For as long as the internet existed piracy has been at large.
One of the earliest recorded acts of unauthorized content copying was when fourteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the Sistine Chapel around 1771 and heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere being performed.
So this is shows how long piracy excisted.
(old newsarticales about software piracy)
At around 2006-2007, there was a huge shift from how media was transferred on the internet.
People found ways to distribute media illegaly so consumers could acsess the products for free.
This became a huge problem for those who worked in the creative industry.
(LimeWire's paid version of their app was frequently pirated by users using the free version)
At the time Warez groups
,teams of individuals who particapate in the organized unauthorized release of films, music, games or other media, were at large.
Many large titles were leaked by warez's groups.
(most pirated software ever)
One way to combat piracy is is a system called anti piracy.
There are three kinds of anti-piracy
The first way is to make an anti-piracy that prevents the copying of your software or other media to another cd or usb.
The second way is to have your software detect if it was download from an official source or not.
The final way is to have your software to connect to the internet so it can verify that you had payed for it>
(Anti-piracy screen in mario party for the ds)