Internet Safety: Piracy & Plagiarism

PIRACY & PLAGIARISM

 

PIRACY

Piracy is the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc. 

This has become a much larger problem since the internet became more widely spread because information could be shared so easily across the world.  Knowingly recording a movie in a movie theater or downloading music on the internet that you have not paid for are both forms of piracy, along with selling bootleg* copies of DVDs or CDs.  If your ISP (Internet Service Provider) catches you downloading illegal copies of movies or music they will (usually) first give you a warning but then they reserve the right to refuse you internet access after that.  It is never a good idea to risk downloading illegal materials because in some areas there are only limited numbers of ISP services available to you and once you abuse their services, you will not be able to get internet access elsewhere.  The safest route to take is to not download illegal material.  And never buy DVDs or CDs from anywhere that seems shady; stick to regular retailers that you know are legitimate.

 

 *Bootleg is primarily used to describe stolen audio/video recordings that are illegally sold and distributed without proper taxation, and at a loss to the original manufacturer.

 

 PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work, as by not crediting the author.

 

Plagiarism is mostly a problem with students (both in high school and college) these days, especially with technology being so readily available.  It's easy to get a hold of essays that are already written on particular subjects that students often study so that they do not have to write the essay themselves.  It has become such a common occurrence that teachers now can use a web based application to run student papers through and check for common occurrences that match other papers in a database for plagiaristic tendencies. 

 

Plagiarism can also be a problem with authors attempting to pass off other author's work as their own in an attempt to get famous or rich off another's work.  That's why it is certainly not wise to post your work in progress of original writing anywhere on the internet because you cannot trust anyone to not use your work if they think it might be useful to them.

 

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