Well, according to the MPAA, it is terrible. According to local governments in Los Angeles (after following New York’s lead), not only is piracy bad, but it "substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses and its visitors." (I added the emphasis)

I think they have gone a little far in this depiction of how bad piracy is. I mean… really, causes health, safety and welfare concerns?

I agree that it is, and should be illegal, to violate copyright laws. I make my living on writing and designing and want my content to be mine. I am building a business on custom software applications and I don’t want someone to distribute that without me getting my cut. I don’t care if someone uses my content as long as I get credit, but I would never say that you are causing health concerns by stealing my content.

What really confuses me is on sites that are centered around file sharing (those that are accused of aiding and abetting the crime of piracy) still get plenty of advertisements. You might think that most of the advertisements come from fringe or illicit material websites… but you would be wrong. Notice the Verizon and the Netflix ads I found on one such site. I won’t take you there via a link because I don’t want to be accused of perpetuating the problem. But, I wonder, does advertising on a site that has been under fire for years of providing these sharing services actually legitimize the act of piracy? What’s more is that I even saw an ad from NBC on the same site but I refreshed too fast to get a screen shot.

You might ask, "What is the real business case for this discussion?"

Well, I am glad you asked. The real issue is that file sharing is here to stay. You aren’t going to change that. Sharing a book, a cassette tape, a CD or DVD has been around for a long time, but what is different now is the ability for someone to proliferate it more quickly than ever before.

Many TV shows are now available online after they air. So, many of the networks get it. If you can provide your content in a medium that people want it, you can likely monetize that it other ways. Until the MPAA understands that people don’t want to spend $20 on a DVD that cost them $.20 to produce, they will always be at odds with their customers. Here’s a thought… Provide it on-line to view for $1. Or provide the ability to download an burn to your DVD for $3. Make it affordable and people will stop stealing.

Now, this isn’t a rant on copyright protection. It is a discussion of not being at odds with your customer. As long as you don’t provide your product or service in a way that your customers want to receive it, they will find other venues to obtain it. That is called competition… get used to it.