Pirates
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
Pirates are people who illegally download music, television shows, video games, movies and other content from the Internet without paying the large corporation that owns the copyrights to them. Currently, piracy is one of the key concerns of the major television networks.
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Origin of Piracy
Pirates were first created by the Disney Corporation as foils for the heroes of their movies. These pirates were buffoonish characters who sailed around the oceans in huge ships, dressed up in strange outfits, carried big swords and spoke with badly faked English accents. While they were supposedly villanous, these pirates were not considered a threat to anyone.
The Rising Menace
While trying to call his mother in Pittsburgh, one of the pirates misdialed and accidentally hacked into the computer that Steve Jobs was storing the Tron Part II files in. Realizing that he might have something, he connected the phone to a television set and began the first illegal download. Soon, the word had spread and people all over the Earth began illegally downloading files onto their TV sets. Rather than stop the threat, companies legalized the downloads and thus created the first primitive cable television networks.
The Internet Era
With the development of the Internet in the 1990s, it was believed that piracy might reach an all-time high. To stop this, the networks founded the America On Hold company to run what they called the World Wide Wait. For a small payment each month, customers received a pathetically slow Internet connection that logged off every 15 minutes. As a result, piracy decreased greatly and it seemed as though the problem was solved.
Need For Speed
As computer technology improved and better computer operating systems developed, the Internet got easier to use. Companies such as Napster, Morpheus, KaZaA and that kid down the street from you took adventage of this and created systems which allowed people to download songs in record time. The MP3 (Music Piracy 3) file format became known throughout the world, and music sales dropped to practically zero as only older people went out and bought actual records. While lawsuits stopped some of these services, new ones continually popped up like weeds. Eventually, even the Department of Homeland Security saw that they had a major threat on their hands.
Piracy Today
Thanks to new laws passed by Congress and initiatives taken by President George W. Bush, Internet piracy is much less common than before. However, pirates are still a threat to us all. If you know of a person who is committing acts of piracy, call 1-800-CRIME-TV and let the authorities know about it.
