Essay Filesharing

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.

Facts: Grokster, Ltd. and another company, StreamCast Networks Inc, created software that allowed users to share electronic files through a series of peer-to-peer networks on computers without using a central server. This software allowed users to share any type of digital file, but most people used the software to share and distribute copyright music and video files without permission of the copyright holders, which was encouraged by the software companies. As a response a group of movie studies and other copyright holders sued Grokster and StreamCast for the infringement on their copyrights, arguing that the software companies were knowingly and intentionally using their software

Online Piracy is a federal crime and should be prosecuted as so. The FBI shows warnings to constantly remind people about the consequences of piracy. For example, "Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000" (12), People for piracy say as well that because everyone is doing it, it's okay. But as the author of a musicians rant says, "last time I checked, when something is wrong, it's wrong. Period."(13). No matter what, Piracy is stealing and stealing is a crime that should be punished as so.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that peer to peer file sharing is copyright infringement. Millions of people illegally copied and shared copyrighted music, films, and software over the internet that directly infringed MGM’s copyright. Copyright violations were knowingly caused by the defendant by promoting the

Darrell Panethiere wrote in “The Persistence Of Piracy” on page 2 that “'Piracy refers to the activity of manufacturing unauthorised copies ('pirate copies') of protected material and dealing with such copies by way of distribution and

Although the action of retrieving music illegally can be easily accessed as group three states, “majority of the music that is consumed illegally by the individuals...would not have been purchased if illegal websites were not available to them” it provides a weak point because either way people see it music is available to them with purchase and if that is the only option than that process will occur. The society that illegally downloaded music created can be seen in one huge source known as, “Napster” in an article, by Stephen Seigel he states, “ Napster allows its users to "share" songs with other users, completely bypassing the traditional forms of music distribution” (“Nipping at Napster”). Napster allows people to share all types of

Copyright is an exclusive right to make copies and they are protected. There were some key facts in the Grokser case that happened, which were exchanged of copyrighted music, movies, and other digital media over the Internet that caused major issues. According to “Copyright Infringement? Really, Its Just A Little Peer-To-Peer File Sharing,” facts shows that Grokser, Ltd., and StreamCast Networks, Inc. distribute free software products that allowed computer users to share electronic files through peer-to-peer networks (Case 1.2, p.8). The Grokster distributed free software that allowed private user to download files without authorization. The universities, the government agencies, corporations, etc mainly used this particular technology. During the case, MGM was able to proved that majority of their files that were shared were copyrighted files. Even though they

The Internet has served as a medium for peers to share any kind of files, like pictures, videos, music, books, etc. However, in order for peers to be able to exchange files, a platform is needed. There are many platforms available that serve as a bridge technology so that peers can share files with other peers around the world. These platforms only serve as a connection devise and not as a piracy store. As a result of the existence of these types of platforms, industries became concerned that this practice is violating the copyrights of the copyright holders. These industries demand that these platforms are shut down. However, these sharing file platforms state that they are not

Music piracy is an infringement that involve the copying or selling of creative works that which the copyright owner, composer, or artist did not consent to. Before the invention of newer technology that allowed for the piracy process to become less difficult, music piracy was much easier to control. With this new and improved technology of the 21st century, users of the web began adding media files to the internet, which made all previous difficulties substantially less challenging. It was much easier for people with little to no knowledge of technology and old piracy methods to gather media files. Piracy may seem petty, but the effects are major. Not only is it illegal, when music is copied and or shared the value decreases with each download.

It is evident that file sharing isn’t going to stop soon. In fact, it has been steadily increasing each year. Although suing one person who downloaded one to

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

Digital music piracy has been a worry of the music industry since the creation of Napster in 1998. Piracy is the act of stealing something that does not belong to you which has been outlined in our society as something that is bad or against the law. There are many articles out there that highlight music piracy but four main important ones include: “The Music Industry on (the) Line? Surviving Music Piracy in a Digital Era” by Jelle Janssens, “Neutralizing Music Piracy: An Empirical Examination” by Jason R. Ingram, “The Impact of Digital Piracy on Music Sales: A Cross-Country Analysis” by Mark T. Bender, “Charismatic Code, Social Norms, and the Emergence of Cooperation on the File-Swapping Networks” by Lior Jacob Strahilevitz and many other

It may or may not be obvious why illegal file sharing is a problem. Millions of people see nothing wrong with downloading a song or two without paying for the download. It?s a problem because it causes the price of albums to increase considerably for non-file sharing consumers. The average music-loving American pays approximately from twenty-two dollars to thirty dollars for each album he or she purchases. This wasn?t the case in the years prior to Napster?s debut. The average American paid from eighteen to twenty dollars for each album, with the exceptions of anthologies and double-album sets. It creates a problem for the file sharing user. Most people have morals, or appear to, and constant stealing might compromise those morals, which ultimately leads to other forms of theft in some cases. It causes a problem for the music industry because 1) the record companies lose money behind slumping album sales 2) the ?people behind the scenes? at the

When I speak about piracy, I mean the act of copying and sharing data online videos, software, music etc. Torrent downloads are becoming threat to media production companies because companies put a lot of time and effort to release a good song or a music video and for a website to buy one for few dollars and just sharing it for people across the world who did not pay for it makes the company lose few millions. On the

Illegal downloading is an act of obtaining copyrighted music without proper payment or consent from an owner. This is a crime and consequences may vary depending on the degree of this matter. Commonly, video and film are illegally downloaded, resulting in many antagonistic responses from the recording industry. This topic sparked a controversy among the recording companies for negligent laws to be turned upside down. The peer-to-peer network is highly responsible for this matter in which individuals share music through the linkage of computers via the internet. Many cases had been handled in court, and one of the outcomes affected drastically in the life of a twelve year old girl, who was fined a great sum. These cases help to unleash a message towards the public: when caught, one will be dealt according to the law.