I have a very good feeling that this new year, like all new years, will bring a new issue or conflict to our door. This year is special. I have a very good feeling the issue will be one that has been a problem for a long time, but will be resurrected within 2009.
For some strange reason I keep thinking about piracy and piracy laws. Since the year 2000 when Metallica and Dr. Dre filed lawsuits against the P2P monster, Napster, piracy is at an all time high. Now the piracy has moved to more than just music. Movies, software, books, and even comics are subject to being uploaded to torrent sites and/or software like Limewire and download free-of-charge by the masses. Movies have become especially popular. The other day, I visited the most popular torrent hosting site, The Pirate Bay, and found that you are able to download movies that are still in theater. Keep in mind most are 'cam movies' which means someone brought a camera into a theater and recorded it, but I viewed one at a friends house and found it to be excellent quality. Which brings me to the next item on the list. Software has also been huge in being pirated. Nobody wants to pay $800 for software that will soon be out dated. So what to these people do, download torrents of the software. It has become very easy because a person who purchased said software can easily compress the CD to a *.iso file and upload it to the Internet and then the downloader can put that on a CD/DVD and run it on their computer. Software is just too expensive for some people to purchase. On the lighter side of that, there are many free and powerful alternatives to these high end programs. Take Photoshop for instance. It costs $800 to purchase Photoshop CS4 when you could spend $0 on Gimp, the free open source photo editing alternative. With a little time and effort you can transform Gimp into something almost identical to Photoshop CS4 and it's all free! Books have been downloaded, but for a very unexpected reason. College students have been downloading textbooks they need for their classes. Like software, new, even used books are just too expensive for some students' budgets. Plus there are no free alternatives to required college textbooks.
People have been fighting to get back free legal downloading of movies, music, and games. Sites like Isohunt participate in what is called the 'Copyfight'. They have been fighting legislation and the government to try to once again legalize P2P downloading. They seem to be somewhat successful. It may not show right now, but I follow Isohunt's Twitter and they constantly update on the breakthroughs they have made. This shows me that in the very near future, it will be brought up and fought about until an answer is resolved.
Piracy has been a rising issue since the year 2000, and it is currently at it's peak. I have a feeling that 2009 will bring the 'Copyfight' to the White House and make this the major issue of the year. No matter what the result P2P downloading will continue and will never be stopped. The issue is not one law makers worry about, it is the movie producers, the bands, and the authors that hate the thought of piracy because they are looking for a buck. Just remember: It never pays to be greedy.
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