In 1998, under the Clinton’s administration, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed. The main objective of the DMCA is to protect the copyrights of digital work.
DMCA has many supporters particularly in the entertainment and media world. The DMCA protects artist and their creations (especially in digital material). Internet has become the first medium for data transmission. One a song is circulating on the cyberspace it is almost impossible to stop it. The Motion Picture Association (MPA) estimated worldwide losses due to piracy to be US $2.2 billion in 1997 and $3.5 billion annually in 2002, 2003, and 2004.
There are some world initiatives about how to prevent the music piracy for example the WIPO (World Intellectual and Property Organization) and the DMCA in USA. However there are still a lot of problems how to manage and interpret those laws. Many people can think that if I obtain music archive legally why not to share it with my friends or family? Doing a backup is legal? These are the questions that do not have an answer yet. The laws are out there but how has the answer to those questions?
The United States and particularly Clinton did a really good job when he implemented the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There is no foolproof way to completely eliminate piracy, but the measures that Clinton definitely brought light to an issue that ripped off the music industry and their artists who worked so hard for people to buy music and not steal it. The small amount to pay for a song on iTunes is literally such a smaller price to pay than getting caught and paying a large fine for illegally stealing music.
ReplyDeleteThe Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the Digital Economy Act and the Hadopi law are all attempts to deal with copyright protection issues and file sharing. With the rapid spread of information it has proven to be very hard to have regulations that go at par with technology advances, let alone having a world wide consensus to reach a solution on each of the issues that arise. In order to have an effective system of copyright protection and file sharing over internet its critical to have a global consensus. The European Union has attempted to give a union wide view on topics with the EC Directives, but since it is more broad, it still gives each country autonomy on issues not covered by the directives. I discuss in more detail in my blog, Tracing Marketing the European perspective and piracy.
ReplyDeleteThe important thing is that governments around the world must get involved and educate the population, especially in those countries where piracy reaches very alarming numbers. Australia is one of them acting for a change. In this link you can see more about it. Even China, a country in which more than 99% of all music files are illegal, is working to crack down the piracy industry. Take a look to My Blog where I discuss more about Music Piracy.
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