Piracy is a copyright infringement which is the use of others ones work without their permission. According to Paul Tassi in “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You” he mentions “Piracy is already illegal in the US, and most places around the world, yet it persists underground, but more often in plain sight. Short of passing a law that allows the actual blacklisting of websites like China and Iran, there is no legislative solution.” this basically states that there are still ways that people can get away with others work without being caught. According to Timothy J. Seppala in The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far) it speaks on how a well known website called “The Pirate Bay” was shut down due to containing copyrighted materials. “The Pirate Bay was the 97th most-visited website on the entire internet in 2008, according to Alexa data. During the 2009 trial that saw co-founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm charged with $3.6 million in fines, along with time behind bars for aiding in copyright infringement, it was reported that The Pirate Bay had some 22 million users — roughly the population of Texas.” sites like these costed many industries millions of dollars due to the fact that their material was given away for free in cases like these. As mentioned by Zachary M. Seward in “Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video” it talks about the film “the interview” because of the possible outcomes that we will be seeing in the future when it comes to videos on the internet.
Apr 15
Piracy
Melanie Beltran
MCS 244
April 10, 2019
In the article, “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You” by Paul Tassi, Forbes, it states, “Realize piracy is a service problem…Piracy is not raiding and plundering Best Buys and FYEs, smashing the windows and running out with the loot. It’s like being placed in a store full of every DVD in existence. There are no employees, no security guards, and when you take a copy of a movie, another one materializes in its place, so you’re not actually taking anything.” It is in some sense hurting copyright online because it is essentially copying the content. In Timothy J. Seppala’s “The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far)” article, it talks about the start of piracy. “The Pirate Bay was the 97th most-visited website on the entire internet in 2008… during the 2009 trial that saw co-founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm charged with $3.6 million in fines, along with time behind bars for aiding in copyright infringement, it was reported that The Pirate Bay had some 22 million users.” It seemed to be very common for copyrights infringement. Piracy only makes it easier to make copies, which prevent film companies that produce documentaries or movies from selling their DVDs because it could be easily found elsewhere “illegally.” In Zachary M. Seward’s “Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video” article, it talks about a popular movie called “The Interview”and analyzing the comparisons of people seeing it in the theaters versus renting and/or buying it online. There is the talk of movies being better watched and viewed from the comfort of one’s homes as opposed to being in the theater because one can rent the film(s) or purchase and watch it at home. “TorrentFreak, which tracks piracy of digital media, said the data were ‘comparable to that of popular blockbusters, but they’re certainly not exceptional.’ Piracy may be inevitable, but the early data suggest it can be mitigated with widely and easily available options to pay online.” Piracy is easy to pay for. Many people have turned to stream video platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, it is very convenient for people to just stay home. Piracy is beneficial to people who’d rather stay home and watch shows from streams as opposed to going out. Unfortunately, copyrights are hurt because of the duplication but at the same time, one can pay for the piracy.
Apr 15
Piracy
Melanie Beltran
MCS 244
April 10, 2019
In the article, “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You” by Paul Tassi, Forbes, it states, “Realize piracy is a service problem…Piracy is not raiding and plundering Best Buys and FYEs, smashing the windows and running out with the loot. It’s like being placed in a store full of every DVD in existence. There are no employees, no security guards, and when you take a copy of a movie, another one materializes in its place, so you’re not actually taking anything.” It is in some sense hurting copyright online because it is essentially copying the content. In Timothy J. Seppala’s “The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far)” article, it talks about the start of piracy. “The Pirate Bay was the 97th most-visited website on the entire internet in 2008… during the 2009 trial that saw co-founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm charged with $3.6 million in fines, along with time behind bars for aiding in copyright infringement, it was reported that The Pirate Bay had some 22 million users.” It seemed to be very common for copyrights infringement. Piracy only makes it easier to make copies, which prevent film companies that produce documentaries or movies from selling their DVDs because it could be easily found elsewhere “illegally.” In Zachary M. Seward’s “Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video” article, it talks about a popular movie called “The Interview”and analyzing the comparisons of people seeing it in the theaters versus renting and/or buying it online. There is the talk of movies being better watched and viewed from the comfort of one’s homes as opposed to being in the theater because one can rent the film(s) or purchase and watch it at home. “TorrentFreak, which tracks piracy of digital media, said the data were ‘comparable to that of popular blockbusters, but they’re certainly not exceptional.’ Piracy may be inevitable, but the early data suggest it can be mitigated with widely and easily available options to pay online.” Piracy is easy to pay for. Many people have turned to stream video platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, it is very convenient for people to just stay home. Piracy is beneficial to people who’d rather stay home and watch shows from streams as opposed to going out. Unfortunately, copyrights are hurt because of the duplication but at the same time, one can pay for the piracy.
