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It’s 2023 and watching movies, listening to music, and even playing video games can now be done through affordable and legal streaming services and stores, usually paid with a monthly subscription that costs nothing more than an average fast food meal.
The wide availability of these services was expected to significantly curb online piracy. However, piracy remains prevalent despite the rise of legitimate streaming platforms, in fact, piracy even soared after the rise of streaming services. So, let’s find out why piracy is still around and why it even grew over the past few years.
Geographical Restrictions and Limited Content Libraries
One of the biggest reasons why piracy still persists despite all these islands of affordable and legal streaming services is the geographical restrictions imposed by TV and Movie streaming services.
While streaming platforms have expanded their reach to virtually every country with an internet connection, content libraries often differ significantly between regions. Due to licensing and distribution agreements, certain movies or TV shows are only available in specific countries or are released at different times. As a result, viewers from other countries are forced to resort to piracy to access the content they desire. Using a VPN is the legal option to do this, but that’s another monthly subscription you have to pay.
Additionally, streaming services may not carry all the content users are looking for, as they often prioritize popular titles to attract a larger audience. Consequently, niche movies or TV shows with smaller fanbases may not be available on these platforms, driving fans to resort to using a VPN for a fee or piracy for free.
Subscription Overload and Costs
The multitude of streaming services available today has led to a phenomenon known as “subscription overload.” Consumers are expected to subscribe to multiple platforms to access all their desired content, you might need Netflix to watch Stranger Things, but you also need HBO Now to watch The Last of Us, and if you’re a Marvel and Star Wars fan a Disney Plus subscription is a must.
As you can imagine, this can become very expensive, very quickly.
In an attempt to reduce costs, some users resort to piracy to access content from platforms they have not subscribed to, affordable is great folks, but nothing beats free, even though it means being tracked and bombarded by ads.
Moreover, even if you can still afford to pay hundreds of dollars for multiple subscription services every month, it’s still inconvenient to jump between different streaming platforms to find the movie you so crave to watch, which brings us to our next point.
Ease of Access to Pirated Content
The ease of access to pirated content is another factor contributing to its prevalence. Websites, torrenting platforms, and file-sharing networks make it relatively simple for users to find and download pirated content.
While streaming platforms have made strides in user experience and accessibility, they still face competition from piracy websites that provide similar convenience and ease of use.
The thing that most people love about piracy sites is the “one-stop shop” feel usually offering every movie and TV show on one site rather than jumping around between different services.
It’s even got to a point of undeniable convenience that some people would rather pay the piracy sites a monthly subscription to have their ads removed.
Limited Availability of Older Content
Streaming services primarily focus on acquiring new and popular content to attract subscribers. As a result, older movies, TV shows, and music may not be available on these platforms. For those interested in accessing nostalgic or classic content, piracy can offer a more comprehensive selection, as pirates are not constrained by the same licensing and acquisition challenges faced by streaming services. Content will come and go with most streaming sites unless it’s a network exclusive, a couple of months back, I was rewatching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, and after a week of not watching it, I discovered that the show moved to Hulu and Disney Plus on some countries. It’s not only annoying, but it might also lead to subscription overload!
Social and Cultural Factors
The normalization and decriminalization of media piracy also play a role in the persistence of piracy. In many communities, especially in developing countries, piracy is not seen as a serious crime and is often considered a victimless act, just a middle finger to rich and powerful media companies. Most people also rationalize piracy as a way to save money or as a form of protest against the high cost of content.
Photo from The Jakarta Post
Furthermore, the notion of “sharing culture” has become ingrained in the digital era. This culture encourages sharing digital content with friends and family, blurring the lines between what is considered legal and illegal sharing. As a result, many individuals do not perceive piracy as a morally wrong action, and may even view it as a way to connect with others over shared interests.
Another act of piracy that is generally disregarded by social factors is public viewing parties, back in the day it was a group of friends or even your whole neighborhood watching on a huge TV or projector in your backyard, but now it’s a group of people watching a live stream from someone who has an actual subscription. Both are technically acts of piracy, but neither is considered to be a criminal offense by most citizens and it’s rare to see people getting prosecuted for piracy.
