World Wide Web Hyperlinks and Peer-to-Peer Networks Distribution - Research Paper Example

Number] Intellectual Property: The Ethical Implications of File Sharing The practise of file sharing is distributing or allowing access of the information which is stored by digital means. These include computer programs, audio, video, multimedia images or documents. There are many ways in which file sharing is implemented and the most common ways to store and transmit are through manual sharing, computer networks, World Wide Web hyperlinks and peer-to-peer networks distribution. Peer-to-peer networking is the most common term used in the internet file-sharing service. The term is used to describe the internet structure and how it stores information which can be retrieved by other networks or computers via interconnected networks. Thus, the computers that are used to share the information and files are called ‘peers’ as they do the functions of both; retrieve information and store it. Although this type of sharing was introduced by the technology so that it could help the users to share their digital files such as photos, documents etc, and was thus not initially known to be anything illegal or unethical, there is evidence seen of unauthorized sharing of the data which is copyrighted. This unauthorized and unethical file sharing is what has contributed towards the file sharing controversies in the recent past. This may also become an issue of piracy and infringement of rights as the legal owner of the copyright is not benefitting from the file sharing. However, without clear definition of infringement rights from the file owner, it becomes quite a daunting task to classify file sharing as ethical or ethically wrong. Initially when the idea of the file sharing was introduced, the technologists had not thought about the impact that it would have on the society. In the present day when the practise has become so common, it can be analyzed that it comes to the people with good and bad aspects. At many places technology provides ease and at the same time takes away much. In this way, the popularity of the file transferring had allowed many users to use it for personal data transfers to reduce the time taken but on the other hand, it entered many controversies and thus adverse impacts for the society which included unethical effects too. The impact of the file sharing in the society is used as the best example for the ethical judgment of the file sharing practise (Lucibella 32). Piracy occurs when illegal file sharing takes place along with the illegal downloading associated with the internet. The internet piracy is considered to be dangerous and is illegal. Out of the many, file sharing is one of the oldest types of internet piracy and it is still debated about in ethical matters. It begun in the 1990s when there were file sharing programs that were created to enable the users to share music, videos and other files with each other. But it was not long when it started causing a lot of problems. Some of the problems were the viruses that could transfer along with the files from one computer to another and destroy the system, and the copyright infringement that took place due to the file sharing which is illegal. It resulted in several cases filed against the ones who had a large collection of the illegally downloaded data in their computer libraries. Piracy is known to infringe the rights of a legal owner and is claimed under the copyrights law because it takes away the legal ownership of the person to whom the copyrights belong. The illegal access to the music, videos and documents through the internet is a form of piracy and it infringes the owner’s rights. For example, the owner of the music that is downloaded through internet by various users has his copyrights on his music. He has the legal ownership of the music and illegal access to the music means his copyrights are infringed. This means that rather than selling their music, their music is being stolen. Thus, piracy denies the legal owners the revenue they deserve from their hard work. And they can claim their ownership under the copyrights law. It has been seen, moreover, that most of the users using peer-to-peer networking have music and other multimedia files for free which should have actually been paid for (Strowel 55). However, piracy is illegal and can lead to a jail term on copyright infringement. Even though the penalties of the illegal file transferring vary country to country, it is possible that the convict had to spend some time in prison for the act. Most laws recognize that prison is a punishment that does not really fit the crime, but rather a very high fine may be imposed. In the cases where the piracy and infringement of copyrights is resulted in jail sentence, no jail time is demanded. As the piracy can result in jail time, the users should be careful while file sharing and should obey the laws even when there are low chances of being prosecuted. The heavy fines that are usually imposed are so extremely inflated that they have the tendency to reach an amount which will be hundreds and thousands time higher than the actual purchase price of that song or video. Sometimes, the person who carries out illegal downloading can also be sent to prison but the length of the time spent in jail is shorter for the one who just illegally downloads and doesn’t upload it. The people who download files usually download many files so the sentence is regardless of the number of downloaded files. Piracy is highly motivated by greed and is a form of business that does not share the profits made with the legal owner. Who doesn’t want to run such a business where all the profits are to self only and investment is little which is as good as none. Websites have made piracy a business and provide the users the same music files or films in a much cheaper price than their original and thus do business. Where do they get these music files from? Through the illegal file sharing. These professionals gain access to the files illegally and unethically and infringe the copyrights of the legal owner. This is why it is said that piracy is motivated by the greed of earning and making more money out of very less investment (Fisk 29). There are