Defining Piracy

One of the main dilemmas in the online piracy issue is defining it. Online piracy is very common in our world today, especially online music. In Born Digital, Palfrey and Gasser stated that, "A great many people who use the Internet believe that virtually all forms of private, noncommercial copying of copyrighted works either is or should be allowed. One study found that over 50 percent of consumers believe it is legal to make copies..." (p. 137) Many digital natives are not fully aware of the seriousness of online piracy or if they do know it's illegal they don't think it's a big deal because it is socially normal and accepted to download music for free. I'm going to anaylyze the issue of defining piracy and how it relates to the music industry and Digital natives by comparing two blogs that discuss this problem.

In Trey's blog entry, where he analyzes a cartoon of a baby downloading free music while his "proud parents" watch, he points out that "that people of our world are so mislead about the truth about piracty that parents are watching their baby do illegal activities right in front of them." His main argument in the entry is that our society does not see online piracy on the same level as old-fashion stealing. He states that the message of the cartoonist, which is to discourage online piracy, would be more effective if there was another depicting the baby stealing candy from a store and his parents scolding him. This would bring to light the different definitions we have on piracy vs. stealing.

In Caleb's blog, he argues even though he knows pirated music is illegal and he can see where people are losing money he believes that the main point of music is to be enjoyed. He goes on to state that artists shouldn't be in it for the money but should care, instead, about getting the music to the fans. His blog entry backs up Trey's entry about people in today's world separating piracy from stealing.

I think that they both use pathos in different ways to get their message across. Trey uses pathos to appeal to our conscious by pointing out how our society has come to be tolerant of pirating but looks down on stealing when, to some, these are the same things. This could evoke feelings of guilt or maybe shame to some who would never physically steal from a store or person but find themselves with a huge library of pirated music. In Caleb's blog he appeals to pathos by targeting purpose of music: to be enjoyed. He could be appealing to artists when he states, "Artists shouldn't be in it for the money, they should be in it for the music so if they really care about getting their music to their fans they should like those programs." This appeals to artists and tests their appreciation for music and fans. This could evoke feels of guilt due to greed or make them feel like they've been changed by the industry.

Even though they both are discussing the same topic, their tones are very different. In Trey's blog his tone is very informative and neutral. He doesn't really take a stance on the whole issue but rather provides an objective analysis of the issue. However, in Caleb's blog his tone is definitely opinionated about the issue. He bluntly states that people need to stop fighting the file-sharing programs and online pirating and should just embrace them because the whole point of music is to be enjoyed.

I think both these blogs did a great job at analyzing the issue of online pirating in both an objective and subjective views. Online pirating is just going to be one of those issues that is always going to be problematic and debated.