TINSTAAFL: There is no such thing as a free lunch. This basic principle of microeconomics is used to refer to the fact that everything has a cost -- even if it is free for you, someone else is paying the price. Yet millions of people around the world overlook this detail when they find the latest movies and songs just a click away, and at zero cost to them, on the Internet.
Even though some University officials said they are observing a decrease in illegal downloading by students using on-Grounds computers, the practice still remains a painful thorn in the side of the entertainment industry.
So if TINSTAAFL holds true, who is paying the bill every time a person downloads the newest Green Day song or the latest Hollywood blockbuster?
Pirating problems
Gayle Osterberg, vice president for corporate communications at the Motion Picture Association of America, said she believes some people think if something is on the Internet and they can download it, then it must be okay.
What many people don't realize, however, is that the songs and movies available on the Internet are almost all copyrighted materials, and that by downloading just one, they are breaking the law.
University Law Assoc. Prof. Thomas Nachbar said just about everything that is created is considered to be copyrighted if it is written down or recorded and involves an aspect of creativity.
"Basically, anything that you find through file sharing is going to be copyrighted," Nachbar said. "It is possible that the owner of that thing has authorized making copies, but it is unlikely, and if it is a song that you like, it is incredibly unlikely."
Anytime an unauthorized copy of these materials is made, such as when someone downloads a song onto his or her hard drive, that is considered to be copyright infringement, Nachbar said.
In the United States, college students are one of the primary groups guilty of copyright infringement through illegal downloading, said Jenni Engebretsen, a spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Engebretsen explained that this occurs because college students frequently have more time than money, and often have access to free high-speed Internet connections.
Despite the continued growth of online piracy nationwide, the University's Information Technology and Communications office is observing a decrease in illegal downloading activity by University students, said Shirley Payne, University director for security coordination and policy.
Payne attributed the apparent decrease to increased education efforts by ITC and the popularity of legal alternatives, such as Apple's iTunes service.
Second-year College student Kate Rothrock said she has been using iTunes since before she came to the University because she is scared of the potential consequences if she were to get caught for illegal downloading.
"If there were no repercussions at school, I'd probably do it though," Rothrock said.
Third-year College student Laura Moore, however, said she does not see how the occurrences of illegal downloading could be decreasing.
"I doubt it is getting better because it is too easy to do LimeWire or file sharing," Moore said.
Moore added that she is also unable to use services such as iTunes, because she does not have a credit card or any method of paying for music online, adding that she believes many other people are in similar predicaments.
Billions and billions lost
Osterberg said that while specific numbers are hard to pinpoint, it is estimated that the motion picture industry loses between $3.5 and $5.5 billion every year because of piracy, which includes the distribution of physical copies as well as Internet downloading. Osterberg added that online piracy has been dramatically increasing as the Internet improves, making it quicker and easier to download movies.
Copies of movies often can be found online just days after the movie opens in theaters, Osterberg said. For example, the MPAA discovered earlier this summer that copies of the newest Star Wars film were available online the day after it premiered.
The motion picture industry employs close to one million people, so when movie sales are down, Hollywood's actors and actresses aren't the only ones affected, Osterberg said.
"There are the truck drivers that transport equipment to and from the set, firemen that work on the lots and such a range of people that are involved," Osterberg said. "It's their life's work, their livelihood, so the loss to the industry really affects a much greater range of people than one might think."
The RIAA faces an even bigger problem with piracy because songs are quicker to download. Engebretsen reported that overall shipments in the recording industry were down 30 percent compared to five years ago.
"That decline has taken a heavy toll on our industry as a whole -- from songwriters losing their jobs to record stores, especially those around college campuses, closing their doors," Engebretsen said.
Tempted to pirate
If downloading copyrighted music and movies does violate the law, some might wonder why this problem is so widespread. Many explain this by looking at the perceived differences between actions that are illegal and actions that are immoral.
Psychology Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Haidt said the reason people don't seem to mind engaging in these illegal activities is because the consequences do not hit on any of our "innate emotions" involving moral concepts, such as suffering, harm or fairness.
"Most U.Va. students would not steal a CD from a store because it is a physical thing they're taking, and when they take it, the person who had it doesn't have it anymore," Haidt said. "But file sharing is different."
Haidt added that many students justify illegally downloading a file by saying because they would not have purchased that CD from a store anyway, the world is no worse off.
University Ethics Prof. Jonathan Moreno, who testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on the issue of file sharing in 2003, said piracy is tempting because people tend to have more compassion for "concrete victims" rather than victims that are more "abstract."
"I think it's not so much a character flaw in people as it is the psychology of the whole experience," Moreno said. "It's very hard for people to identify with victims and see it as wrong."
Moreno said the Web creates a sort of "moral hazard" problem that makes illegal downloading and file sharing incredibly appealing.
"It's so tempting and so easy that it can be a lot to ask ordinary human beings who aren't saints not to do it," Moreno said.
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