Rohan Magerman (foto: Facebook)
It’s more than ten years since the Napster saga and we’re still debating whether internet piracy should be legal or not. The recent controversy surrounding Kanye West’s alleged visit to Piratebay has sparked renewed interest in the ethics of piracy. Some of the comments I have read from anti-piracy activists still blame illegal file sharing as the main reason why conventional video stores are going out of business.
It’s true – more and more video stores are closing down. The last remaining few aren’t doing too well. Back in the early 2000s, video store owners could easily order multiple copies of their new releases, especially the ones that were high in demand. Nowadays, when a movie hits the shelves, businesses fail to make a profit because everybody has already seen it.
Conventional media consumption does not work in an age that belongs to a tech-savvy generation. I also don’t rent or buy much these days. My video store membership card is tucked away in a forgotten corner of my wallet. The last time I took out a movie was about two years ago. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was bored at home. For the sake of nostalgia, I drove to Mr Video two blocks away, where I browsed the shelves for half an hour while making small talk with the clerk behind the desk. I finally decided to rent a new release and one older movie. I paid R40 for both. At home I popped the older movie into the DVD player first. But that disc had been scratched so badly by previous customers that I never got past the first two scenes. Just as I was about to play the second movie I got a WhatsApp invite to a braai. Naturally, I decided to go. So I ended up not watching the movies I rented. The next day I had to get up early to return the two DVDs on time.
I also have a shelf full of my favourite DVDs, neatly stacked in alphabetical order. Most of those movies and TV shows I dug up from the "3 for R100” rack at Musica. The rest I ordered from online retailers. I remember that I had the complete Glee and Lost DVD box sets at one point. These two were part of my most prized movie collections. Then, along came two Joe Borrowers who helped themselves to my DVD collection with the solemn promise of returning them. As you may have guessed, five months later, Glee came back looking like the discs had been used as beer mats, and Lost became the permanent property of its borrower when said person moved to Joburg.
I know what you’re thinking: Hasn’t this guy ever heard of BitTorrent? Why spend money on movies when he could’ve just downloaded a reliable copy for free within five minutes, and saved it for later viewing?
Well, for one thing I’m not connected to a peer-to-peer network and have very limited experience of online file sharing. For another, I'm not in the habit of buying pirated movies from those hawkers at the taxi rank. Experience has taught me that when I get home, I’ll discover that that the seller is actually a fraud. He has either sold me a blank disc or given me one that contains the wrong content. Sometimes the disc would stop playing in the middle, or my media player just rejects it altogether. (The worst part is that you can’t go back and demand.)
A friend of mine has an enormous media library on his laptop. Every two weeks I set some time aside to visit him and copy the latest movies and series to my own Terabyte hard drive. Thanks to Niel, I've been able to retrieve Glee in digital format.
Does that make me part of the 53% of South Africans that download video content from illicit platforms? Anti-piracy activists will say that even though I engage in offline piracy and accept only free copies, I'm just as guilty of stealing. I can make a case that I wouldn’t have paid for those movies anyway. Or that everybody does it. But there’s simply no point in defending piracy anymore. Ask anyone if they’ve seen X-Men: Apocalypse (slated for a May 20 release in South Africa) and the response will most likely be, “Oh, I watched it last night on my laptop.”
A recent status on my Facebook feed read: “Listening to a new Beyoncé album while a new episode of Game of Thrones downloads like is this even a Monday?”
I didn't bother telling them that they're violating someone's copyright. Internet piracy is just not worth the ethics debate anymore. I agree with Sudara Williams that file sharing is a “cultural achievement that should be celebrated”.
I do believe that artists and production companies should be fairly compensated. I also believe that copyright laws should be enforced where due. If consumers are able to pay for streaming services like Netflix and Showmax I would encourage them to pay for video content. But I also feel that we should take full advantage of the opportunities the digital age has to offer. Consumers like to get stuff for free. We want a more convenient way to video entertainment and the industry should adapt to changing consumer trends.
Consider, for example, how the majority of people who visit torrent websites are from poorer countries. South Africa was listed as one of the top ten countries who illegally downloaded the first episode of the latest season of Game of Thrones. Rather than investing billions into fighting piracy, the creative industry should find solutions that cater for the needs of audiences. Showmax has effectively opened the door for marginalised consumers by enabling its subscribers to save content for offline viewing. This strategy allows South Africans who cannot always afford internet data to use public WiFi spots for downloading movies and shows. Making the content available for 30 days (or 48 hours after playing a movie), can help to curb piracy, even if it is to a small extent.
There's no evidence that a nation's economy is taking a huge knock from piracy. Video stores may seem to be replaced by Chinese shops overnight, but that does not mean people have stopped watching movies or that production companies will stop making movies in the near future. Piracy has provided us with endless entertainment options. We can watch any show that's not available in our country. In fact, the same hyperspace that is blamed for the demise of Stax and Blockbuster gave rise to new online businesses and made it possible for independent artists to freely promote their work.
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