For so long people have taken the easy way out and downloaded movies, music, and digital content for free. There are three ways I think that the media and government can help reduce this easy act.
1. The first way would be to create more viruses on the popular downloading websites. I know personally I avoid the downloading websites solely to avoid viruses. If these downloading websites people use completely shut down your computer when you tried to download music or movies people would start to stop. Trying to contain viruses and clean out your computer is a difficult process and people would want to avoid that. Basically the viruses will cause a set back for users.
2. The next step would be to actually punish people who are doing the free downloading. I know there were efforts before to try to stop piracy but those efforts weren't enough. If the government would take hasher actions on piracy by enforcing the laws and executing punishments, people would download less.
3. Lastly if companies like iTunes and Spotify would lower their prices just a little more, things like that would be more affordable. If they stripped the option to illegally download music and movies and lowered the prices of companies who stream music and movies people would have no choice but to purchase them. If the government completely took away the options to illegally download then there would be no other option but to purchase music and movies legally. Spotify and iTunes already offer free options for users already. The government should take away the convenience of illegal downloading and create a demand for purchasing this digital content.
These are great ideas for reducing piracy, but honestly I think the government has their focus on other things and that's why so many get away with illegal downloading/ uploading. Your first idea stood out the most to me, because that is what keep me from downloading a lot more then I do illegally…and honestly unless I can stream it I won't watch/ listen to it.
ReplyDeleteInternet Piracy is such a large problem, I think it is even too big for our government to handle. I truly feel that this problem will only be fixed when programers and artists figure out how to put a lock of some sort on their content. I really did like your idea of the viruses, I for one will not go onto many sites that may hack my computer so I think that is an excellent solution.
ReplyDeleteWow Molly, I did not even think about viruses, but I think that is a great idea! I know if a website seems sketchy or I think it has a virus, I quickly exit out. If the government slowed down illegal sites, it would definitely turn people away. I wonder why Netflix is so successful, but Spotify and Rhapsody is not. If online music sites lowered their price, I agree with you that more people would use them.
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