Kyle Monteleone
Information Ethics-E
No, it is very
similar to sharing a record or movie, the fact that it can be copied
is what makes creators of the said media angry. In reality the
creator is not losing much service, in fact in many cases they gain
from it. When I have my friend synch his I-pod onto my account he
goes home and re-synchs it onto his computer. When he listens to the
music he finds songs that he likes, he then looks up the artist that
sings the song and buys more of his songs. Songs that I never would
have bought. Widespread file sharing online such as a website giving
away free music should be shutdown. But simple friend to friend file
sharing should be left alone as it is just the same as sharing a
record or movie with a friend, there is no money made from file
sharing and the users most likely would have never bought the song in
the first place. The exception to all of these rules are the large
file sharing sites such as Sharebear or Limewire. Users use these
sites to get music that they are seeking for free, it is not shared
with a few friends but with the entire would and while the users
should not (and in fact cannot) be prosecuted the creators of these
sites are the ones who should be held accountable for the loss of
revenue to artists.
