An Expert Opinion on Stopping Piracy

The best and most-consumer friendly way to stop piracy is to make your content as easy to access as possible. A couple of days ago I tried to find a TV series I wanted to watch. It was on Netflix, but wasn't available on streaming, and who actually waits for their entertainment these days? it wasn't on Hulu. I checked a variety of less-than-legal streaming sites, still nothing.

So I just torrented it. It was by far the easiest thing to do. I think that's really the key to stopping piracy: make it easier to buy something (or otherwise experience it legally) than to pirate it. I think the line of thought I went down before just giving up and opening up a torrent bears some examination: I check Netflix, because it's by far the best  experience. I get high-quality video instantly and easily, and I'm already paying for it. I check Hulu, because even if the video quality isn't going to be as good it's still extremely convenient. I only turned to free, non-ad-supported sites after I tried the legal sites. I turned to a torrent as a last resort.

It sounds ridiculous to say that driving to Best Buy and buying a DVD or waiting for a two-day Amazon shipment is unacceptable these days, but I think it's true. As I said before, I could even get the DVD shipped to me from Netflix for free (because for some reason I still get the DVD service), but I just don't want to wait. I'm not opposed to acquiring physical media, either. I have a small movie collection, and I own every season of Breaking Bad. But I don't buy physical media when I want to watch it right now, I buy it because I'd like to have it conveniently available in the future, and I think that's something that media companies need to come to understand. Convenience and usability is the
prime selling point of media in an era where I can click a button and get something for free.