Over the course of the last five years, there has been a surge in litigation associated with copyright infringement taking place across the Internet. An inevitable factor associated with widespread broadband connectivity is file swapping and one of the inevitable factors associated with file swapping is pirating.
Right now, there are online outlets through which you can log on using your broadband connection and download all sorts of pirated media such as movies, music, games, software, etc. for free. This, of course, is illegal and there has been a recent surge in crackdowns on both the systems that harbor file swapping networks along with the users themselves who share the pirated files.
Napster made headlines around the world after it was shut down through the appropriate legal channels. Napster dealt specifically with the transfer of music, and drew a great deal of criticism from industry professionals and musicians who felt that it was taking money out of their pockets.
Bit Torrent and Limewire are two commonly used file swapping programs that have drawn a new wave of attention because they are used as a medium of transfer of all types of media files, with specific attention being paid to movies. Pirated copies of movies are being put onto the Internet almost immediately after they are released in the theaters, sometimes before.
Legal Movie Downloads
It is inevitable that broadband Internet will be used for the purpose of downloading various types of media such as movies. In an effort to embrace this inevitability, media companies are beginning to test various types of ideas regarding making movies available for download through broadband Internet connections for some type of fee. This move is not unlike the one being taken by the music industry in the form of pay-for download services such as MusicMatch, I-Tunes and a revamped and legal Napster service.
AOL Time Warner will be the first major company to test the waters in regards to legal movie downloads and will be doing so through subsidiary Warner Bros. Movies will be made available for download via CinemaNow at a cost of $3.99, similar to the cost of renting a movie. In essence, it will function much like pay-per-view. After a payment is made, a file will be downloaded. Users will have access to this file for 24 hours before the file becomes inaccessible. This plan is designed with the specific intention of servicing broadband customers.
MovieLink is yet another legal movie download outlet and is sponsored by heavyweight companies such as MGM, Paramount, Sony and Universal Studios.
Video on Demand and Broadband Video
As it is, legal movie downloads represent the only way through which to get or view a major motion picture using the Internet. Experts believe that we are not far away from having online theatres through which movies are streamed live in the form of broadband video with no download necessary. This type of video on demand would be a similar process to going to the theatre to see a movie, with the exception that you are simply watching it on your computer. With the types of HD flat screen monitors and surround sound audio set-ups that many computers have today, video on demand in the form of broadband video could present a very appealing option as opposed to going to a crowded and expensive movie theater. In this way, it would function exactly like pay-per-view cable, only it would be across a broadband Internet connection instead of a cable television line.
