Essay on Against Illegal Downloading

Piracy has become a major issue in the United States. For every motion picture that has been featured in theaters also has been pirated onto the Internet the next day, and for every new musical album that is released, yet there is a free torrent file of the album within the same hour. Even though these online pirates steal music and movies from other companies and make a drastic profit, yet these “rogue” websites receive 53 billions visits a year from across the globe according to Creative America. The persistence of the thieves that break copyright laws of the productions has lead the entertainment business to place a definitive complaint to the U.S. government of the constant notion of piracy. While the notion of piracy was not left

In recent years, the file sharing of copyrighted material has come under fire. It is a topic that is becoming increasingly morally debatable, as people question whether downloading copyrighted material is to be considered stealing or not. The government and legal action has taken what is mostly harmless file sharing of pop culture and turned it into a very serious crime due to industry pressures. However, there are still supporters of file sharing like myself whom believe the act can be justified and is still ethically sound. In this essay I will explain how copyright, fair use, and public domain play a role in file sharing and also describe why it is not unreasonable for society to commit the crime of copyright infringement.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded between 2004 and 2009. Even with sites like iTunes and Rhapsody offering legal downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing still exists. Illegally downloading music has had a significant impact on the music industry resulting in a loss of profits and jobs, and changing how music is delivered to the masses. (Adkins, n.d.) Showing that even having the ethically correct option P2P sharing of illegal media is still thriving. The RIAA reports that music sales in the United States have dropped

For many years illegal file sharing and music swapping has been going on. Two very popular cases are the MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster case and the A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster case. Both cases differ in many ways however they also have similarities. A lot of music and other sorts of entertainment are being distributed for free all over the internet. What some people do not think of are the consequences that will be faced if they get caught. Not only is the distributor at risk for getting caught but those of us that download the software illegally can be charged.

Due to the increasing popularity of online file sharing, record labels lose money whether they protect their music or not. The book 2000s Music, written by author David Larkins and musician Greg Wilson, states., after Napster was sued, illegal file sharing grew even more popular as opposed to less (Larkins 1). The popularity of free digital music harms musicians for obvious reasons, a loss of revenue. Since the internet cannot control illegal downloads, the pay musicians receive is negatively affected. J.J. Arias, a Georgian University Professor of Economics stated in his academic journal, the enforcement of copyright laws in the digital realm proves to be a costly venture (Arias 124). Illegal file sharing networks are mostly ignored since it often costs more to find and remove file sharing than it is to ignore it. Because of this,

Internet piracy is a hot-button topic, but it is not one that we should take lightly. We as a nation need to quell the distribution of these stolen materials. Imagine if someone pirated teaching videos online to learn for free? Then what would happen to teachers? Where would we be without libraries and their indispensable resources? The days of Blackbeard may be gone, but if we, as a nation, fail to take action, well, we are in for some stormy

The way consumers have shaped recorded music has always had an impact on the record industry. In the history of recorded music, we have witnessed a great deal of technological change. Although opinions may vary, we can reasonably assume that the way we consume music has consistently increased and evolved since the invention of the first phonograph. While previous generations focused on format and standards, in the early 21st century we saw a great upset in not how we consume music, but how we gained access to new music digitally. As a technological greedy society we began to witness the rise of music piracy in the record industry. “Piracy is the use of another person’s idea, product or invention without their permission,

When people illegally download music they are robbing the artists of royalties. The fact that people are increasingly stealing music begs a further question of how slippery this slope is. Will the music industry stop making money altogether because people can just find a way to get their music illegally? While this is the far extreme it is important to note the far reaching implications of what this could mean for the industry. Striking losses of profits would cripple artists and everyone involved in producing or distributed the music. An example of how the music industry is losing profits on royalties is evident with the declining us of CDs. Today, the CD is becoming an outdated and inferior product that only true fans of an artist will seek out. Another example is when music is being purchased legally online. When consumers purchase online music it is almost always going to be a lower cost. As a consumer, you have the option to just buy the songs you like.

We all know that downloading pirated music and films is illegal, but what exactly is it? The term piracy refers to the copying and selling of music, films and other media illegally; in other words you are copying and selling copyrighted media without the permission of the original owner (NiDirect, n.d.). With the massive growth of the internet and its ability to store and capture vast amounts of data, we have become much more reliable on information systems in all aspects of life, but it does not come without the risk of information technology being used unethically. With the number of IT breakthroughs in recent years “the importance of ethics and human values has been underemphasised” often resulting in various consequences. Not surprisingly one of the many public concerns about the ethical use of IT is that “millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners of those copyrights” (Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, 2015). This essay covers the ethical issues of downloading pirated music and films and the impact it has on music corporations and recording and film companies.

“Before the days of YouTube and the Internet, a band 's chances of striking it big depended on record companies. If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label 's vast resources and connections. The company paid for the band 's studio time, … and got its music played on the radio, reaching millions of record buying Americans” (Majerol, 1). Now, anyone with talent can post a video of themselves and become an internet sensation, only to then receive a deal with a label to continue growing their career. The issue is, with the Internet came digital downloading, and with the growing popularity of digital downloading came illegal downloading, known as Digital Piracy, which has affected the music industry greatly. This issue affects everyone involved in the Music Industry. From the small CD store owner to the Artist on stage, everyone has and continues to be affected by the growing popularity of digital downloading services. Artists, producers, and songwriters lose an estimated 12.5 Billion USD every year to illegal digital music services. Further, the economic impact from [digital downloading] is an estimated loss of 2+ Billion USD (Storrs, 1). This money affects the “little guys” in the industry and the average worker within the industry.

Nowadays, teenagers are living constantly surrounded by technology. Even if the younger generation may not see it, technology has had an impact on different factors. The widespread use of digital technology in the music industry has allowed consumers to reproduce digital versions of copyrighted songs inexpensively, with the help of many software and websites. There has been an increase in digital copying activities and those are most of the time claimed responsible for producers’ loss in revenues. While some people claim that the increase of digital technology has killed the music industry, in fact it has lead to innovation and new ways of consuming and sharing music, such as

As the success of services like Hulu and Netflix suggests, consumers are only too happy to pay for content that 's made available in a convenient form, and at a reasonable price. If the content industries want a genuinely effective way to reduce global piracy, they should spend less time and money lobbying for new regulations, and focus on providing innovative services that make piracy unattractive. [5]

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This

The music industry consists of the companies and individuals that make money by creating and selling music (Wikipedia). The current music industry which emerged around the middle of the 20th century has been undergoing drastic changes for the past two decades. When the Internet, and peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as Napster, Kazaa and Limewire, began their rise at the turn of the millennium, many predicted that the music industry, among other entertainment sectors, was headed for impending doom and catastrophic losses in sales. To some degree, and for the first few years, these predictions seemed to become a reality as record sales fell drastically at least partially due to piracy. However, as technological change continues at a rate never before seen, the impact of the Internet has been expanded well beyond illegal downloading to include fundamentally different ways of distributing, promoting and marketing music.

Ever since the start of illegal music downloading there has been an ongoing debate. As with any controversy, there are those whose positions stand at one end of the spectrum or the other and also those who are moderate or nonchalant. Many believe that downloading a song without paying for it is not only illegal, but also immoral. None-the less, people continue to download songs, rationalizing that the record companies are getting what they deserve after years of overpriced CD's or that the artists won't really miss the money. Some people are not sure what to make of the situation, sympathizing in some respects with either side. There are several proposed solutions to this problem, but it has become obvious that there is not easy or clear