Jokes On You!

We found some funny pictures about SOPA/PIPA and thought we'd share! Share your thoughts on any of these pictures or post some of your personal favorites! Enjoy!

http://theuniblog.evilspacerobot.com/?tag=sopa

http://www.washtenawvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/sopa-pipa-cartoon-1000x651.png

http://funny-pictures-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/SOPA-and-PIPA.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxrjmypgna1qewacoo1_500.jpg

Would you Pirate a cd/dvd/eBook that a Friend Produced?

This past weekend my friend’s band released their first CD and sold it for $12. This got me thinking; who would pirate something their friend produced? Come to find out my friends and I will not; most of us bought our own copy of the CD and as far as I know none of us plan to pirate it.

I realize that this may not be the best example because they are just starting out, but even if they hit it big there would be no way I would pirate their music. Who steals from their friends?

I challenge everyone to do the following: When faced with the option of pirating pretend it is your friend’s piece of work and maybe that will cause you to change your mind about pirating.

Do you think this will help prevent you from pirating? Would you pirate something your friend produced?

Piracy and Television

Television, being a prevalent media outlet that people frequently turn to piracy for, is pirated for two main reasons. People either do not have easy access to their favorite shows or simply do not wish to pay to watch said shows. To be honest, in the past i would have looked the other way on this issue but because of the availability of several streaming, rental, and pay services as of late, I find I cannot excuse this practice anymore. Prior to the release of services like Netflix, Hulu, or the TV section of iTunes, people were basically forced to wait until shows were being sold in retail stores or choose to pirate them.

However, we now have access to all of our favorite shows on demand, the only requirement being a small payment, ranging anywhere from a 2 to 10 dollars. Because of the value in these resources, there is no valid excuse for an individual to continue to look to piracy as an outlet for television. In fact, I know that at least one pirating/ downloading project "TVShows" (no space) was dropped by its original creators and staff because of the addition of current tv shows to iTunes vast library. So there you have it, even former pirates themselves admit that given the opportunity and an affordable pricing model, people will choose to acquire digital media in a way that is legally right.

And for your convenience I've listed here a number of services I have mentioned that will allow you to watch just about any current or syndicated tv series.  

Hulu
Netflix
Amazon Instant Video

PYFP!!!

What is PYFP?? Just an acronym that we came up with for Protect Yourself From Piracy.
We have talked about piracy and how people are against it and how many differet types there are, so we thought we would inform you that there are steps and precautions you can take to protect yourself from piracy.

You can:
-purchase from a known and trusted source
-make sure that the product is authentic and genuine when you purchase a software, movie, music, etc.
-activate and register the product if necessary
-respect intellectual property rights laws
-understand key facts about licensing laws

These are a few important steps/precautions you may take to PYFP. There are a whole lot more ways you can protect yourself depending on what kind of product you purchase. Here are some sites you can visit so that you may be able to undersand ways you can PYFP:
-Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/
-Adobe: http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2011/07/protect-yourself-from-pirated-and-counterfeit-software.html
-Rosetta Stone: http://www.rosettastone.com/global/anti-piracy
-Symantec Corp: http://www.symantec.com/about/profile/antipiracy/tips.jsp

If you have any tips of your own or find an important one through some of the websites or anything at all, please, feel free to share your thoughts by commenting! =D

With the rise of eBooks comes the rise of eBook Piracy

We have all heard about music, movie, and software piracy; but who has heard of eBook piracy? EBook piracy has been on the rise, mainly because of the rise in the amount of eBooks becoming available. Some estimate that eBooks will make up 50% of the book market in 5 years!

What makes eBook piracy scary is the size of an eBook; only a couple of megabytes. In the link below, David Carnoy talks about how his eBook was part of a 2,500 eBook Torrent; this Torrent was only 3.4GB! Let’s look at this from a monetary standpoint; at $4 an eBook that makes this Torrent worth $10,000! Those couple of CD’s you illegally downloaded does not sound so bad now.

Lastly, we will look at how eBook piracy hurts authors more than music piracy hurts musicians. Scott Turow, the President of the Author's Guild, puts it perfectly; "It [piracy] has killed large parts of the music industry," he said in an interview. "Musicians make up for the copies of their songs that get pirated by performing live. I don't think there will be as many people showing up to hear me read as to hear Beyonce sing. We need to make sure piracy is dealt with effectively."

What are your thoughts on eBook piracy? Does it matter? Do you care?




http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20033437-82.html 

Opponents and Proponents of Piracy

According to the list I procured, I discovered that there are at least 124 notable organizations that pledged support for the SOPA act, while 168 notable organizations were listed as being in opposition of this act.

Let me first examine the proponents. I know what you're thinking, how could a practice that is clearly illegal have such a high number of supporters (or organizations who support the freedoms that piracy represents). I am sure you would be surprised to find that names like Amazon, Microsoft, and The New York Times all share space on the list of SOPA opponents, along with sites like Twitter or Facebook. Of course this list also includes an organization by the name of The Pirate Bay, which gives people access to any materials or data (copyright or not) that its users submit. Though these institutions all have varying degrees of involvement in the issue of piracy, they all chose to voice their grievances against acts like SOPA and PIPA.

Now lets examine the opponents of piracy (or organizations who support legislation that is created to limit and prohibit anything piracy-like). On this list, i was quite surprised to find names of a few professional sports leagues, Nike, and even Revlon, a cosmetics company. What didn't surprise me was that the majority of organizations on the list were either in broadcasting (ABC, CBS, ESPN) or media (BMI, MPAA, and, Sony Music). Considering these are the sources of materials being pirated i would expect nothing less of them then to unabashedly support and proselytize acts like SOPA.

Now its your turn to decide for yourself will you be for, against, or perhaps neutral??

My source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organizations_with_official_stances_on_the_SOPA_and_PIPA