many websites nowadays which give a boost to the internet piracy. They make their users and provide them with all the latest multimedia files for music, videos and other text documents. These websites illegally access to these files and through file sharing they update it on their websites. The increasing amount of these kinds of websites has put down the value of originals which may include music copies, software programs, games and other applications. Illegally accessing the files and updating it on the websites is a bigger crime than just going on that site and downloading it. That is a secondary step. When the websites allow the users to visit and download as much as they want, they create their users and their accounts through which they raise their popularity. Users are allowed to download freely as much as they want and this unlimited downloading profits the website immensely. However, the websites earn higher profits then those who are the legal owners of the files. This is an illegal act and the legal owners can sue the website owners for killing their revenues and not sharing the profits. Apart from the people who access the files illegally and immorally, the ones who download them from the illegal websites are also the ones who can be convicted under law. The laws say that these people, however, exercise a lesser amount of claim than the ones who carry out the illegal file transferring and update it on sites. Moreover, the theorists conclude that these users are utilizing their rights towards the fair distribution of information and data and this is not unethical. The end users are exercising their rights and they cannot be charged as unethically carrying out file transferring. This is why the laws for them are also flexible and they do not tend to be earning profits from these downloads thus, not liable under strict copyrights law. The legal file owners make huge amount of surplus revenue on the copies of the original file. When file sharing is practised legally and within the ethical boundaries, the legal owners of the files tend to earn from the number of copies that are made or transferred. Thus, it can be said that the file sharing has minimal it not little effect on the legal owner’s revenue. Although the copies of the originals are sold at a minimal cost, but they can affect the revenue of the owner. This is done within the legal boundaries of file sharing including music files, documents, and software programs or games applications. This practise would led to huge amounts of surplus revenue for the legal owners. Basically, file transferring or sharing is not illegal. It is merely a practise to share and spread the information or data through the fast growing networks made on the internet. It is a huge contribution made towards the technology and helps in transporting multimedia files in the blink of an eye. It becomes an illegal practise when the legal owner does not know and still does not have the original file with him. Online file copying is not stealing given that the legal owner still has the original file and can sell surplus copies. If he still has his rights on the files then his rights are not infringed and it is not stealing. On one hand the legal owners can still earn revenues from file copying and the online file sharing has positive effects on their revenue while on the other hand, the file sharing tends to harm the production houses. Production houses spend their money on the making of the music albums and videos and when they are shared online, they are not able to cover their investment. Although, the owners have the tendency to earn surplus through the online sharing but the production houses do not benefit at all. They spend their money on the copyrights, the design, the packaging, the promotion and the technicalities and they do not tend to get the return. Thus file sharing is a serious threat to the production houses (Wang 151). So the groups that fully benefit from the legal file sharing are the real legal file owners or creators like musicians given that it creates limitless audience for them. File sharing spreads the files and reaches them to a various number of people throughout the internet which means worldwide not only locally. This benefits the musicians as more and more people listen to the music and download it for free. Free downloading means more people listen to it and access it without paying anything which increases the viewership. Plus they also receive some amount through the legal file sharing so we can say that they fully benefit from the practise of file sharing. However, file sharing can be illegal if it infringes the copyrights law and there are strict punishments for the people who illegally carry out file transferring and benefit from the profits that could have been the legal owner’s. File sharing is stealing of the intellectual property and thus it is claimed under the law. It takes away the benefit from the legal owner and gives it to the file sharing people and the legal owners are paid nothing for their hard work. It is true that this practise has helped many and this is why apart from its legal regards, file sharing can be argues to be ethically wrong only if it causes losses in sales thus profit losses to the legal file owner. This means that although it is illegal, it is not unethical. The end users are exercising their rights of fair distribution of information which is ethical. Other than that too it increases viewership and audience which is why it is considered to benefit the legal owner. But the only condition when it becomes unethical is when it takes away the revenue surplus from the legal owners and gives it to the ones who carry out the file sharing. Work Cited Lucibella Christopher. Filesharing and Ownership of Digital Objects: Intellectual Property According to Kant’s Theory of Possession. USA: American University, 2011. Print. Strowel Alain. Copyright and Peer-to-Peer File Sharing. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2009‎. Print. Fisk Nathan. Understanding online piracy: the truth about illegal file sharing. USA: Praeger, 2009‎. Print. ‎ Wang Wally. Steal this File Sharing Book: What they won’t tell you about file sharing. USA: No Starch Press, 2004‎. Print. ‎ Read More