What is Internet piracy? (Part I)

Hello, it's me, Fred!  I thought it'd be nice to start our discussion of Internet piracy with a definition.  What exactly is Internet piracy?

Is this piracy?  It could be, if you take this image from my blog without asking!

Simply put, the word "piracy" means theft.  When applied to the Internet, it refers to a practice called copyright infringement.  This is defined by the U.S. Copyright Office as using any copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner.  That's pretty far-reaching, and if you think about it a bit, you might be surprised at the many places you may have accidentally infringed on a copyright!

The word "infringement" sounds passive and a little vague.  You might think that it's not a big deal or that copyright laws are somewhat abstract and lenient.  However, the law views copyright infringement as the forceful theft of another person's property.  Sounds an awful lot like a pirate!  ARRGH!

It might surprise you to learn that copyrights are quite old, dating back to 1710 with the British Statute of Anne.  (Check out this site for more info!)  Copyright law in the U.S. was enacted in 1790, although it has continuously evolved to accommodate both new forms of technology and copyrightable materials.  These days, its possible to copyright anything from recordings to architecture to pantomime––anything and everything that constitutes "original works of authorship".

That's one reason Internet copyright infringement is such a divisive issue.  Never before in human (or sauropodian) history has a communication tool as powerful as the Internet developed so rapidly within such a short period of time.  Should the Internet change the way we view intellectual property?  Is it impossible for it not to?  These are the kind of questions we'll be asking in the next few posts.  See you next time!