Apr 15
Piracy and Streaming
In Paul Tassi’s article “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You”, the author believes the war on piracy cannot be won. Tassi explains that “As technology continues to evolve, the battle between pirates and copyright holders is going to escalate, and pirates are always, always going to be one step ahead”. He believes laws are not the solution, as we saw with SOPA & PIPA. Tassi see’s piracy as a service problem, and the only solution is for Hollywood to lower its prices and make movie steaming easier than what it is now. Tassi explains “The primary problem movie studios have to realize is that everything they charge for is massively overpriced…They have failed to realize that people want things to be easy”.
Similarly, in the article “The Pirate Bay shutdown: the whole story (so far)”, Timothy J. Seppala explains how the piracy website came crashing down. Pirate Bay allowed for the download of movies, shows, and even music using “torrents” instead of the actual copyrighted content. In 2014, police raided and shut down the website for good. Utorrent had replaced the piracy site, but Seppala explains “Sure, you’re going to have a minority of folks who’ll pirate anything and everything as their own means of anarchy, but for the most part, by offering an all-around better legal experience (not having to worry about downloading a virus; better video quality) most people aren’t going to bother pirating in the first place”.
Finally, the Quartz article “Everything we know about how people watched “The Interview” and what it means for the future of internet video”, by Zachary M. Seward, showed how the film changed the game for online streaming. The film was streamed, legally, at home over two million times between Christmas Eve & Dec. 27, and generated more than $15 million in revenue. This was a prime example of how people simply want an easy way to stream from home, and that while piracy can’t be stopped, this is one way to drastically cut down the number of illegal downloads.
Apr 14
Piracy and Privacy
In his Forbes article “You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You”, Paul Tassi argues that piracy is an inescapable reality so long as media companies refuse to acknowledge that they must reevaluate their own business practices. Tassi writes, “As long as technology continues to evolve, the battle between pirates and copyright holders is going to escalate, and pirates are always, always going to be one step ahead.” Timothy J. Seppala’s examination of the case of the torrent file-sharing website Pirate Bay illustrates the truth in Tassi’s claim. In the days prior to its shutdown, Pirate Bay saw a surge of 102 million downloads. While the number of torrented movies and TV shows decreased slightly after the closure of the site, they ticked back up even higher in the weeks after, as people turned to LimeWire, which quickly took Pirate Bay’s place. Seppala attributes this activity to the “hydra-like nature of piracy outfits in general” – that is, the idea that once one avenue for piracy has been eliminated, more will inevitable sprout up to take its place. Unless copyright groups take action to make the media they provide more appealing than that which is offered for free by file-sharing website, piracy will continue to hurt the profits of these companies.
Movie ticket prices are continuously rising, and the act of physically going out to buy a movie or go to a theater is not always practical. People want things to be easy, and streaming pirated media can be done within minutes if one has access to the internet. Tassi addresses piracy as first and foremost a service issue. He cites Netflix as an example of a business which has made strides in increasing user accessibility to media content. In my experience, going to the movies simply isn’t feasible due to economic constraints. Tickets alone can cost upwards of $17 each in New York City, and concession stand items are pricey, too. Of course, you can try to sneak cheaper outside food into the theater, but random bag checks might result in you getting escorted out of the theater, and not being allowed to even use the ticket that was paid for. A date night for two can easily become an $80 excursion. Tassi expresses that he believes in “paying for products that earn it”, and I agree that right now Hollywood isn’t offering a fair price for the media it is providing. The “movie theater experience” is highly overrated, and most movies are just as satisfying to watch at home as they would be in theaters. With Netflix and other streaming services’ commitment to providing movies as near to their theater release date as possible, I believe that in the future we will only continue to see them act as a buffer to media piracy.
