The theft of creativity

When Wikipedia temporarily shuts down, college students listen. I was therefore all ears when Wikipedia, along with numerous other online websites, shut down for 24 hours in order to denounce the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) last week.  

With major media coverage and relentless social discussion, SOPA has become a hotly debated topic. The bill, which was proposed in Congress, aims to eliminate online piracy through highly controversial means. While critics of the bill rightfully condemn its thoughtless and extreme implications, I believe there is an underlying issue at hand that is more important than the bill itself.

Having been born into the digital age, it feels like online piracy has always been a major problem. Growing up with Napster, Kazaa and LimeWire, I have always been faced with the moral dilemma of deciding between free, albeit illegal, media and legally purchasing media. While I can proudly say I've always pursued the latter, it is obvious many others do not.

Inherent within the discussion of SOPA is the debate about the impact and legitimacy of piracy. I can't help but think that many people who oppose SOPA are fearful of the restriction, and perhaps elimination, of pirated material. Considering a recent study found that 70 percent of online users find nothing wrong with Internet piracy, I don't think this assumption is far off.

The music industry loses an estimated $12.5 billion in revenue each year as a result of online piracy. While I believe this number is erroneously inflated by assuming that someone who illegally downloaded a product would have otherwise paid full price for said object, it is still a shocking number. This is money that deserves to be in the pockets of the people providing us with the products that entertain our lives.

Our generation, it appears, has an extreme sense of entitlement. We believe we have a right to free media and that the pirating of said media is beneficial to the greater good. Perhaps it goes back to the capitalist tendencies of "us vs. them" where the record labels are seen as greedy entities and us as the poor desiring masses.

Supporters of Internet piracy always reference the lavish lifestyles and excessive salaries of the victims of their crimes as justification for their actions. They ask why bands like Metallica or U2 should care if their music is taken without payment, as if enormous success has rendered product sales trivial. Yet this approach is simply ridiculous. No matter the salary of the producer, their product deserves proper compensation. Do people steal Lamborghinis and justify it by saying the company wouldn't notice any difference? Of course not.

Online piracy, simply put, is theft. Whether you believe you are justified in your actions or not, the act of taking someone's creative product without consent is ethically and legally wrong. A generation hidden behind computer screens, we are disconnected from accountability and believe we can act however we please. So long as we remain anonymous, we believe, cowardly, that we can take what we want.

This issue is fueled purely by the anonymity of the Internet. Nobody walks into an art gallery and steals a painting they like, for they would be held accountable for their actions. Downloading a musical album online, however, is relatively safe and poses little risk. Yet, in regards to intellectual property, there is no difference between a painting and music. Both are the representation of an artistic vision and belong to the creator in order to dispense of as they choose. To take either is equally disgusting.

Piracy is an act that completely undermines the entire artistic community by damaging the producers of music and various other media. The entertainment industry is a business, and online piracy is attempting to turn it into a service. Whether the product of piracy is being stolen from a massive movie studio such as Paramount or a struggling band such as the Damnwells, piracy is a fundamentally disturbing practice that reflects our sense of entitlement in the technological age.

Fight SOPA all you will, but stop pirating media. Buy a CD. Buy a movie. Support the artists and creators who change our lives.