Advanced Activity: File Sharing

Millions of users can be linked to each other through this software at one time. The software is often free and easily available. Services such as Kazaa, Ares, LimeWire and BearShare are examples of sites that offer these programs free of charge. Other times, the software may be offered in the form of a subscription, such as iTunes and Napster. But is file sharing ethical? The music industry says no, where as the millions of file sharers agree that downloading is.

In the short time that computers and internet have existed in the modern era, the world has seen a complete 360 degree turn and in the various forms of electronic entertainment that people all over the world are now using. In the days before CD’s, DVD’s and the internet, not much was said if a vinyl album (remember these?), VHS cassette (or these?) or an audio cassette was loaned to a friend for their listening / viewing pleasure, but today with the availability of sending an email with three or four megabytes (mb) of information, one can enjoy a borrowed song but is assumed that it is piracy or stealing. Is this a fair assumption? This Author will not give

Digital piracy or copyright infringement is essentially defined as the unauthorised sharing or use of a product that has been copyrighted, according to the Australian Parliament House (2006). However, the way in which the public infringe has changed over the decades. Initially, recording music being played on the radio onto a cassette player was the inaugural generation of piracy within our modern society. In the 1980s, recording Television (TV) onto Vertical Helical Scan (VHS) recorders became prevalent (C-Span (Created by Cable), 1986). Soon after, the copying or ripping of Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) and Compact Discs (CDs) soared (The Golden Age of Piracy, 2014). However, none of these methods compare in financial losses to the present generation of piracy – the digital age (IP (Intellectual Property) Awareness Foundation, 2015). The vast lawless regions of the internet provide the perfect haven for digital piracy. Whether content is downloaded through peer to peer (P2P)

As many users see P2P software as just file sharing, entertainment industries and other big companies see it as copyright infringement and stealing from copyright owners without their rightful authorization or compensation. These companies complain that P2P file sharing threatens the survival of the industries and believe that there

The internet is one of the most exciting phenomena to be invented in the world of technology. It was widely received and accepted by all sectors of the society, including the government, and businesses. The communication and media platforms were on the frontline in embracing the new technology. The internet is currently the largest source of music and video content. The availability of high-speed internet connections and a creation of inexpensive and easily distributable digital contents has facilitated to the high number of downloads. This has been attributed with both advantages and disadvantages. The creation of peer-to-peer (P2P) media sharing platforms led to a rise of the controversy surrounding this form of media consumption. This paper discusses the moral issues arising from file sharing. With a worldwide reach, the internet has facilitated massive downloads of copyrighted contents without the knowledge or proper compensation of the rightful author. However, the providing, sharing, or downloading content on these platforms is a violation intellectual property rights known as piracy.

Have you ever let a friend borrow a CD, a book, or a movie? The borrowing of copyright materials like music, books, or movies is an act of colloquially known as piracy. Internet piracy is the borrowing of files including music through online sites where one person uploads it and many others help distribute the file. Music files were some of the first types of files to be pirated. Music files are a big portion of all of the files pirated over the internet. File sharing of music leads to a lot of benefits for the music industry, record companies, and the artists involved in music. Free exposure through online sharing of music will benefit the artist, the public, and the music industry (Torr).

Fast forward to 1999 when P2P file sharing sites like Napster, Limewire, Frostwire (etc.) started to cause yet another change in the industry. Napster, created by Shawn Fanning in the fall of 1999 out of a college dorm room was a site where music files could be shared among its users free of charge. The music obtained through Napster was considered illegal distribution of copyrighted material, or piracy. Piracy is defined as the unauthorized reproduction of another 's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright. (Merriam-Webster 's Online dictionary, 2017)

