UPDATE: As part of an assignment, I wrote a research paper on this topic that takes this idea a lot further. Piracy and the Myth of Lost Profits

For those of you paying attention to tech news lately, you would have noticed that Pirate Bay’s trial in Sweden has been making headlines.  Of course, articles about Pirate Bay and “download illegally” always spark many comments from many people.  One comment in particular stuck out to me from a Wired article.  Someone said that downloading was “theft”.  I started this post as a comment on that story, but decided I’d post it here instead.

Downloading copyrighted material is theft.

I strongly disagree with that statement. Usually, the person saying this goes on to compare downloading to stealing something from a store. When you steal something from a store, however, you are taking something tangible. For example: a DVD. DVD’s cost a few pennies to make, and therefore you are taking something of value away from someone else.

In fact, Merriam-Webster defines theft as this:

the act of stealing ; specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it

If you download a file that you had no intention of going to see in the movies, or buy in the first place, how is this stealing, or theft? When I was young, I collected baseball cards and would look up their values in price guides. When I would talk about how much money the guide said my Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card was worth, my parents would always tell me, “Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.”

So, if I wasn’t willing to pay the amount being asked for a product, is anyone being hurt financially? I wasn’t going to pay to see that movie or buy that game—so who is losing money? Who is committing theft?

The exception is, of course, the individual who would have purchased the product, but chose not to in favor of downloading it for free. This is the only time I would categorize downloading as theft—and from everything I’ve read and seen, this is not the majority of the cases.

If anything, “piracy” is an inexpensive means of free advertising for the individuals involved. What type of advertising does any business drool over more than any other? Word of mouth advertising. What does “piracy” provide? Just that. People are out there talking about your product. People who wouldn’t have been able to purchase your product otherwise. More people are hearing about your product. More people are using your product.

Unless your product is crap, it benefits everyone involved!

Think about Adobe and formerly Macromedia. Their products are almost the standard—not just because they are good products, but because they were so easily pirated—and remain to be. People download the products, install them, learn them and go on to use them in their professional lives. Small businesses that can’t afford the product—and thus, are unable to purchase it—may illegally use certain software. This will allow the small business to grow, and in time, they will purchase a legit copy when they can financially.

Assuming that everyone who downloads something “illegally” would have otherwise purchased it is like dropping a bucket into a dry well and expecting it to come up full of water. There is no water. Get over it.

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