Digital piracy refers to the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material via the Internet. It negatively affects the creative industries, including film, TV, publishing, music and gaming.
Piracy is known by a variety of names, including internet piracy, online piracy, and digital piracy, to name a few, but regardless of the name, piracy is the illegal copying of protected property that violates the owner’s copyright.
Making unlawful copies of copyrighted music, games, software, electronic books, and movies, as well as streaming that content without authorization, are all examples of piracy.
As the internet and its extensive use grew in popularity, digital piracy became a well-known notion that drew the attention of the general public. Perhaps digital content such as films, videos, or even software was distributed without permission.
Digital pirates are people who engage in digital piracy.
Digital piracy refers to the unauthorized copying and distribution of digital content, whether it’s a music file or a confidential video. One of the best examples of digital piracy is filming a feature film at its original screening location and releasing it through several channels.
The most popular online piracy sources
There are many different sorts of digital content that are pirated and thus many different types of piracy. Some of the more common examples are shown below.
1. Websites that offer live streaming
Pirates frequently crack movies and create streaming sites where viewers may watch copyrighted content for free. These sites are simple to find on the internet, but using them is inconvenient and dangerous.
Watching unlicensed movies on streaming sites is frequently riddled with pop-up adverts that interrupt the viewing experience and is a major source of malware (such as viruses and ransomware) that may be loaded without your knowledge.
2. Peer-to-peer networks (P2P)
It’s impossible to discuss piracy without mentioning the site that epitomized widespread piracy at the time. Napster, a music-sharing site that launched in the late 1990s, allowed users to post, exchange, and download music recordings in the then-new MP3 format.
Napster was sued and eventually went bankrupt because its premise was a violation of copyright law, but the music industry also famously sued many ordinary users (including minors) for using the service. Peer-to-peer piracy is still going strong today.
3. Cyberlockers and cloud services
Rather than using peer-to-peer networks to transmit files to all users’ computers, some pirates just store pirated content in the cloud, on services such as Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive. Although cloud service providers work hard to eliminate so-called cyberlockers, pirates can quickly create new accounts once they’ve been detected and removed.
4. Online auction sites
Software rental companies had a thin veneer of legitimacy in the days before the internet, allowing you to trial commercial software by “renting” it. You’d be sent discs and a user guide, and you’d have to return the software after a certain amount of time had passed – but in actuality, it was a haven for pirates who would copy the software (and photocopy the user guide) and then share it with their pals.
To prevent this kind of piracy, one early form of DRM was to create user instructions that were difficult to photocopy. Pirates who unlawfully sell copies of software applications frequently use auction sites like eBay in today’s world.
How to stay away from piracy
Because the nature of digital media makes it difficult to tell when anything has been stolen or pirated, you must be cautious in avoiding supporting piracy if you want to avoid breaking the law and injuring producers by limiting their revenue.
Methods for preventing the distribution of pirated software include:
1. Parental controls should be used
If you have children, utilize the parental controls on their computers and mobile devices to restrict which websites they can access.
2. Use peer-to-peer networks minimally
Even if you don’t upload or download pirated material, you are materially assisting pirates due to the underlying technology in peer-to-peer services like BitTorrent – parts of pirated software can be stored on your PC without your knowledge due to the underlying technology in peer-to-peer services like BitTorrent. It’s advisable to stay away from these websites totally.
3. To watch movies, visit standard streaming services
Stick to major sites and applications for services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney Plus to watch TV series and movies instead of apparently free streaming sites.
4. Downloading music files from free sources is not a good idea
For that matter, don’t stream from ad-free streaming sites; instead, utilize well-known sites and apps for services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, SoundCloud, and Tidal.
5. If anything appears shady, it most likely is
In general, trust your gut. You should be able to discern the difference between a trustworthy commercial site and a shady source of pirated data. When in doubt, conduct a search to learn more about a website or avoid it totally.