2008 Woodie Awards
Movies Ahoy: Movie Piracy Swings Up
Cynthia Marvin, Technician (North Carolina State U.)
Issue date: 11/12/04 Section: News
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(U-WIRE) RALEIGH, N.C. - With a heavy roll out of ads warning against movie piracy recently, the Motion Pictures Association of America initiated a hunt for people illegally downloading and trading movies online. The MPAA said that those culprits will be made the prime targets of lawsuits starting this week.
An increasingly common occurrence on college campuses, the number of movie infringements is on the rise, growing in similar popularity to illegal music downloads.
The average cost of a newly released DVD is usually around $19.99. That 20 bucks has the potential to go a long way in the pocket of a college student, so why spend that money on something you can obtain for free?
That seems to be the mindset of some students these days.
"I wasn't going to buy the movie anyway, so it's not like they [the movie industry] lost money because of me," a North Carolina State University sophomore in history said.
On the contrary, some defend their illegal acts by stating that they're just getting a "taste" of the movie before they purchase it.
For instance, a sophomore in civil engineering said, "I usually only download older movies anyway, and if I like the movie after I watch it I tend to go out and buy it -- I give them my support if I think they deserve it."
Admitting that he has downloaded many movies since high school, he claims he only has about 20 DVDs he never went out and bought after downloading them.
A student from Duke University studying English said she has probably bought about 50 percent of the movies she's downloaded, so it really isn't too bad to the movie industry.
Most students don't even feel guilty about taking these movies off the Web without paying a dime.
The engineering student continues his radical spiel and vents that he doesn't feel any guilt, especially if the movie is bad.
"They should lose money for me having to take the time to download their crap and take up my hard drive space," he said.
An increasingly common occurrence on college campuses, the number of movie infringements is on the rise, growing in similar popularity to illegal music downloads.
The average cost of a newly released DVD is usually around $19.99. That 20 bucks has the potential to go a long way in the pocket of a college student, so why spend that money on something you can obtain for free?
That seems to be the mindset of some students these days.
"I wasn't going to buy the movie anyway, so it's not like they [the movie industry] lost money because of me," a North Carolina State University sophomore in history said.
On the contrary, some defend their illegal acts by stating that they're just getting a "taste" of the movie before they purchase it.
For instance, a sophomore in civil engineering said, "I usually only download older movies anyway, and if I like the movie after I watch it I tend to go out and buy it -- I give them my support if I think they deserve it."
Admitting that he has downloaded many movies since high school, he claims he only has about 20 DVDs he never went out and bought after downloading them.
A student from Duke University studying English said she has probably bought about 50 percent of the movies she's downloaded, so it really isn't too bad to the movie industry.
Most students don't even feel guilty about taking these movies off the Web without paying a dime.
The engineering student continues his radical spiel and vents that he doesn't feel any guilt, especially if the movie is bad.
"They should lose money for me having to take the time to download their crap and take up my hard drive space," he said.