Apr 14
Online Communities and Groups
The rise of social software as an outlet for social expression has been well documented. In Clay Shirky’s speech “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus”, he describes how watching television in the past was usually followed by discussion with others about the most recent plot developments, and how the social aspect of media consumption has become nearly as important as the media itself. One such example of an online community is what is commonly referred to as “fandom”; that is, the “kingdom of fans” which make up particular forms of televised, screened, or streamed content. Social software such as apps like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook have given fans new venues for their discussion of the plot, characters, and related content that they have invested themselves in emotionally. The era of limiting media content conversation to the post-episode time is over; with the rise of live-tweeting and live-blogging, fans can engage in chat as the content plays. Along with these practical benefits, the constant connection to other like-minded people has cultivated a creative environment where fans can use online community spaces such as forums and transformative work websites (including fanfiction platforms like ArchiveOfOurOwn) to showcase and develop their own unique talents.
Danah Boyd describes some of the other benefits of online communities in her essay “Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?”. According to Boyd, teens and adolescents are introduced to social software at an early age, and display an understanding of how to navigate it that often concerns parents and more conservative educators who perceive the technology as a gateway to inappropriate behavior. She argues that educators are therefore a fundamental resource for youth, and that their role should be to begin conversations within the classroom about networking practices and the impact it can play on their lives. She writes, “[Educators] can posit moral conundrums, show how mediated publics differ from unmediated ones, invite youth to consider the potential consequences of their actions, and otherwise educate through conversation instead of the assertion of power.” Through acknowledgment of social software, educators open themselves up to gaining a better understanding of how youth process information, which can in turn benefit them in developing their lesson plans. I am a writing tutor at Lehman’s ACE Writing Center, and recently attended the First Annual Bronx Tutor’s Alliance Conference at Bronx Community College earlier this month. In addition to presenting on two panels, I also watched several panels on tutoring practice and theory. At one fascinating presentation, a BCC tutor described one of the most successful tutoring methods she had developed for her sessions, based on Twitter’s 140 character limit. In order to help her students think critically about the main idea of the readings they are required to summarize, she would ask them to express the most important elements of the reading as if they were doing so in a tweet. Using this method, she was able to convey the essence of what a good summary must contain to her students in a way that is relevant to how we consume media today on social platforms.
Apr 12
Assignment 10: Why is social software a blessing in disguise?
I believe social software is both a blessing and a curse. Social software does allow people to unleash their creativity in a way and connect with others sharing the same passion and through that they can learn new techniques. On the other hand, it can become an obsession or a waste of time as some people can spend most of their day scrolling through information without being active online. According to the article, Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? By Danah Boyd, “More conservative educators view social technologies as a product of the devil, bound to do nothing but corrupt and destroy today’s youth.” We all have heard of cases of students losing their college acceptances based on something they did on social media and teachers losing their jobs for the same thing. In a way, these conservative educators are right because for some youth, social software has completely taken over their life and they start to forget about school or hobbies and focus on being popular online or consuming as much media content as they can without realizing it. Boyd states that it is important to “educate through conversation instead of the assertion of power” and to keep an open mind when talking about the dangers of social software. Many parents might believe that restricting their child’s use of social media will be beneficial but it ends up creating far greater problems as the child will continue to find ways to do and say what they want online and keep it private from their parents. Parents should find ways to let their children be free online but always have conversations about how to beware of the dangers online and how the information you post can affect you in the future.
