The Internet has become a new means for distributing information and resources, much of which is accessed free of charge. This whole notion of 'free of charge' has definitely been taken advantage of by the general public, particularly in reference to the means of free downloads and file sharing on the World Wide Web. The magnitude of what the internet encompasses and the diversity of it's information is immense. Royal Pingdom is a website which has gathered the statisitics to present the details of internet usage in 2010. With a total of 255 million websites as of December 2010 it is easy to see how the internet can impact people and industries on a very large scale.
(Daily Kindling)
The entertainment industry uses media to create and distribute the work it creates and much of this can easily make its way onto the internet. With illegal downloads and little privacy on many sites, the internet has been used as a portal for people attempting to get their hands on this work at no cost. Many people now download film or music instead of buying a film from the local supermarket, regarless of the lessened quality of sound and imagery. For instance, from 2008 to 2009 there was an increase of 33.6% of illegal dowloads from year to year; from 785,000 to 1,049,000. (Moses, 2009)
Although the internet has served as a means for society to cheapen the works that people have dedicated much time and money to, it has served well for the film industry in terms of Advertising. However, 'The movie and music industries are battling revenue declines because legal downloads are not yet making up for the drop in physical disc sales. They have ramped up the pressure on governments and internet providers around the world to do more to prevent online piracy' (Moses, 2009). The internet has made negative impacts on the film industry and the law can only inforce this so much. How is it okay to steal a movie off the internet, but not from the shop? It's not, and if the left continues, there will be no film industry to create the entertainment so many enjoy.
Sources:
Daily Kindling: Illegal Downloaders Buy More Music, image, viewed 9 September 2011.
<http://truefire.com/blog/uncategorized/daily-kindling-illegal-downloaders-buy-more-music/>
Moses, A 2009. Illegal downloads soar as hard times bite. Viewed 9 September 2011.
<http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/downloads/2009/05/27/1243103577467.html>
Pingdom, R 2011. Royal Pingdom: Internet 2010 In Numbers, viewed 9 September 2011.
<http://royal.pingdom.com/2011/01/12/internet-2010-in-numbers/>
Wray, R 2009. The Guardian: The Pirates Will Always Win, Says Carphone's Dunstone, viewed 9 September 2011.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/05/dunstone-carphone-warehouse-results-pirates>
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