File-Sharing Illegal?

9 Pages 2253 Words

This paper will examine the concept of illegal downloading. Usually it is referred to as “file-sharing,” though I think this label is simply a method to console the conscience, and this type of action is illegal…or is it? It will cover the various types of information being “shared” and how the Internet is used as a seemingly no-holds-barred market in which to collect this information. It will also present the laws, in letter and spirit, covering copywrited material. It will explore our general attitudes to “file-swapping” and the moral rightness or wrongness of the current laws, or better, the interpretation of them. Finally, it will propose possible solutions to the problem.
The first thing that must be defined is downloading in general. This great new world of the Internet is merely a giant exchange market for information. Nothing tangible can be transferred from place to place through the wires and space. You can find knowledge on anything but not the actual physical thing. While it is possible to abuse the knowledge illegally, our focus is on the point at which the knowledge can become a physical thing. You can view information at another site, but when you download (or copy) it, you have made it yours.
Now, there are three types of downloads available. The first would be downloading information such as a certain software program or a music file from a “pay-site.” This is any site, such as the new Napster or Microsoft, where you actually pay, usually by credit card, for information and then are given a specific code that allows you to download that information. Theoretically, portions of the money you paid are forwarded to the person(s) credited with the creation or compilation of that information. As long as this process is being followed, your possession of that information is legal and in a moment we will discuss what that purchase allows you to do with the information.
The second type of download is know...