I think the question was a bit broad, or at the very least the options to answer. So I didn't answer.
Do I share.. yes. Do I think a blanket lift making all sharing legal ... no. Do I support entities who are currently working to make consumer usage laws REASONABLE.. absolutely.
Poster
There is nothing wrong with getting paid for your hard work. And, IMO, there is nothing wrong with having some protections built into the legal system to protect you from having your workproduct stolen.
The problem is that that the laws have not kept pace with the technology and, moreover, have actually been strengthened to establish an absolute prohibition against any form of infringement on a virtually never-ending copyright system. And, as history has repeatedy demonstrated, an absolute prohibition of anything does not work.
Add to that the global implications of a world-wide communications system amongst different countries with different laws, and you have a perfect recipe for failure (and very fertile ground for a research paper).
Note also that P2P useage is growing, not getting smaller because of it's prohibition. A couple years ago you might see 400,000 users on the bt network; now, the average is 800,000+ (and that is just a piece of the whole scene). What percentage of that traffic is attibutible to "illegal" file sharing is an open question, but if the laws were effective the trend in usage would be reversed.
So, back to your question, "Should Illegal File-Sharing (Music) Be Legalized?", I think the answer must be yes, because:
1. It's going to happen anyway (technology)
2. The laws are ineffective (usage patterns)
3. The global nature of the puported problem (different countries = different views)
4. The legal framework is flawed (greed and sanctioned corruption)
Excuse the rant, good luck on the paper.
P.S. As mentioned previously, this is not an unbiased audience. You should post your question in a more neutral environment and see what results you get. Right now all you can say is that @80% of file sharers believe that sharing music files is OK, duh.
Originally Posted by maebach
why do you think they get paid?!? that's a very uneducated response.
With legalization would come poliies and regulations and who wants that?
Yes it should be legalized, artists lose VERY little money from downloads. Buying CDs supports the record company. Going to the bands concerts and buying their merchandise is what's going to give them most of their money. If it weren't for music downloads I wouldn't know very many bands.
Poster
And record labels support the artists.
Alright, here's something that my dad brought up to me not too long ago...
What is the differance between downloading music off the internet, and recording music from a radio station?
You have to buy the cassette to record the radio, and you have to buy a CD in order to take the music with you and listen to it other than on the computer...It's also the same with movies and games and such to a point *shrugs*
Poster
There is a huge difference. You essentially ripping and encoding from a vastly inferior source (FM) to a vastly inferior format (Cassette), which in the end means piss poor quality (not something I want to run through my $3000 stereo system). Hence, the incentive to buy a CD for superior quality and ease (FF/RW was a bitch).
But if I downloaded a FLAC album, I get the quality and ease of a CD. No need to buy it.
And BTW, both infringe on copyright laws.
Last edited by bmt134; 07-11-2006 at 07:52 AM.
I think that the internet sharing communities are a good place to make the artist known, so, there are benefits for artists too...
Well is yes and no if yes people get free music which is why they have this forum and yes theres no point in spending a couple hundred dollars renting studios for making a song if you not going to get paid for it.
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