Legal protection for intellectual property rights
With intellectual property being the basis of the technological and scientific achievements of the human race to date, it is thus no wonder that intellectual property rights have been valued long before the dawn of the century. Currently, many countries have legislation that criminalizes the act of distributing or selling unauthorized copies of copyrighted material. In addition, some jurisdictions also deem it a criminal offence to possess unauthorized copies of copyrighted material; what is ubiquitous, however, is the ability for creators of copyrighted work to file civil lawsuits against individuals and companies engaging in DCI. One of the most active organizations working against DCI, the RIAA has sued 20 000 music consumers in the United States from September 2003 till July 2006 for copyright infringement, namely the downloading of copyrighted material over peer-to-peer networks.
Back to topComplacency – “I won’t get caught”
While aggressive enforcement of copyright, both by the state and by copyright holders, has acted to dissuade users from engaging in DCI, the complacency of many individuals, under the false impression of the security of the internet with regard to their identity, has resulted in a situation where many continue to engage in DCI with scant regard for the law.
