Stealing or Sharing?

In the olden days, there were two types of piracy. The first was the illegal kind—independent pirates would chase down ships and plunder them. The second kind was privateering, piracy that was sanctioned by a specific country, used most often in a time of war. For example, Sir Francis Drake attacked and plundered Spanish ships during the 16^th century in the name of Elizabeth I of England. With privateering, the pirates were considered criminals by the countries whose ships they were plundering, but were practically heroes back home.

Cyber piracy is similarly controversial. Although government authorities like the FBI consider piracy a crime, many internet users are in disagreement to this assessment. The picture on this post is from a blog called Spicy IP, from an article the author did concerning copyright infringement. This article insists that there is a difference between internet piracy and literal “theft”, since with theft, the object of value is actually taken away, whereas with piracy, it’s merely copied. Because the creator does not seem to seem to actually lose anything, many people argue that internet piracy should not be put in the same boat with other cases of internet fraud. 

However, the FBI sees it differently. A statement on their website reads, “It's robbing people of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions—what’s called intellectual property—everything from trade secrets and proprietary products and parts to movies and music and software.” The biggest reason people argue that piracy is a crime is the fact that it deprives the music and entertainment industry of so much income because of pirated videos, music, and software.

So which side is right? Well, as the FBI has the power right now to make decisions about laws, it’s ultimately their call. But who knows? Perhaps someday they’ll reconsider, and those who prefer to describe cyber piracy as “sharing” rather than “stealing” will finally be appeased.