Personally I do not download music from the Internet, nor do I double cd's using a computer. I feel that I am fortunate enough to have the money to purchase original copy Cd's by artist whom i chose. I do understand that accommodating both the interest of content creators and the public is a very difficult task. It is hard for a person to decide what site is legal and what site can be detrimental to their future. They just surf the web looking for free music and what pops up is what pops up.
Playing music is perfectly legal. It's where you get the music from that is the big problem. Sharing and swapping music files on non - licensed Internet sites or burning music to Cd's and selling or giving them away is illegal (www.whatsthedownload.com). Sites such as Limewire.com are considered to be illegal.
iTunes is considered to be a legitimate site.
From an outsiders point of view, I think that there needs to be someone or some organization that comes up with a solution, not just a big debate, about the whole copyrighting problem. There is thousands of sites on the Internet that allows viewers to download free music and free videos. The problem is, is that some of these sites are legal and some of these sites are not. There has to be a symbol or some kind of attribute that solidifies the legalness of the site. Everyone can get a copyright symbol on a site. Not everyone can make their websites legal.
For some, copyrighting may not mean a thing to. But to artist or an author, officially copyrighting gives you rights. Copyrighting gives you the ability to sue and statutory damages (www.benedict.com). Statutory damages are pre - established damages for cases where calculating a correct sum is deemed difficult. In intellectual property cases, it is often difficult for plaintiffs to determine the exact volume of infringement. Thus, statutory damages are often calculated as a multiple of the price for the use of the infringed right (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_damages). Without copyright on your work, you are basically asking for trouble. People can infringe your work as much as they please unless you copyright it. You can not sue an infringer without copyright.
SO COPYRIGHT!!!
Copyrighting is a legal matter. For those Internet downloaders who think that what you are doing is okay and that you can not get in trouble for it, YOUR WRONG. The Copyright Act of 1976 sums it all up. In this act there is five exclusive rights that are granted to copyright holders. Within these basic rights of the copyright holder, it basically states that the copyright holder has the right to sell, advertise, copy and perform their work publicly. This protects against copyright infringement (www.wikipedia.com).
As I stated before, I am not a downloader of music or any other source from the Internet. I do know that it has become an extremely stressful problem in the music and media industry. That is why I stated Leagal is Back!!! Downloaders have the choice to download the right way. Legally.
References:
n.a. (n.d.). The lowdown, here's your "Downloading 101" resource. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from www.whatsthedownload.com
n.a. (n.d.). Why Copyright your work? Retrieved February 1, 2007 from www.benedict.com.
n.a. (n.d.). Statutory damgaes, The Copyright Act of 1976, Copyright infringement. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from www.wikipedia.com.
1 comment:
Good post! You present a lot of material and raise several good points. Your proposal of a "seal of authority" is interesting, in that it would help people know whether or not their downloading is legal. But do you think that ignorance is really the underlying problem? One might argue that most people know that iTunes content is legal and Limewire content is probably infringing, but Limewire and similar programs remain hugely popular.
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