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Curtis Lambert
English 101 ESSAY 3
Professor Bolton
18 July 2012
Annotated Bibliography: Media Piracy and Its Effect on the Entertainment Industry
One of the major issues plaguing Hollywood and the entertainment industry today is the
ongoing debate of the definition of media piracy and where to draw the line within the law. The
article that was the catalyst for this research topic was Lawrence Lessig’s essay, “Some Like it
Hot,” which deals with the age old question: what is wrong with downloading music and movies
for free? I will concede that there are still unanswered questions and on-going debates about how
to legally address and correct the apparent plethora of media piracy that exists in our current
digital world. Nevertheless, lawmakers want those affected by these copyright infringements to
continue to be patient as current technology is ever evolving: we just need to give the law “time
to seek that balance” (Lessig 92). I will contend that the precedent for media piracy laws have
been set since before the turn of the 20th century, and although the type of media continues to
develop and progress at a pace beyond our ability to keep up, the basic statute of the law has not
changed: if one duplicates and/or sells or uses someone else’s media, in any form, without their
written or express permission, then they are breaking the law.
Sanchez, Julian. "Internet Regulation & the Economics of Piracy." Cato Institute 17 Jan 2012:
n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 June 2011
This essay details Mr. Sanchez’s research on how the entertainment industry, as a whole,
has over dramatized the effect that media piracy and Peer-2-Peer file sharing has had on the

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economics in Hollywood and throughout the entertainment industry. He states in his essay that,
“I remain a bit amazed that it’s become an indisputable premise in Washington that there’s an
enormous piracy problem…and that some kind of aggressive new legislation is needed to stanch
the bleeding….” He goes on to say that he finds it preposterous that the entertainment industry is
putting so much pressure on Congress that they [Congress] have no option but to reform
legislation immediately when “...the data we do have doesn’t remotely seem to justify the
DEFCON One rhetoric that now appears to be obligatory on the Hill.” (par. 2)
This essay was published by the CATO Institute, a think tank on economics and the
government’s involvement in our American liberties. The introduction paragraph from their web
site defines their mantra like this: The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization —
a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets
and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range
of policy issues.
I have chosen to cite this particular essay in my research because it is a bit of a
conundrum for me. The author and the research institute seem to be saying two different things.
Mr. Sanchez and the CATO Institute, although they claim to be for less government and more
liberties, they are encroaching on my liberties, and the liberties of many others in the
entertainment field, by their casual approach to the effects that media piracy is having on artists
in this country and their [CATO Institute] belief that Capitol Hill has been whipped in to a frenzy
on this issue with no real merit to back of the claims of these artists.

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Ryan, Johnny. "New Audiences, the Fourth Wall and Extruded Media." A History of the Internet
and the Digital Future. 2010: 151-163. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 27 June 2012.
Film On Demand MLA FORMAT SOURCE
The film, DIY explores the burgeoning industry of new media: the internet, and its effect
on the big screen and television. The film deals primarily with production companies who
develop and broadcast their own materials via the World Wide Web. This new medium is
becoming increasingly popular, especially with the YouTube generation, and their viewership is
steadily on the rise. These companies are capitalizing on the fast paced, information age, society
we have become, with our need to have information at our fingertips the moment it is happening,
not ten minutes ago, but almost, if not, in real time. Some of the new internet programming
production companies may have as many as nine hundred channels available to subscribers.
I chose to cite this film because it addresses in great detail the main issue of my thesis
and the basis for my research paper: anyone can pick up a camera or microphone and produce, or
reproduce someone else’s material, for broadcast or publication with little or no backlash, much
less legal consequences. There are no guide lines or restrictions that can be readily applied to
monitor copyrighted material, much less protect original programming, streaming on the internet.
Some of these internet production companies are charging for their programming, but most are
free, and many do not even require a website registration.
I will use this film reference to support my claim that YouTube used groundbreaking
technology designed to allow anyone to broadcast themselves on the internet, therefore many of
these upstart internet production companies are using the same technology that YouTube

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pioneered to monitor who is watching what and when. This tactic is valuable when selling web
space and air time to advertisers, which is where these companies are making the largest amount
of their income, if not all, of their income. That being said, if these companies can figure out how
to track their viewer’s every move, and are now promoting boxes to add to our televisions so we
no longer need cable or satellite, then why are they not able to develop software that will give
credit to artists when they broadcast said artists material? Everyone who picks up a camera or
submits material to YouTube is not going to have a working knowledge of piracy laws.
Nevertheless, ignorance of the law is no excuse in any other aspect of society, so why do we
allow it so freely in media?
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