David comes home from a hard day of school. He heard his friends talking about file-sharing programs during recess. He wants to find out what it's all about. Some teens ignore
music downloading lawsNapster may be down, but other
Internet sites are filling demand
for files under copyrightBy Brent Hedani
After turning on his computer and going to www.Napster.com, he is shocked to find the words "File sharing is temporarily suspended."
Confused, David turns off the computer. "Suspended? What's the big deal? I just want to download a couple songs."
Is file sharing stealing? One might argue that as long as the music is not sold for a profit, it's not a violation of copyright infringement laws.
This is absolutely false.
Because the commercial value of the property is negatively affected, it is still infringement. Another person may say that since the music is on the Internet, it is public domain and anyone can take it. An item put on public domain, like a song, file, or picture, is open for anyone to use. Not true.
File-sharing applications have been widely implicated as tools that violate copyright laws. Providing or obtaining copyrighted files (music, movies, videos, text, etc.) without permission violates the U.S. Copyright Act.
One senior student said the last time he bought a CD was three or four months ago. He acquires his music from his friends or from WinMX or Limewire. The student said he is aware of copyright infringement laws, but he chooses to ignore the law.
Despite a court order demanding Napster halt all transfers earlier this year, thousands of people continue to download songs from alternative sites such as Imesh, WinMX, Kazaa, Scour, Audiogalaxy, Lime Wire and Odin. These types of sites would be difficult to eliminate completely because once one site is taken out, many others will stand to take its place.
"Squash Napster and Gnutella or FreeNet or Mojo Nation, and something will take its place," said Michael Wallace of www.sabren.net. "The more copyright owners and file-sharing users fight, the stronger the technology will become on both sides."
Some teens obtain music from the Internet rather than buy a CD because CDs are expensive. "Why should I buy the whole CD when I just want one song?" some may ask. Others say it is more convenient. When using file-sharing programs, individuals don't have to buy the whole CD or songs they don't want.
"We all know that going into a record store and removing a CD is wrong," said Edgar Bronfman of Seagram Industries. "It is stealing. It is thievery."
Similarly, illegal file sharing is theft.
There are some alternatives to buying an entire CD to get certain songs.
Sites like www.sonicnet.com allow listeners to legally get music from Web sites by paying artist royalties. One legal way to make sure the artist receives the money he or she deserves is to buy music from the artist directly from Web sites like www.artistdirect.com and www.emusic.com -- or attend their concerts.
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