“I’m late, I’m late for a very important date!”
The newest season of your favourite television show has just been leaked online and you simply can’t wait. As Veruca Salt once said “ I want the whole world. I want to lock it all up in my pocket. Give it to me now”- and that is exactly what we are doing with our illegally downloaded content on our portable devices. You believe you have the freedom to information and honestly, nobody is telling you otherwise. Nobody is going to stop you from downloading anything on the web and you’re a grain of sand in the scheme of things. So hurry up! Quick, before the link gets blocked.
It was once assumed that downloading material from the internet illegally was a skill only mastered by the tech savvy people of the world. But as the internet and global networking has grown, so to has the ease of accessing online information and content. Regardless of the barriers put in place to prevent illegal downloading it is not uncommon for someone to download a television episode, the latest movie, a music album — the list goes on. It has reached a point where these actions are not viewed as unlawful but an entitlement to access available information. In fact, from 2004 to 2009 approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded on file-sharing networks worldwide. This behaviour is occurring on such an extreme scale that it is difficult to imagine how it could ever be successfully policed, if at all, on any particular forum or in any single country. Journalist and web activist, Cory Doctorow believes that although governments attempt to “protect” information against copyright exploitation ultimately the greater our online sharing, the greater our knowledge and global networking capabilities. Doctorow says that “taking a piece of information off the internet is like getting food colouring out of a swimming pool”. It is impossible.
Recent statistics reveal that 54% of 18–24 years old in Australia admittedly pirate movies and television shows and I am sure the other 46% are not being entirely truthful. Currently you can purchase a movie ticket for about $16 or buy the movie from iTunes for $24.99. But you don’t really feel bad for the diminishing film industry and you know how to download things that is unlikely to result in any negative personal consequences. It is a self centric way of thinking, but realistically this is an issue that can only be stopped “all or nothing” as gradual decline of illegal downloading just won’t do the trick.
There is nothing really stopping you from doing it either, other than your WiFi download capacity. Western societies have fallen so far down the rabbit hole of illegal downloading and our governments are yet to impose harsh penalties to deter content piracy.
“If you drink much from a bottle marked ‘poison’ it is certain to disagree with you sooner or later” — Lewis Carroll.
So we continue downloading away, until something much larger than our unique selves makes certain that what we are doing is wrong in the face of our freedom.
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