10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Pirate Any Doctor Who Material

Nick Kitchen is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

If you haven’t heard recently, there was an enormous attack on Sony’s networks that allowed for massive amounts of content (released and to be released) and personal information to be leaked and distributed to the masses on the Interwebs this week.

While piracy has been an issue for many years prior to this last breach, it’s brought the issue back to the forefront. After all, our own fandom experienced a leak just prior to the Series 8 premiere, when several unfinished episodes and scripts were loaded up for willing pirates to take advantage of. As fan of many geek centric properties and someone has a career in IT, I’d like to take the opportunity to give the unpopular opinion; that perhaps there are plenty of valid and good reasons to not pirate any digital media, but specifically to not pirate Doctor Who.

1.) It’s Illegal!!!

This is no doubt THE reason to not pirate media. Even if there were no other qualms associated with the practice of downloading copyrighted material, it still is 100% against the law and is punishable by fine and, in some cases, imprisonment. I love Doctor Who, but I promise you that the prospect of saving a little cash by obtaining the latest episode or series is not worth going to jail and my wallet isn’t near fat enough to pay those incredible fines if I were to get caught doing so.

2.) It Increases Costs of Media

This isn’t rocket science; it’s very simple math. If a company looses money on something, they either have to quit producing said product or find other ways to increase profitability. If the pirating of digital media cuts into the company’s cash flow there stands an excellent chance that they will try and recoup loses by increasing the cost of their media, making some profit back at the expense of those who play by the rules. Once upon a time, albums hardly ever went north of $9.99 on iTunes. It’s not uncommon now (because of piracy and the declining music business) to see standard albums around 12 bucks and some as high as $16. Don’t think for a second that a company like BBC Worldwide wouldn’t do the same thing if the problem continues to escalate.

Before I bought the iTunes Season Pass for Series 8, I bought Deep Breath the day after it aired on BBC America for $8.99. It very well could have had the price jacked up to what the physical media costs (or future episodes like it) if enough people pirated the feature length episode.

3.) It Hurts the Companies that Create Doctor Who

One of the biggest arguments that people use to justify piracy is that these companies that produce the media are so big that they can’t be hurt if a few people download it for free. The main problem with that argument is that it’s false. Those “big companies” are full of real individuals that depend on their jobs. While the act of piracy may not bring down the company itself, it may very well cost these talented folks their livelihood. And while Doctor Who‘s success is largely tied in with its lead actors/actresses and its showrunner, it’s quality often falls upon those whose names and faces you’ll probably never know. If some of those individuals lose their job and aren’t replaced (it’s the new reality in the job market; unless there is a massive case for it, companies often elect to do more with what they already have), quality does have the opportunity to suffer.

And remember, we’re not just talking about the BBC/BBC Worldwide here. Doctor Who Magazine, Titan Comics and Big Finish all hold extremely popular licences. Not paying for their products but consuming them via illegal downloading and sharing is irresponsible and potentially destructive.

4.) It Can Be Dangerous to Your Technology

Malware, viruses, you name it; there are new ones that crop up almost daily. Their creators often prey on those who torrent illegal material. While some of it maybe more or less harmless, there are too many stories of lives being destroyed by identity theft and hardware rendered to nothing more a glorious paperweight to ignore the dangers that lurk in the seedy corners of the web. If you think just having a antivirus or anti-malware program installed keeps your technology safe, you are sadly mistaken. Some people spend the entirety of their days creating these programs and working to beat what is supposed to keep them at bay. It’s just not a gamble worth taking.

5.) Quality of the Product

Pirated media is frequently a rip from physical media, and often copied at a quality lower than best to decrease upload and download time and to save the ripper’s storage space. This means that what you get illegally is very rarely in the quality it was meant to be seen or heard. The question I always have asked is, “why bother?” If the film quality is below expectations or the audio is too compressed to be properly enjoyed, what’s the point? Maybe you’re not an audiophile or a film buff, but I’ve never walked away from a HD film or television programme and thought, “you know, that whole experience would have been better if it could have been shown in a lower quality?” Why settle for less?

6.) Piracy Devalues Media Value

This is a hard truth; when you choose to download something illegally you’re making the statement that the media you’re torrenting isn’t worth it’s cost. We established that torrenting hurts businesses but it also hurts the consumer. Big Finish cancelled its line of Sapphire and Steel audios, in part because of the amount of piracy that the line generated. When media’s value is taken down by piracy and no longer generates the revenue necessary to pay performers, writers, producers, etc., the only choice is to abandon ship, so to speak. Thankfully this hasn’t been the case with Doctor Who, but it’s still a looming fear.

7.) Owning the Physical Media Isn’t An Excuse

Another popular justification for weaseling out of paying for media is that it’s completely ok if you own a physical copy of what you’re downloading.

It doesn’t matter how many VHS or DVD copies you have of The Tenth Planet, downloading it because you don’t want to create your own digital copy is wrong and just lazy, to be honest. If you truly need it digitally, it’s easier than ever to make a digital copy of DVDs for personal use and a great deal of these serials/audios/etc. can be purchased digitally, which brings me to my next point…

8.) “The Juice Isn’t Worth the Squeeze”

As I grow older, the only other resource as important as money, to me, is time. If you’ve ever tried to torrent or straight download pirated media, you know that the process is slightly complicated and it is time consuming. For that reason, the effort and time put forward to obtain illegal media just doesn’t pay the dividends you’d think it would. I can be watching an iTunes purchase with in seconds of purchase. It may be hours or days before I can watch what I torrent, not taking into account the process to getting said media from my PC to my television (let’s be honest, unless there is good reason to do otherwise, Doctor Who should be seen on television (or theaters). I value my time too much to waste it on saving a very small amount of money.

9.) Digital Media is More Than Reasonably Priced (In Most Cases)

A post in a Big Finish Facebook page recently took a poll of its members to ask why BF audios are so much more expensive than iTunes videos. The notion is somewhat flawed. There are good and valid reasons for digital media pricing difference, but the reality is that digital media is a “steal” (pun intended) when it comes to pricing. The ecosystems have matured in pricing across the lines and, in most cases, digital goods are cheaper than their physical counterparts and often available much sooner. For example, Series 8 comes out in the US on the 9th of this month. To get the Blu-ray version, I’m looking at just south of $70. I’ve had the whole of Series 8 since the day after Death in Heaven aired, in HD, for $35.

At an episode level, most episodes are $2-3. Who can honestly say that is unaffordable? Big Finish’s digital versions run about $10 and given what goes into each one, that’s more than fair pricing. To say that costs are a valid reason for pirating is completely off base and refer back to #2 for what piracy does to the cost of media.

10.) “Doing the Right Thing Is Cool” – The Doctor (assumed paraphrase)

I would imagine that the Doctor probably thinks pirate hats are cool, but taking something that they didn’t pay for? Not so much. I realize that he’s a fictional character but I think part of the hold Doctor Who has on its fandom is that he is inspiring. I would be hard pressed to say that the Doctor is 100% ok with stealing. Morally speaking, it’s completely wrong and I like to believe, and I’d think the Doctor would agree, humanity is better than that. So don’t spend time debating on being a good person, just be one. That includes not stealing, right?

To recap (or ReKap if you prefer), should you pirate anything Doctor Who related? Nope. Just you continue on being the respectable members of the Whoniverse we all know you are. When we attack a topic like this, I know there may be many of you that will not agree with our position. Feel free to respectfully discuss below.

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