Category - Internet
Topic - Downloading Music
Issue - Why downloading copyright protected music for free is wrong
Tiptoid -
It is common practice for many people to download music from the Internet - it's fast, it's free, and it's an easy way to build a music library. It's also illegal.
But...but...but! you say. And I hear you, but I want you to read on to get the FACTS on this issue. I did some research and I think this website warning to students attending one American college says it best.
Here are the "Top 5 Myths About Downloading Music from the Internet"* -
1. There can't be anything wrong with it because so many people do it.
"The majority of entertainment files made available on the Internet via peer-to-peer websites are copyright protected, which makes swapping or downloading these songs theft, and a serious violation of U.S. copyright law."*
2. I won't get caught.
During the past two years, the music industry has been able to extensively "monitor downloads from the majority of major file-sharing websites, like KaZaa, and they can trace them to individual user accounts."*
3. Even if I do get caught, nothing will happen to me.
"The law says that it is individual Internet users - not their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - who are liable for illegal file downloading. Fines can be high - up to $150,000 for each pirated song."*
4. If it were illegal, peer-to-peer and file-sharing websites like KaZaa, Grokster, and Morpheus wouldn't be available on the Internet.
"Most of these file-sharing websites are able to exist because they shift the liability for illegal downloading from their network to individual users. Legally, they are just the pipeline...so they are not liable under the law for their individual user's behavior."*
5. What's the big deal? It doesn't hurt anybody.
"Online piracy has cut into national music sales by nearly a third since 1999, sending record revenues into a downward spiral, which hits everyone in the industry hard - from the music store clerks, songwriters, and technicians, to the artists themselves. Online piracy also hurts the development of new musical artists and talent."*
A person's creative work is their intellectual property. They own it. They have worked long and hard to become successful. And now you think you have the right to steal from them??!! Is that how you show appreciation and respect to your favorite musician or group?
So the deal is...if you don't pay for it, you're stealing it. And that means you are putting yourself and others, like your family members, at risk. So don't do it!
Do you get it now?
* direct quotes from www.messiah.edu/etc/downloading.html
Glossary -
peer-to-peer - file sharing; a user on one computer can get files from another computer, or send files to another computer
copyright - the legal right to be the only one to reproduce, publish, and sell the contents and form of a literary, musical, or artistic work
piracy - the use of another's production or invention without permission
liable - not sheltered or protected; likely to experience something that usually is undesirable
intellectual property - a product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic property
Find Out More - www.messiah.edu/etc/downloading.htm
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Submitted by - Kelsey Tedder
Site Managers - Kelsey Tedder and Nana Yeboah
May 2006