“Some Like It Hot” by Lawrence Lessig

In “Some Like It Hot” by Lawrence Lessig, he talks about piracy and what piracy is. It talks about the different types of items that people use piracy for. Piracy is when someone makes their own copy of a product that has its own copyright. I think that piracy is wrong for a many reasons. Including: it brings down the economy, the artists that create the piece are not getting paid for it, and piracy is also considered stealing.

First, I am going to discuss how piracy brings down the economy. Right now, many people are guilty of piracy all over the world. These people are downloading and trading products for their personal use through the internet. Not paying for software is hurting the business of artists very dramatically. People who break copyright laws might not understand how bad they are hurting the industry. Artists are spending millions of dollars on copyright protection but they continue to get broken due to people becoming hackers. Businesses spend more money that they do not have. Because there is a lack of funds, very few people are hired. If people keep using piracy instead of buying the products, companies have less money and in turn, they cannot make any more products for people to buy. Many people would be very upset if a product that was coming out could not be made because the company did not have the funds to produce it because people are not buying their other products.

Another reason that I am going to discuss is that the stars that made the piece are not getting paid for it. I believe that whoever has made the product should be able to get paid for it. If we go to work and expect to get paid for it then the stars that work to make products expect to get paid for what they do for a living.” In 1909, Congress closed a gap in favor of the composer and the recording artist, amending copyright law to make sure that composer would be paid for “mechanical reproductions” of their music” (Lessig 89). If I were an artist, I would hope that people would go and buy my product so I could get paid. Artists do not lose out when you buy a product and make a copy for a friend, but with file sharing, you can pretty much give the same CD to millions of people. No one pays for it and the star and/or copyright owner does not get paid.

The final reason that I feel piracy is wrong is that it is the same thing as stealing. Many people try to justify and think that pirating products illegally no different than pocketing a CD at the local store, except the technique they used to steal it. We teach our kids that it is wrong to steal products from the store, copying another student’s homework or test, or take a CD from a store. But, the fact that people, for the most part, agree that stealing is immoral; many people do not understand the ethical issues connected with piracy without stars consent. Some people think that illegal downloading products off the Internet is the same as burning a copy of it for a friend, but it’s not comparable. A reason it is different is because of the mass audience that a product can be shared with over the Internet. Some people think that it is easier to commit piracy with no conscience, because they do not have to face the person they are taking from. Or is it because there is no fear that someone will see them commit the act? If the same crime was committed in a store, they would not steal with such a comfort level.

Piracy will continue to be a problem until those people who steal products realize that just because something can be retrieved illegally without problems or getting into trouble does not make it ethical or right. Just because we “can” does it mean we “should”? No, we shouldn’t. Piracy is ethically and morally wrong. I think that a good solution to this problem would be charging an extreme price on all websites that allow piracy or somehow start tracking who goes on those sites and start punishing them somehow. These might be the only way to help artists keep earing their money so in turn, they will keep producing the products that we like to use.

Works Cited

Goldwasser, Amy. “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” The Norton Field Guide To Writing. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2010. Print.