My Current Findings

My blog is to focus on the effect of internet piracy on e-commerce.

Internet piracy is rampant, and the downloaders themselves seem to not think they are doing anything wrong.  I know many people who choose to download content instead of purchasing it, because they can.   The problem is, it's just so easy and there are no visible consequences.  However, this effects the economy negatively.  E-commerce is mainly effected because people are less likely to purchase music, movies, and computer software because they can find it online through (illegal) free alternatives.  This leads to higher prices for those who purchase the content legally, because someone has to make up for the lost revenue.  Also, creators of content are worried that they will not be compensated properly for their work. This has led the the entertainment industry to push for some protection, specifically SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act).  These are proposed bills that are meant to stop piracy, although it may have some side effects.  These controversial bills led to online protests by popular websites, such as Wikipedia, Reddit, Google, and others.  This at least delayed passage of the controversial bills.

One of the poster-childs of illegal online content piracy was Megaupload, the main website of a series of websites that provided movies, TV shows, music, etc. for free.  The website was shut down the day after the online protest, and the executives of the company were put in jail.  This raised some questions, if companies like Megaupload are the main offenders the government wants to shut down, and they can do so without SOPA and PIPA, why do they need to pass these controversial bills that could hurt other honest companies that try to operate within the laws?  This may have been another reason SOPA and PIPA were put on hold.  The shut-down of Megaupload has likely led to people finding legal ways to stream and acquire music, videos, etc, such as Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon.  Although many downloaders are upset about this website being shut-down, it is possibly for the better in the big picture.


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