website. Framing is the reproduction of the contents of another website. 2 The websites to download pirated content They carry either the pirated content or the links to the content without the copyright or censorship agreements 3 Stealth filmers They secretly film the screened movies 4 Hackers They intrude into the networks to leak the data for reproduction 5 The owners of the content, The production ownership right holders and the content distributors They get victimized and almost stripped of their revenue indirectly 6 The authorized channels and websites Though they hold copyright laws and streaming rights, they fail to remain the only source for the content 7 The common mass and the website visitors They access the unauthorized channels for gaining the content at lower subscriptions at intended time. 8 The government and the economy The government loses expected entertainment revenue and hs to undergo reforms and raised costs in Intellectual property security Table: - Stakeholders of piracy of Intellectual Property The ethical issues: - Serial number Stakeholders Actions and ethical context 1 Cybersquatters and framing Cybersquatters aim to generate higher revenue by using the reputation and success criteria of the original domain. It infringes the trademark and is unethical. Framing is also unethical on the grounds of reproduction by violating copyright regulations. 2 The websites to download pirated content The websites follow the practice of framing or carry the links to the content by breaching the copyright regulations. However, piracy is a concern of diverse ethical inferences. 3 Stealth filmers Screening of the artistry without permission is illegal and hence unethical. 4 Hackers They intrude into the networks to leak the data for reproduction Table: - Ethical issues of the actions of the stakeholders The non-ethical issues: - The nonethical issues include the contribution of the common mass and the website visitors to download the movies and content, along with the government and economy victims, which need no analysis. The consequences: - According to Fink et al., (2015), the consequences of the piracy of intellectual products are: - Reduction in the sale of new units: - The reduction in new unit's sale is mainly due to the lack of development investments for new products. Supply of new products: - The reduced sale of the new products like movies and soaps in this context, have resulted in reduced streaming of such works in separate channels. Access granted to the common patrons: - The website visitors and the patrons have access to download the media content from sources other than the streaming channel, either free or through lower subscriptions Legal debates: - Piracy has raised extensive debates among the government officials and the media personalities regarding various opinions and recommendations of fiscal penalties. Formation of laws to counter piracy: - Reformed techniques like keys and strongly defined digital policies other than the firm implementation of copyright are deployed. Ethical analysis: - Consequentialism theory: - Considering the utilitarianism factor in the Consequentialism theory, the piracy of the entertainment content may turn out to be cost-efficient on a large scale for the patrons, considering the fact that the Australians pay 400% for the media content. However, the cost blows to the media groups are very less as compared to the benefits gained by the patrons (Vaughn, 2015). Thus, the distribution of the complex-access content to the patrons at a lower price may defend piracy as an ethical issue. Just consequentialism theory: - In the context of this theory, the owners or the media groups and channels are not deprived of their creations and may generate reviews from the copies, and hence are not harmed in that manner. Piracy just provides a platform for multiple accesses for the patrons (Vaughn, 2015). Conclusion: - With the rise in the Information Technology field, the security of the information to be distributed has drawn widespread concerns regarding illegal sharing and downloading, commonly known as piracy. However, though not illegal, piracy has to be checked on legal grounds. But, keeping in mind the diversity in the ICT techniques in various nations, standardized laws must be introduced for fiscal penalties and prevention of intrusive cyber-crime in Intellectual Property domain. References: - Jewkes, Y., Yar, M. (Eds.). (2013).Handbook of Internet crime. Routledge. Life, D., News, D., crime, D. (2014). Downloading movies and TV is not a crime. The Sydney Morning Herald. Cornish, W., Llewelyn, G. I. D., Aplin, T. (2013). Intellectual property: patents, copyright, trade marks allied rights. Merges, R. P., Menell, P. S., Lemley, M. A. (2012). Intellectual property in the new technological age. Sell, S. K. (2013). Revenge of the Nerds: Collective action against intellectual property maximalism in the global information age.International Studies Review,15(1), 67-85. Laplume, A. O., Pathak, S., Xavier-Oliveira, E. (2014). The politics of intellectual property rights regimes: An empirical study of new technology use in entrepreneurship.Technovation,34(12), 807-816. Fink, C., Maskus, K. E., Qian, Y. (2015). The Economic Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy: A Review and Implications for Developing Countries.The World Bank Research Observer, lkv010. Vaughn, L. (2015).Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton Company.