Heard of Applanet? Probably not. Ever Googled the apk of an app because you didn’t want to pay to download it from the Play Store? Well, you’re more or less in the same boat. Aaron Buckley and Garry Edwin Sharp have been convicted of copyright infringement and one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement after they both plead guilty. You might say, hey, they only shared apps! How is that a crime?! Well, it turns out it is; when you see the numbers, you’ll agree with me.
From 2010 to 2012, they made available about 4 million copies of apps amounting to roughly $17 million
That’s a whole lotta money to take from developers. Although they didn’t keep the money for themselves, they made people lose money nonetheless.
Many people don’t really pay any mind to the fact that an app is a paid app and is supposed to be paid for! They either opt to sending the APK from a friend(Xender, Flash share and the likes come to mind), or they just do a little Googling and in a minute or two, have the app installed. I won’t lie, yes, I have been guilty of this a few times; but I have turned a new leaf (honestly). This really brings about the question of digital piracy; what it is really.
Content has evolved from being just tangible things you can feel to things you can only see or hear(in the case of music). This really is the part that chills me to the bone. Do you know how many copies of songs are downloaded illegally over the Internet per day? Some call it home taping. Don’t get me started with the numbers. Yes, these artistes reportedly sell a whole lot of them but still, the part they don’t sell that gets leaked online hurts them in one way or another; I’m sure. This is why streaming services like Apple music, Spotify etc should be patronized. For now, all they did was arrest the original culprits; but what if they could find a way to actually prosecute the consumers? Sounds a little far fetched? You never really know.
Need some perspective? Put yourself in the shoes of these developers/artistes, would you like to see millions taken away from you? Didn’t think so. Yes, this is a bitter pill to swallow and I’m sure many of you didn’t even make it to this part; but if you did, consider going legit. It feels good, trust me.
