Illegal File-Sharing It Seems So Essay

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..for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" was a more important right to protect under Fair Use Doctrine (Liebowitz, 1985, p.4). Freedom of access to information was more important, and creating an unregulated market environment of ideas. Granted, file sharing is not always used for such a legitimate purpose, but then again, neither were 'taped' VHS movies and programs.

While on the surface it would seem because intellectual property law that "provides the copyright holder an exclusive right to copy the intellectual product," is necessary because "the lack of competition in the reproduction of the intellectual product allows greater remuneration to the copyright holder than would otherwise be the case," the right to profit off of one's product is not absolute, and the consumer also has a right to fair use and access (Liebowitz 1985). Furthermore, even if Grokster and Napster were largely illegitimate, the response of the industry to zealously prosecute them may have been an excellent example of using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. In many cases, "illicit copying might actually benefit copyright owners," through the "exposure effect, where consumers can become familiar with a product that they would eventually purchase (Liebowitz 2007). The rise of VHS, for example, precipitated new interest in the entertainment industry.

Also, laws against file-sharing have been almost impossible to fully enforce, and have, if anything, spurred hackers on to be more creative. No matter how many court battle are fought, the music industry, if it does not change, will still feel the economically detrimental effects of its outmoded methods of music marketing, with a focus on selling songs. The real heart of the illegal downloading issue is that the music industry, faced with plummeting CD sales, and the persistent difficulty of regulating illegal file-sharing despite the favorable court decisions regarding Napster and Grokster, has had trouble rethinking its paradigm for profits.

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Programs such as American Idol, music concerts, fan magazines, and other methods of generating revenue seen to be a better focus to generate profitability in the future for the music industry.

Instead of changing and trying to become leaner and more competitive, protectionism has been the industry's fall-back stance. The music industry has pressured Congress to protect its interests, and successfully lobbied congressional supporters to take aggressive action against illegal-file sharing on college campuses through the Higher Education Act 2008 which includes new provisions requiring universities and colleges receiving federal funds to develop "plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including through the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents" (Olsen 2008). And to "the extent practicable" the institutions must "offer students legal alternatives for peer-to-peer file sharing" as "determined by the institution in consultation with the chief technology officer," according to the Act (Olsen 2008). If universities and colleges do not comply, in effectually spying, monitoring, and controlling their students' Internet use, they can risk losing federal aid grant funding.

This type of hostile approach is absurd, especially given that the music industry is effectively pressuring congress to take action against its fan base -- and what is an entertainment industry without fans? Rather than focusing on taking legal actions against users and providers of music and other peer-to-peer file sharing methods, the music industry and other industries affected by file sharing must find new ways to become profitable and solvent in the new economy environment -- the real issue behind the questions of illegal file-sharing is that the music industry cannot afford to live in the past and must try to stop shutting down file-sharing sites and instead focus on recreating itself in a new, virtual world.

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