DOWNLOAD=GUILTY
If you are reading this blog you could either be a music
lover who thinks buying records is a waste, a movie lover who has never set
foot on a theatre or maybe just someone who has plenty of time to read. In the
age that we are in, everything is literally in our fingertips; one need not lift
his hand to have what he desires. A few clicks on the computer, voila, your favourite
movie or your theme song or the game you’ve been eagerly waiting for, and the
best part of it, it’s FREE. A few harmless clicks that you didn’t even shed a
sweat, but is it really harmless? Let us get to know the pastime that is
addictive as well, DOWNLOADING.
Download(noun)
An act of moving or copying a file, program, etc.,
from a usually larger computer system to another computer or device (http://www.learnersdictionary.com)
So
far, nothing harmful yet, the tricky part is what people are downloading, let’s
think of movies, songs, games and even books:
Copy or Economic
Rights
Copy or Economic Rights. Subject to the provisions of Chapter VIII,
copyright or economic rights shall consist of the exclusive right to carry out,
authorize or prevent the following acts:
·
Reproduction of the work or substantial portion
of the work;
·
Dramatization, translation, adaptation,
abridgement, arrangement or other transformation of the work;
·
The first public distribution of the original and
each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership;
·
Rental of the original or a copy of an
audiovisual or cinematographic work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a
computer program, a compilation of data and other materials or a musical work
in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy
which is the subject of the rental;
·
Public display of the original or a copy of the
work;
·
Public performance of the work; and
·
Other communication to the public of the work. (Sec 177, RA 8293)
..now, having second thoughts?
Wait, there’s more:
Piracy or the unauthorized
copying, reproduction, dissemination, distribution, importation, use, removal,
alteration, substitution, modification, storage, uploading, downloading, communication, making
available to the public, or broadcasting of protected material, electronic
signature or copyrighted works including legally protected sound recordings or
phonograms or information material on protected works, through the use of
telecommunication networks, such as, but not limited to, the internet, in a manner that infringes intellectual property rights
shall be punished by a minimum fine of one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00)
and a maximum commensurate to the damage incurred and a mandatory imprisonment
of six (6) months to three (3) years; c) Violations of the Consumer Act or
Republic Act No. 7394 and other relevant or pertinent laws through transactions
covered by or using electronic data messages or electronic documents, shall be
penalized with the same penalties as provided in those laws; d) Other violations
of the provisions of this Act, shall be penalized with a maximum penalty of one
million pesos (P1,000,000.00) or six (6) years imprisonment. (Sec. 33 (b), RA 8792)
...
and some more; Hon. Irwin Tieng and Hon. Mariano Michael Velarde introduced
House Bill No. 6187, The Anti-Online Piracy Act of 2011. Section 3 of said
bill, prohibits and declares unlawful for any person to:
a)
Make
in a manner not authorized by the copyright owner, copies of music recordings
or films, in complete or substantially complete forms, by any means, including
but not limited to uploading, downloading, or streaming.
b)
Offer
goods or services, or provides access in a manner not authorized by the
copyright owner, copies of music recordings or films, in complete or
substantially complete form, by any means, including by means of downloading,
streaming, provisions of a link or aggregated links to other sites.
After reading these, we can
generally say that downloading copyrighted works, shared by others who are not
copyright owners of such works constitutes a copyright infringement even on the
part of the now, not so innocent downloader.
As of the moment, not only the
Philippines is on the battle against online piracy, the US has Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act
(PIPA).
How would SOPA work?
It allows the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear. It's kind of an Internet death penalty.
More specifically,
section 102 of SOPA says that, after being served with a removal order:
A service provider shall take technically
feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers
located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion
thereof) that is subject to the order...Such actions shall be taken as
expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served
with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order.[1]
The Protect IP Act says that an "information location
tool shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously
as possible, to remove or disable access to the Internet site associated with
the domain name set forth in the order." In addition, it must delete all
hyperlinks to the offending "Internet site."[2]
... and
there is ACTA,
What ACTA is
about
- ACTA is an international trade agreement
that will help countries work together to tackle more effectively
large-scale Intellectual Property Rights violations. Citizens will benefit
from ACTA because it will help protect Europe's raw material –
innovations and ideas
- Europe's economy can only remain competitive
if it can rely on innovation, creativity, quality, and brand exclusivity.
These are some of our main comparative advantages on the world market, and
they are all protected by Intellectual Property Rights. As Europe is
losing billions of Euros annually through counterfeit goods flooding our
markets, protecting Intellectual Property Rights means protecting jobs in
the EU. It also means consumer safety and secure products.
- The EU's national customs authorities have
registered that counterfeit goods entering the EU have tripled between
2005 and 2010.
- Statistics published by the
European Commission in July 2011 show a tremendous upward
trend in the number of shipments suspected of violating IPR. Customs
in 2010 registered around 80,000 cases, a figure that has almost doubled
since 2009. More than 103 million fake products were detained at the EU
external border[3]
Something should be done about the rampant
copyright infringement through the internet, we do have legislations, but they
are not enough. We may follow the lead of the international community, but we
must always put into consideration the rights granted by the Constitution. The
international community are trying drastic measures to eradicate such evils;
technology is always moving forward, our laws must be able to cope with such
change to better protect our right.
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