Stealing: Not Always A Bad Thing...

Your friend just exposed you to Young the Giant, an American indie rock band you've never heard before. You listen to their music and you love it. You convince yourself that you need to have your own personal copy of their music. So you go to your local music store and grab their newest CD and walk out without paying for it. Wait, that doesn't sound right. You wouldn't do that (I hope...). Instead, you go home to your personal computer and download it online. But isn't that stealing too? Well, there are two sides to that argument.

John Biggs addresses this issue of piracy, the unauthorized use or copying of another's work, in his article "Avast, Me Hearties: How The Pirate Bay Changed The Way We Steal." The Pirate Bay is one of the most popular torrent sites. It is database where one can find millions of torrent files. It is essentially a search engine pointing you to a selection of links directing you to sources where you can download songs, TV shows, movies... you name it. Oh, and for no payment. Sounds appealing, right? Well, The Pirate Bay has gotten much criticism because these files often point to pirated content. However, Biggs argues that "general 'free' piracy [is] a valuable tool, even an asset, in getting the word out" (3).

Now let me direct your attention to an article by Arstechnica. The article basically states that copyright holders are getting YouTube uploaders in trouble for using copyrighted content in their videos without permission. Now, these YouTube uploaders are able to reject that dispute. Why might they reject it one might ask? It could be because they genuinely do not believe that they have stolen the content. But, I believe it is for the same reason that Biggs poses. These individuals who upload videos on YouTube that contain copyrighted content are getting the word out about such content. YouTube has become a domain where people discover new music, movies, and information every day. I personally can attest to this. When I am on YouTube watching a video, often times I may like the music used in the video, search the lyrics, and find the title and artist of the song. That right there is doing a favor to content producers by helping educate the public on their content and "get the word out."

This ultimately leads to popularity of the copyrighted content (potentially international attention like Psy's song and video "Gangnam Style" gained) and thus more people may purchase such content. Instead of copyright holders focusing on the aspect of "stealing", they ought to focus more on the positive effects of this content sharing.