Piracy and Copyright Law
Today's business world is quite different than the legal landscape it once resembled over thirty years ago. Modern technologies and luxuries such as the availability of the personal computer, ease of access to the internet, and the ability to share data en masse over a world wide network have created incredible opportunities for humanity. But just like the addition of any new beneficial technology into our society, new laws must be created to help prevent these technologies from being misused or taken advantage of. Many of today's modern commodities is in the form of data. Movies don't live on VHS anymore, music isn't confined to vinyl and art doesn't just exist on the walls. Copyright laws seek to protect intellectual property like physical laws try to deter theft. Laws such as copyright laws aren't unique to the digital age, but they have become more important as the crime of digital piracy becomes more accessible to a wider audience. Copyright laws have always been important. For many years they have helped to ensure justice for writers who's words have been copied and not attributed to them, or artists who's designs have been copied. But in the modern age, the concept of something called intellectual property
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This is because the concept of digital theft doesn't really apply to something that is copied. Modern software piracy refers to and is defined as “the illegal copying, distribution or use of intellectual property” by the SIIA. Or by Webster, it is more broadly defined as “the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's work”. The modern definition of piracy lends itself to be more useful in describing copyright or intellectual property infringement. One could say “I've stolen a CD from the store”, but in a legal sense, one could not accurately say “I have stolen a movie from the internet”. You would have committed digital piracy