Teen Heartthrob Turns Pirate
Jul 18, 2013
The night of a concert in Chicago, Justin Bieber decided to tweet out to his followers a simple question. He wanted to know a link or website where he could watch the most recent UFC fight. The only problem is that whoever provided the link or if he watched it, would be committing a crime. As made abundantly clear by Dana White, UFC’s president, the match Bieber wished to watch was pay per view only. Dana tweeted back at Justin and this sparked a small debate within the Twitter-verse.
While the action seems inconsequential enough, wanting to watch a UFC fight, it is important for everyone to understand and respect IP laws. According to a 2011 survey conducted by The American Assembly with Columbia University roughly 70% of young people (ages 18-29) have pirated copyrighted material at least once.
Furthermore, as a musician with 15 hit songs, Justin Bieber should be not only reverent of IP rights but a promoter of them. Without copyright protections he would not be worth the $100 million that he is.
While we are on the subject of Bieber’s blatant disregard for copyright laws, he also seems to be above physical property rights as well…