Why Piracy is bad for you

Pirates on the sea rob physical properties and movie pirates reproduce, transmit, download or screen copyrighted movies stealthily. The movie pirates infringe copyrights of others.

Also warez is a punishable copyright infringement. The term 'warez' is generally referred to unauthorized releases of movies by organized groupes as opposed to file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar interest using a darknet.

The problem of piracy has arisen with the rapid advance of technology. Copyright infringement surged in the entertainment industry after the advent of the VHS home video equipment. And internet is the biggest copying machine ever invented. Also one borrows a friend's CD and burns a copy for himself. And majority of the pirated downloads are acquired by the use of illegal P2P services.

Initially pirated recordings were made using hand held video camera to, stealthily, record movies screened at movie theatres.

Pirated movies are released, for private or public viewing, in the following ways:-

( a) Pre-release:- Workprint ( WP ), Screener ( SCR ), Telecine ( TC ) and R5.

These releases are prior to the actual release of the movie in the theatres.

( b ) In – Cinema:- Cam, Telesync ( TS ).

These illegal releases are while the films are being shown in theaters.

( c ) Home video ripping:- Disk Image, HDTV-Rip, PDTV.

Home videos are copied from TV shows or movies and rip is often distributed through internet file sharing, or hard copy VCDs or DVDs.


The involvement of organized crime and terrorist groups in counterfeiting / film piracy is based on reliable findings. Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company had a control over Indian film and pirate industry, forging a clear pirate monopoly over competitors and launching a racket that controlled the master copies of pirated Bollywood and Hollywood films.

The pirates copy and counterfeit the artwork, trademark, label and packaging of the original so craftily that the consumers are misled thinking they are buying the genuine product. Unauthorized copies of original VCDs and DVDs are sold for very low prices around the world.

Caught pirates are sued and occasionally served with jail terms. The lack of proper copyright laws or more correctly the enforcement of these laws allows the perpetrators of this crime to get away scot-free. Government should bring about stricter legislation and tougher policies concerning piracy. Indian government is making serious efforts to counter this intellectual property theft.

According to a prominent VCD/DVD manufacturing company ( Moser Baer ) :- “ The contents of the VCD/DVD are not to be transmitted to any cable or like television, transmission system or distribution to more than one television device or dwelling. Unauthorized copying, duplication, reproduction, hiring.........broadcasting and public performance or exhibition or screening.........is strictly prohibited”.

Many people believe that sharing files and copying videos online is not immoral and they don't consider the copyright laws. The menace of piracy can be eradicated by the excellence of morality and its public awareness only. Without awareness about piracy, really speaking, nothing is going to work successfully.

In a civilised society, we need to pay for products and services. Movie lovers should boycott the illegal sites giving entincement for rare old movies or new ones. Also they should buy genuine VCDs or DVDs only.Any action which cannot be accepted before others is immoral.

Ones moral principles should always be in synchronization with the government laws. In fact government laws also are given to us by God. But one is given the liberty to amend the existing laws in a fair and democratic way. This way the growth of the persons takes place playfully. Only deeply meditative persons can direct about these laws.

The main purpose to view the movies is to develop the inner arts alongwith entertainment. Honesty is the prime eligibility for the inner arts development. Persons involved in piratical activities lose their artistic potentialities. One should be heroic through honesty and not villainous through piracy. Pirates may get richer possessing black money but consequently they feel inner bankruptcy. Piratical cheating to the elite and artistic people degenerate the whole society and so the country. Also financial and mental loss suffered by the movie creators due to piracy, mars the chances of classical movies in future. Movie pirates are generally gangsters or mafiosos who are enemies of humanity and righteousness.

David Progue, technology writer for the New York Times, says, “ Movie and TV companies should put their content online and make it available in high quality for a reasonable price, without restrictions such as DRM. At the moment there are often no products online that can compete with their pirated counterparts in quality. Sure, there are ways to download (some) music and movies, but apart from the ridiculous prices, these products are often offered in a low quality format and restricted through DRM”.

Thus companies should ensure that content is made available to masses at a reasonable price. Affordable and/or free content (like that available on Hindi-Movies-Online.in is a good step in establishing a bond of faith and loyalty between movie audience and producers. High-tech ways should be developed to identify the counterfeit materials and copyright infringement.

The final consumer viewing and enjoying the movie is the real person who loves the movie and its artistes and other creators. He/She should realize that any cooperation with piracy is going, in turn, to cheat the movie creators.

Sharp moral slogans should be printed/posted for public awareness, e.g. - “ NO PIRACY, ONLY DECENCY”. Products should be imprinted with such slogans. Also related internet sites should be posted with such slogans.