Intellectual Property Rights: Music and Movie Piracy With an ever-increasing consumer need for instantaneous media access accompanied with the escalation of the social acceptance of "casual" piracy, it is no secret that file sharing, legal or illegal, is on the rise. For most folks in their twenties today, they may not be aware of a world without piracy. In fact, they may not even be aware that certain kinds of file sharing is illegal and punishable by law. To understand why file sharing is so prevalent in modern society, the background of this kind of sharing needs to be explored. Napster began in June of 1999 by Shawn Fanning, John Fanning, and Sean Parker as a peer-to-peer file sharing system. While Napster was not the first of its kind,
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In that sense, I suppose that I would consider it stealing. The music is not mine, I acquired it for free, and someone is technically at a loss because of my actions. Many would make the argument that these artists, music producers, and music companies would still be well-off without the contribution of paying $1.29 or $0.99 on iTunes or another music buying site or application, which may be true, but it is still taking from someone 's livelihood, in most cases. Although these artists make exponentially more revenue out of a few tickets to a concert, a dollar is a dollar, and legally (and ethically), it is not right to take one from …show more content…
The RIAA contends that the annual harm of music theft reaches $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the economy in addition to more than 70,000 lost jobs, but until this information is more widely known or affects someone to the point that they are no longer benefiting from their music altogether, it is difficult to see when this trend will stop (RIAA). Pirated music or movies often come from popularity and perceived overpricing, which does not often come from struggling or poor music artists or movie makers, but any theft still comes at a cost. It is possible that more laws could be implemented to help slow it down, but I do not think that piracy could ever completely go away. Either way, illegal is illegal, and the RIAA, I believe, had every right to take Napster to
In that sense, I suppose that I would consider it stealing. The music is not mine, I acquired it for free, and someone is technically at a loss because of my actions. Many would make the argument that these artists, music producers, and music companies would still be well-off without the contribution of paying $1.29 or $0.99 on iTunes or another music buying site or application, which may be true, but it is still taking from someone 's livelihood, in most cases. Although these artists make exponentially more revenue out of a few tickets to a concert, a dollar is a dollar, and legally (and ethically), it is not right to take one from …show more content…
The RIAA contends that the annual harm of music theft reaches $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the economy in addition to more than 70,000 lost jobs, but until this information is more widely known or affects someone to the point that they are no longer benefiting from their music altogether, it is difficult to see when this trend will stop (RIAA). Pirated music or movies often come from popularity and perceived overpricing, which does not often come from struggling or poor music artists or movie makers, but any theft still comes at a cost. It is possible that more laws could be implemented to help slow it down, but I do not think that piracy could ever completely go away. Either way, illegal is illegal, and the RIAA, I believe, had every right to take Napster to