CIS Management Information System - Essay Example

Basically, the main problem outlined in the case is that of piracy. Thus, according to the Collins English dictionary, piracy can be simply defined as the infringement of copyright or trading rights of another individual or company. In this case, especially with the advent of the internet and computer network systems involved, it is possible for different individuals to access various musical files for free without paying any money as well as without seeking any permission to do so from the rightful owners especially of the music.

Violation of property rights, including intellectual property is often classified as criminal offence in statutory terms and is liable for persecution as it would negatively impact on the rightful owner of the property. Copyright laws are specifically designed to protect ownership of content and any form of reproduction of that content without prior permission from the owner is deemed illegal. In the outlined case above, this is the main problem which is of concern where piracy is reigning supreme as a result of the system used that makes it possible for musical files to be shared amongst individuals without the owners’ consent.

The main cause of the problem is online file-sharing service that is available on the internet where individuals can download digitized music files from other users free of charge. For instance in the above case, Napster popularized this service where it provided software on its website that could be used to locate any music file on the computers of other online Napster members that could be copied for free. Whilst Napster itself did not store any musical file, it acted as a go between the user and the supplier which resulted in huge numbers of people signing in for the service as it gave the provision of downloading music and even copying it to their CDs free of charge.

Likewise, other services such as Kazaa, WinMix, Morpheus and Grokster were developed after the demise of Napster. These services distributed software to various users that enabled them to locate computers with musical files of their choice and downloading without paying. So basically in this regard, the different software that was developed and distributed online allowed users to enjoy the benefit of downloading and copying music for free without the permission of the owners and producers. However, the main impact of piracy in this case has been the tremendous decline in music sales by the recording companies as a result of the rush for free music that could also be accessed online with relative easy without paying any money.

The availability of software that enabled file sharing system meant that music can be accessed virtually for free thus causing a severe blow to the recording companies and producers as they would be prejudiced money worth billions of dollars from millions of their potential customers. It can b e noted from anaylsing the above case study that file sharing resulted in the sales of Cds plummeting as a result of illegal downloading activities.For instance, it is stated in the case study that in 2000, CD sales brought the industry about $35.

5 billion and in 2001 the sales fell to $33.7 billion which is approximately a decrease by 5%. The above statistics bear testimony against the negative impacts of piracy on the music industry.In conclusion, it can be noted that the main problem raised in the case study is that of piracy which is mainly caused by file sharing system networks available online. This on the other hand has impacted negatively on the music industry where there has been a notable decline in CD sales in particular.