Worth Reading: We Are All Guilty of Piracy

The Internet was abuzz last week with reaction – much of it hysterical – to SOPA and PIPA, the copyright and intellectual property-related bills that were introduced to Congress late last year. Numerous high-profile companies and sites including Google, Facebook and Wikipedia are firmly opposed the bills, as it seems are the majority of those working in the digital media industry, judging by reaction on Twitter. As Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff points out, though, many people are confused about what actually constitutes piracy, and most of us – even copyright holders – violate copyrights routinely.

Digital piracy is frictionless and nearly riskless. We all do it. And all of us who create content are victims. We all value our own content more highly than content from others –that’s clear from the stories I’ve heard. Here’s the difference between fair use and a copyright violation: When I use your content it’s fair use. When you use mine, it’s a copyright violation.

Read the full article at AdAge.

https://digiday.com/?p=5204

More in Media

Podcast companies turn to live events to capture growing advertiser spend

The surge in the number of live podcast events in 2025 reflects a broader shift: advertisers are betting bigger on podcasts — not just as an audio channel but as a full-fledged creator economy play.

Media Briefing: ‘Cloudflare is locking the door’: Publishers celebrate victory against AI bot crawlers 

After years of miserably watching their content get ransacked for free by millions of unidentified AI bot crawlers, publishers were finally thrown a viable lifeline. 

How Vogue could navigate potential industry headwinds as Anna Wintour — who agency execs say made ad dollars flow — brings on new edit lead

Anna Wintour’s successor at Vogue will have to overcome the myriad of challenges facing fashion media and the digital publishing ecosystem.