ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses intellectual property and the evolution of piracy techniques. It identifies the ways in which piracy has changed over time and examines the ways in which pirates justify their theft of intellectual property. The chapter provides the methods employed by property owners to deter or sanction pirates. Digital piracy is a common form of cybercrime, so much so that between 10 and 40 percent of college students appear to have engaged in some form of piracy. The ability to maintain and enforce copyrights and legal protections over intellectual property in the Digital Age, however, is extremely difficult due to the transitory nature of an idea and the ability to access information from anywhere at any given point in time. Roger Friedman came under fire for posting a review of a pirated version of 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