But it’s important to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages before using it. Peer to peer file sharing and applications has some advantages and disadvantages, its cheap and most of files shared on the peer to peer networks are free which attract people more than companies marketing attract them since its free and easy to download, it allows the user to search and download any type of files he needs like music, movies, games and books. It’s fast and easy to use, it also help small bands or new singers to publish their songs and get know by people quickly. Some of its disadvantages that it’s not always legal has some viruses and spywares among files. Peer to peer file sharing applications advantages is that it’s easy to be installed on computers, all files and resources are shared by peers (users) and when the peers increase the performance increase. Disadvantages are bad Security because when you share files you expose your hard disk to others, Copyright issues since that many people can upload and download resources which can violate copyright law. Feldman, Barbara. "The Basic Pros and Cons of P2P File Sharing." Surfnetkids. Feldman Publishing. 2 Jun. 2008. Web. 9 Apr. 2015. <http://www.surfnetkids.com/tech/416/the-basic-pros-and-cons-of-p2p-file-sharing/

The internet is one of the greatest and most significant inventions of the 20th century. It has become the biggest data foundation to receive all kinds of information, particularly knowledge related to education and improving one’s skills. Downloads are needed in order to receive data from computer networks which are remote systems, typically a server. Copyrighted content needs to have appropriate permission to download it and without this permission doing so could constitute copyright infringement. According to Towers (2009), on-line piracy generally refers to sharing over the internet copies of works that are not authorised or illegal downloading of software, movies, videogames and music. Illicit downloads started through hacked

Using BitTorrent has become a popular and effective way of downloading files over the internet. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) internet protocol that allows files to be distributed via an internet connection. The use of BitTorrent itself is a perfectly legal and legitimate process of downloading certain files. For example, if someone wanted to obtain a large free to use file like a Linux distribution, BitTorrent provides a fast and effective means to download the file legally. Another legal use of BitTorrent would be companies like Blizzard who use custom BitTorrent clients to distribute and update their games to avoid overloading their servers. The main

Another use of Peer to Peer networking is for illegal purposes. Many of us have heard of the widely famous software Napster. It was originally known as the pioneer behind peer to peer file sharing. Napster was commonly used for the purpose free music downloading. Users from all around would come and upload free music, but the problem with this was copyright infringement. Many

Copying was free and unlimited. In order to take advantage of this new technology, a company called Napster came into existence (Taintor). Napster, the first centralized way for computer users to share music, started its business in 1999. Two years later, the company lost a lawsuit, and had to pay millions of dollars in damages (Taintor). This legal setback did not stop the spread of file sharing; if anything, it caused a large increase in the number of options people had to share their music (Taintor). To fill the hole left by Napster, several new file sharing applications emerged. The new applications used technology called “peer-to-peer,” which enabled users to share their files amongst one-another, rather than from a centralized server. This change in the way the applications worked allowed them protection from the legal woes that plagued Napster. Since then, content owners and publishers have taken to suing individuals to combat file sharing (Kravets). They argue that mass lawsuits are the only way to protect their artists, the music industry, and music itself from the evils of peer-to-peer file sharing.

“I 'd like to propose another toast to you, the listener. It doesn 't matter how you got this, you bought it, you downloaded it, and your grandma gave it to you.” (Jones). Chances are anybody who has ever used the internet has downloaded copyrighted material. Many people view downloading copyrighted material from the internet as stealing, but others see it as a distribution of human knowledge and information. File sharing, more formally known today as torrents, should be legal. File sharing is only illegal if the material that is being distributed is copyrighted. Even then if the creator of the content chooses to distribute their material in this format it is also legal. Companies argue that the unwanted sharing of their

“Bit torrent is nothing more than a file downloading technology” is quoted in large font on the right side of website askleo.com in the article written by Dr. Leo Notemboom. The Article is titled “Is It Illegal to Download Torrent Files.” The writer summarizes what bit torrent technology is and how the law could apply to them. Overall the article is well informing to readers about bit torrents and Leo Notenboom’s interpretation of copyright laws. Also the article is very interesting and could arise some interesting questions to readers that relate to the topic.

Filesharing is the act of sharing files over the internet with another person. This can be done directly between two computers or by two computers connecting to a mediating server. These files can be anything: music, videos, books, blueprints, or other documents, many different types of software and programs including video games. Filesharing is also incredibly easy. Free software like bittorrent makes it simple for anyone to fileshare. With the simplicity of filesharing and the huge amount of information available for download it is easy to see how filesharing can be used illegally. Many files that are available via P2P (peer to peer) networking are copyrighted material. For example a person buys a new CD, puts it on his computer,