Browsing: Piracy

Despite the growth of Netflix, Amazon.com and other legal channels for watching entertainment online, the volume of pirated movies, TV shows, music, books and video games online continues to grow at a rapid pace.

The amount of bandwidth used for copyright infringement in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific has grown nearly 160 percent since November 2011, accounting for 24 percent of total Internet bandwidth, according to a study from NetNames, the British brand protection firm.

If I correctly understood the intended message of the Lariat’s editorial — “Waging War Against Piracy is Useless” on March 8 — I must vehemently disagree. Piracy may be a bad and regrettable “fact of life” but so are many social ills.

Trying to stop Internet piracy is like playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

One site may shut down, but in no time, it will be replaced — and the sites and those who frequent them just keep coming.