Is Digital Piracy a Crime?

Abstract

Digital piracy is the unauthorized illegal copying and distribution of digital copyrighted content. Copyrighted content refers to Intellectual Property. Property that consist of intangible creations of the human intellect. Individuals that download songs, movies, and art from a website for free are committing digital piracy. For instance, watching a video on YouTube and transferring the URL to a MP3 converter on a different website and converting it to an MP3 music file for free is illegal. There are numerous names for digital piracy depending on the specific type of content being copied and distributed however this paper will examine digital piracy as a whole. The paper will begin with introducing digital piracy. Then the psychological aspects of digital piracy, why people choose to do it. The paper will then discuss the dangers and attacks associated with digital piracy. Lastly, it will discuss the consequences, solutions, and end with a conclusion on digital piracy.