Illegal sharing and downloading of data

Piracy in music industry and how to overcome it; is it ethical?

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Catalin Gabriel Vasiliu ID 1207581

Table of Contents

Ways of overcoming piracy in music industry 2
Advantages and Disadvantages 3
References4

The migration from central server means of using exchange of information to distributed forms of interaction in accordance with the development of digital file compression techniques to store and sell music on the market both online and also using physical means such as laser discs has led to a wide world increase in illegal distribution and sharing of music through means of data file hosts, for example, Megaupload, peer to peer using software programs such as uTorrent and social media such as Windows Live Messenger. Also the increase of prices in purchasing the actual albums of artists could have a significant impact on the actual spread of music piracy further.

Ways of overcoming piracy in music industry:
Surveillance:
Using internet surveillance to track down file sharers has made it quite easy for the music labels to identify and locate users as the software was linked to the provider so just looking at the archives helped to prove that the provider was participating in this unlawful act of sharing information. Famous cases depicting these circumstances include Napster, Kazaa and Morpheus which were all used to locate other users via servers in order to distribute content between them. In 2005, the US court declared that this software was liable for finding other users through the central servers. To further emphasize this aspect, after Kazaa declared bankruptcy in 2005, users have adopted fully distributed systems which made it more difficult to identify and exchange information therefore surveillance changed to monitor Internet Service Providers. In 2008, the UK government suggested Internet Service providers monitor user’s file sharing activities with the intention of prohibiting access to ones found guilty of infringement (BBC News 2008a). This suggestion has not caught on due to the fact that this action would imply ISPs to share details of its users acting in any infringing ways therefore interfering with human and data protection rights. [Mathew David, Peer to Peer and the Music Industry, the Criminalization of Sharing, 2010]
Digital Rights Management:
According to Christopher May there are two types of Digital Rights Management. Hard DRM restricts the access as well as prevents copying of materials while soft DRM incorporates monitoring software into programs in order to allow computers to be scanned therefore being able to keep an eye on the use of information by the final user. However the second type interacts with the law thereby representing a major breach of privacy.
Copyright:
This constitutes that it is illegal to make copies, share information or reproduce works of others without the legal consent being passed on by the original artist by paying for the license. The consequences of performing such actions would lead to heavy fines being imposed by the record labels or the authors themselves.

Advantages of online sharing and downloading of music for record labels, users and artists:

* Some consumers may download music to sample and subsequently purchase the CD if they like the music, hence providing an effective advertising channel. * It could help new debut artists to become known to the general public at little cost to the record labels themselves. * There is practically no physical volume being taken up for