Adapting to Technology
Pirates have continuously adapted to new technologies to remain relevant and maintain a competitive edge, it’s the name of the game, you can’t pirate content if you don’t beat their tech.
They utilized BitTorrents and P2P File Sharing and gathered content through spy cams and CD ripping back in the early 2000s. Believe me when I say that they’re doing even crazier stuff today to keep up with the tech.
Torrenting and P2P (Peer-to-peer) File Sharing are still the standard to this day, why is that? Well, torrenting gives you the data you need through a decentralized network, which means there aren’t any servers or networks that the authorities can shut down since torrent or peer-to-peer sharing builds its own network between different users, as you download through torrent, you’re also uploading data to pass down to someone else downloading content. Plus, torrenting is legal, it’s the sharing of copyrighted content that’s illegal.
But with the rise of legitimate streaming sites, pirates also started to stream content which is done with multiple websites and countless servers across multiple countries, shutting them down might be easier than torrents, but the government will still need the cooperation of multiple countries, and since most people couldn’t care less about piracy, it’s why piracy sites stand to this day.
What about how pirates get content? Here’s the real plot twist of the story, since you can access movies and TV shows on streaming services, pirates simply make software that can bypass the security of these streaming sites for them to “rip” or copy the data for a given movie. Or if pirates want to take the easy way to get content, they’ll simply record their screens, sure companies developed special software that prevents screenshots and screen recordings, but sadly (or fortunately, if you’re a pirate) these features are just code that many can easily hack and bypass.
Additionally, the rise of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) has made it easier for users to access pirated content without fear of detection. VPNs allow users to mask their IP addresses and appear to be in a different country, making it difficult for authorities to track their activities. This increased anonymity has further fueled the growth of piracy.
What’s Bad About Piracy?
Well, we’ve been tackling the reasons why piracy still prevails, and most of the points are actually reasonable and attractive despite its illegality. But besides being illegal, is there anything bad about piracy?
First of all, if you support piracy, the companies and artists that make these movies will have less income, and if piracy still persists, we might be seeing a future where good movies and TV shows can’t be made since everyone is just viewing the films for free and this will hinder innovation significantly. And you better don’t forget that this situation also applies to video games and music.
Second, like always, piracy isn’t safe for you, the consumer. We all know that pirated content is downloaded from sketchy sites, often filled with ads that lead to other sketchy websites, but most importantly, some files that are uploaded on these pirate sites may not be what they claim to be since some of them may contain malware, viruses, and other malicious code that can harm your computer and your data. Other than that, torrenting might also leave you prone to attacks from hackers.
Lastly, if you support piracy, you might accidentally support organized crime and terrorism too since they’ve been linked to using piracy to earn or launder money. So much for a victimless crime isn’t it?
Can We Stop Piracy?
Piracy remains a persistent challenge, despite the rise of affordable and accessible streaming services. Factors such as geographical restrictions, subscription overload, ease of access to pirated content, adaptability of piracy networks, social and cultural factors, inadequate legal frameworks, streaming services’ lack of focus on emerging markets, and limited availability of older content contribute to the continued prevalence of piracy.
To combat piracy effectively, streaming services, content creators, and policymakers must collaborate to address these underlying issues. This might involve revisiting licensing agreements to reduce geographical restrictions, investing in more comprehensive content libraries, offering more flexible pricing options, enhancing international cooperation to enforce anti-piracy laws, and better understanding the unique needs of users in emerging markets. By addressing these challenges, the industry can create a more inclusive and robust digital content ecosystem that discourages piracy and fosters the growth of legitimate streaming services.
But you know what I think? Piracy might not cease anytime soon. Now, things might change and piracy might end through uncrackable but convenient file encryption or some similar type of tech, but that might take a good amount of time to make and more time to implement on every piece of content on the internet. Until we can convince every living person to stop supporting piracy, it probably won’t cease to exist anytime soon.
But while that may be the case, we should continue supporting media companies by obtaining their products legally. Doing so will go a long way toward preserving the whole entertainment industry!
Do you think piracy will eventually die off? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! But until then, be safe on the internet, and stay on the legal side of things!
