This is the final hypothetical dilemma regarding internet piracy and the use of filesharing sites.

You have a subscription for digital TV and get a number of channels from around the world. You recently realized that one of the channels you get as part of your package is showing a four-part drama series you’d be very interested in seeing. Unfortunately, you’ve already missed the first episode, and it’s not scheduled to be repeated. It is being shown on the TV channel’s website, but it’s only available for viewing by UK residents. The missed episode is available for download on a filesharing site…

In this case, what’s the difference between downloading the episode and getting a copy from a friend – if you’re fortunate enough to find someone who recorded it? You pay for the right to watch the TV channel on which the show was broadcast, so why can’t you watch it on their website? What say you?

With Amazon’s announcement two weeks ago that they’re launching the Kindle on the international market, I briefly thought this hypothetical dilemma would be obsolete. Sadly, it is all too relevant: Geographical restrictions still exist.

This is the third of four hypothetical dilemmas regarding piracy. The more I learn about piracy, the more convinced I am that there are two types of pirates: those who want something for free and those who want something which is otherwise unavailable to them. Fighting the former is probably a lost cause. Combating the latter is more realistic. The most logical solution to my mind is to make material available to all potential customers for a reasonable sum of money.

Without further ado, here is this week’s dilemma:

The word of publishing has finally embraced digital and print books are increasingly difficult to find. Although you were aware of geographical restrictions on ebooks, you were always able to purchase the books you wanted in print form from various etailers and regular bookstores. You have a digital reading device and you want to purchase ebooks. Suddenly you realize that all of your favourite authors’ books are unavailable to you in digital form and are no longer being printed. You’re distraught as this will entirely change the way you read. All the books you want are available for download on an illegal filesharing site and you’re sorely tempted…

The above dilemma is obviously a worst-case-scenario. I don’t see ebooks replacing print faster than it takes to sort out the convoluted mess that is foreign digital rights, but perhaps I’m being overly optimistic. If this were genuinely the case, I would contact the authors to see if they could find some loophole by which they could sell me their work directly. The obvious solution to this hypothetical dilemma would be a change in digital rights.

What do you think? Do you see print becoming obsolete faster than it takes to make ebooks available to all interested customers, regardless of their country of residence? What other solutions could work in this situation?

This is the second hypothetical dilemma concerning piracy.

The more I learn about piracy, the more convinced I am that there are two types of people who pirate. The first type will download illegal material no matter what. They don’t care about legality and morality and simply want something for free. The second type is the reluctant pirate. They only download material which is otherwise unavailable to them. They would be prepared to pay for a legal copy if they could (and if the price were reasonable). I’m not attempting to excuse their behaviour but to look at realistic ways to combat piracy. Given the lack of success at shutting down filesharing sites, my suggestion to the entertainment business is to target the second category of pirate: Don’t make them criminals, make them customers!

The pirate in our hypothetical dilemmas belongs to the second category. They would gladly purchase the material they download (or are tempted to download), but are frustrated by lack of availability, incompatible formats, etc.

You keep hearing good things about an American TV series which sounds like something you would enjoy. As it’s more of a cult hit than a mainstream success, the likelihood of a network in your country buying rights to the show is slim. The show is now into its third season in the US and there are no signs of it being screened in your country. It is available on DVD at Amazon.com but the region code is not compatible with your DVD player. You also know from experience that stripping codes is not always successful and can result in poor sound/picture quality.

All three seasons of the show are available for download from a filesharing site and you’re sorely tempted…

How wrong would our pirate be if they downloaded in this instance? How could a temptation like this be avoided? My suggestion: allow people to purchase the right to watch episodes of TV shows no matter where they live. I’ve heard several arguments against this idea as local networks fear they could lose business. But what if a local network has no plans to air the show? And even if they did, I think plenty of people would still watch the show when it aired on TV. The only people who would purchase the right to watch episodes are those who are particularly interested in seeing them, not the casual TV viewer who might watch the show if it were broadcast on TV, but wouldn’t otherwise make an effort to find it. What say you?

This is the first in a four-part series on piracy dilemmas. While we all know piracy is illegal in most countries, and morally wrong in all, there are certain circumstances where it arguably falls into a gray area. The hypothetical dilemmas I present are meant to highlight potential murky areas. I’d like to debate their relative wrongness, and to suggest solutions whereby such a quandary could be avoided.

Our hypothetical illegal downloader is generally a law-abiding individual and dislikes piracy. If presented with an easy choice of a legal download in exchange for a reasonable sum of money, or an illegal one from a filesharing site, she would choose to pay for the legal copy. But what happens if our normally honest person is frustrated in her efforts to obtain (and pay for) a legal copy of a book, film, song, or TV show?

Without further ado, here’s our first hypothetical dilemma:

You and a few friends recently reminisced about a made-for-TV horror film you all enjoyed as teenagers. You’d love to see it again and decide to look for a copy. You check Amazon but the film is no longer available on DVD. You then decide to e-mail the TV station which made – and originally broadcast – the film to see if they would be willing to sell you a copy. The TV station reply saying they regret they have no copies for sale at the moment and currently have no plans to repeat the film on TV.

All the while you’ve been making efforts to hunt down and pay for a copy of this much-loved film, it is freely available for download from a filesharing site. The TV station obviously aren’t interested in making money off you, and you can’t find a copy for sale anywhere. If you downloaded it, how wrong would this be?

What say you? How wrong is our potential pirate to contemplate downloading the film under these circumstances? If the TV station are the copyright holders of the film, are they not encouraging its illegal distribution by not making it available to the public? If it is not financially worth their while to keep DVDs in circulation, could they not have a system of burn-on-demand for such cases? Hypothetical answers are welcome!