Why Some People Steal Content

Before a business trip to the US, I wanted a copy of the film Veronica Guerin, a journalistic biopic starring Cate Blanchett, to show my journalism students in my stead. My university library did not carry the film, so I turned to Amazon.com for a digital copy. None available. Netflix, which won’t stream content in most places outside the US, wasn’t an option. I haven’t been able to buy any iTunes content outside the US for several months, so Apple was out, too. I told my research assistant to just show the students All the President’s Men instead.

I teach journalism ethics, so I didn’t download a pirated copy of the 2003 film, but it would be hard to blame another global content seeker for doing so — via sean-easter.newsvine.com