Illegal Downloading
Illegal Downloading: Everyone does it, so what’s the problem?
You are sitting at home on the computer thinking of what you want to do. You realize you haven’t heard the latest song from your favorite band. You start up a P2P (peer-to-peer) program called Limewire. You search for your song and it appears in the list; you start to download it. What you just did was completely illegal and can get you into a lot of trouble. Most people would think to themselves, “What’s the harm in downloading a couple songs here and there?” Internet Piracy as defined is “using the Internet to illegally copy and/or distribute software”, and is a huge offense here in America. You wouldn’t walk into a Circuit City and take a 52” Plasma Screen TV right out of the store without paying for it, would you? What is Internet Piracy really? We all understand that downloading a song, movie, software etc. is illegal, but why? When a company creates a product, they copyright it; allowing the company sole rights to their product. If we take a look specifically at the music industry, we can understand just what is wrong with internet piracy. According to the Institute for Policy Innovation the Music Industry loses $12.5 billion every year due to piracy (RIAA). To make things worse, that is only the number that has to do with burned CDs and DVDs; they haven’t taken into consideration the billions of downloads of single songs -- it’s impossible. The reason it’s illegal is you are stealing money in product form. By downloading songs you take money from the music industry and the artists that created the music.
Once you download a song illegally you are liable for consequences. The RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America, has been cracking down on those that commit piracy. In 2005 the RIAA arrested/indicted roughly 3,299 people and seized 5,031,859 cassettes, pressed CDs, burned CDs, and music DVDs (RIAA). Those that were indicted had to pay for what they had stolen,
You are sitting at home on the computer thinking of what you want to do. You realize you haven’t heard the latest song from your favorite band. You start up a P2P (peer-to-peer) program called Limewire. You search for your song and it appears in the list; you start to download it. What you just did was completely illegal and can get you into a lot of trouble. Most people would think to themselves, “What’s the harm in downloading a couple songs here and there?” Internet Piracy as defined is “using the Internet to illegally copy and/or distribute software”, and is a huge offense here in America. You wouldn’t walk into a Circuit City and take a 52” Plasma Screen TV right out of the store without paying for it, would you? What is Internet Piracy really? We all understand that downloading a song, movie, software etc. is illegal, but why? When a company creates a product, they copyright it; allowing the company sole rights to their product. If we take a look specifically at the music industry, we can understand just what is wrong with internet piracy. According to the Institute for Policy Innovation the Music Industry loses $12.5 billion every year due to piracy (RIAA). To make things worse, that is only the number that has to do with burned CDs and DVDs; they haven’t taken into consideration the billions of downloads of single songs -- it’s impossible. The reason it’s illegal is you are stealing money in product form. By downloading songs you take money from the music industry and the artists that created the music.
Once you download a song illegally you are liable for consequences. The RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America, has been cracking down on those that commit piracy. In 2005 the RIAA arrested/indicted roughly 3,299 people and seized 5,031,859 cassettes, pressed CDs, burned CDs, and music DVDs (RIAA). Those that were indicted had to pay for what they had stolen,