An abundant amount of people are making money from being online and thus are spending a lot of time online and using social software. According to the article, Gin, Television, and Social Surplus By Clay Shirky, “in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads” and “two hundred billion hours watching television every year”. We consume media more than we think. Some people see it as a norm to watch television and be online for most of their day. This prohibits them from having hobbies, learning important life skills, and physically interacting with others. If people spent as much time learning a new language as they do watching television, then they could easily learn a few languages throughout their lifetime. Of course, a lot of people do use online platforms to learn languages but far more people get distracted and use it to be connected. I started putting time restrictions on how much time I spend on my social media apps on my phone and I have noticed I am spending more time talking to people and it feels good to not be connected to a little device 24/7. I hope that in the future, kids will learn how to effectively use social software and technologies and that obsession over being online comes to an end.
Apr 11
Class Activity
The entire presentation will take about 30 minutes. Maybe longer, depending on student interaction. The students will be broken into three groups; one group labeled “For,” another labeled “Against” and the last labeled “Judges”. The students will debate about whether they will or will not ban online communities in the United States based on the pros and cons provided by the slides and their own experiences. The debate will be turn based and every person from each group must participate each round. There will be a set number of rounds depending on the number of students in the groups. When a person presents their argument, they will be timed. Points made by previous members cannot be made again. At the end of each round, judges will decide who wins. Whoever wins the most rounds in the end is the victor.
Apr 10
Social Software a Blessing in Disguise
As the year goes by technology is advancing the same way communication is advancing. Social Software has become a great benefit, with just a click away one can connect with hundreds of friends and family. According to “Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?” they introduce public spaces and that public spaces have many purposes in social life they allow people to make sense of the social norms that regulate society, they let people learn to express themselves and learn from the reactions of others, and they let people make certain acts or expressions ‘real’ by having witnesses acknowledge them. It is like facebook, instagram, and twitter a few social medias. One posts something and people react by commenting, liking or retweeting the post. Then unlike this article, in “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus” he says that the internet is something that people in the media world don’t understand. Media in the 20th century was run as a single race‐‐consumption. How much can we produce? How much can you consume? Can we produce more and you’ll consume more? And the answer to that question has generally been yes. But media is actually a triathlon, it’s three different events. People like to consume, but they also like to produce, and they like to share. This compares to facebook sharing and twitter retweeting but what makes these things go on is the popularity these networks have. If it works it works, for example we had myspace it was grown out of since everyone went to facebook, they same way is going to happen as years go by the popular the social network is the more people would be on it sharing posts.
Apr 09
Why is Social Software a Blessing in Disguise?
Social software is probably one of the most amazing aspects of technology today. People can communicate from almost anywhere in the entire world. However, it doesn’t truly seem to be a blessing – in fact, I feel that it isn’t much of a blessing at all. According to Michelle Kasprzak we as individuals need rules and guidelines to prevent information from overwhelming us and being too chaotic. She states that “The internet is thought of as nearly boundless, with millions of pages devoted to a dizzying diversity of subjects, and seemingly no end to the number of lists and discussion boards one can take part in. Introducing limits to a component of something that is seen as limitless makes our online experience more like our everyday experience, wherein there are more definite boundaries and edges.” While social media sites are semi-mediated, there is still a plethora of information to be interpreted and processed by people every day. It still appears to be almost limitless and tremendously overwhelming. People want connections but can’t maintain over 5 friendships at once, let alone the several thousands of followers some accumulate. The website “Bumplist” is a good example where you can focus on who you’re communicating with and not get overwhelmed by the sheer number of individuals in your online life.
Furthermore, Social Software as become more invasive. There is now a blurred line between privacy and public information. According to Danah Boyd in their article Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? they state “The Internet lack walls. Conversations spread and contexts collapse. Technical solutions are unlikely to provide reprieve from this because every digital wall built has been destroyed by new technologies. The inherent replicability of bits and the power of search make most walls temporary at best.” Essentially what is said here is that social software lacks a sense of boundaries that the real world provides. Social software is a helpful and powerful technology capable of connecting people from across the globe but it may not always connect you with people you want to see. There are somethings you just can’t avoid with social software and it’s something you have to accept if you engage in it.