If you do not own a computer, and have never surfed the web, what I am about to say will surprise you. Imagine never having to go to the music store again, and never having to shell out $20.00 for a CD or cassette, possibly containing only one or two songs that you like. Imagine being in the comfort of your own home, downloading current hit music free of charge, burning tunes onto a CD from your own PC. It�s true! If you are really into music, think of the money you will save. Here is how it works. If you log onto the World Wide Web, you can go to sights like Kazza.com or Morpheus.com and download a program called a server. This server will allow anyone with a connection to the internet to share music files or mp3�s with anyone, worldwide, while online. You can also download Simpson episodes, Friends episodes, and first run movies that are currently running in theatres. Amazing, isn�t it? The application for personal computers seems endless. With technological advances, applications that arise, pose moral, ethical, and legal questions. The public sector is breaking the law every time they share music files with people on the web, who then copy the files for personal enjoyment, and/or sharing with other people. Copyright laws as well as counterfeiting laws are being tested, and people all over the world in vast numbers are testing them. I just looked at Kazza�s server, which is up and running on my computer (for research purposes, of course). On the bottom of the left of the screen, the number of people logged on to Kazza�s server is displayed. Right now, there are 4,341,034 people online, sharing a total of 873,207,997 files, on just one of many servers, both public and private. Does this mean that there are over four million criminals logged on to Kazza�s server? Do they know they are breaking laws? Maybe they do, maybe they do not. Chances are that they don�t care.
It is illegal to download music and burn your own cd�s. It is inviting for people to get something for nothing, but what is truly the cost as we evaluate the entire picture? It�s easy to log onto a server like Morpheus or Kazza and download the new David Matthews song. Many people will tell you that there is nothing wrong with this seemingly harmless act. However, this action constitutes stealing. Not just from the artist, but from the entire music industry. There are a multitude of people employed in the performance, production, and distribution of every album, cd, or cassette, not to mention the highly paid artists and musicians that write and perform the music. Artists are paid to design the cover art, technicians to operate the studio, sound engineers to produce the cd�s and record them on to disk, and suppliers for the materials and equipment used. There is also promotion and advertising, employing many, many people. Don�t forget about the music stores all over the globe that employ people from all walks of life. These people are the fabric of the community, trying to earn a living, or work their way through school, or supplementing their income while attempting to succeed in another field. The success of the music industry feeds a lot of people. It is part of a thriving economy that has grown up in America. When we think of the fat cat record executives and the millionaire rock stars that have 10 cars in their garage, our guilt is assuaged. It doesn�t feel criminal to take from an industry that seems so flamboyant and wasteful. To hell with them, one might say. I can use a break today. But, this is not the entire picture. It is exactly the working man that may ultimately be affected. People who need that $30,000 a year job at Sony or Jive records or that $15,000 a year job at Tower Records to survive, even to stay off the unemployment rolls. Musicians as well as record companies have a major investment, and pump vast amounts of money back inot the economy creating music. Like it or not, ripping off the music industry eventually trickles down to the grass roots economy..
The question remains, what should be done about file sharing of commercially marketed music? The United States Government, as well as the record companies, will have to create a solution. One way would be to shut down servers like Kazza and Morpheus. Law enforcement agencies like the FBI can targets users sharing large quantities of music files through their IP addresses. Once they are located, they can be fined a large dollar amount, or even charged criminally with copyright violations and counterfeiting laws. In an effort to curtail infringement activities, some record companies have put copyright protection labeling on their CD�s. The methods chosen must be effective, or they will fail. It is human nature to find an alternative route, maybe that is why humans are at the top of the food chain. The methods chosen must be updated constantly, in tune with current technology. Law enforcement, especially in our new era of high technology open to anyone with a pc, must battle to be the cutting edge of the industry, in order to police it.
I have pondered the legality of downloading and burning music onto CD since I first found out about servers like Kazza, Morpheus, and, of course, Napster. My personal morals and my ability to determine right from wrong have allowed me to find everything wrong with file sharing. Not only are you stealing when you engage in file sharing, you are also break copyright laws, as well counterfeiting laws. Have I engaged in file sharing? Yes. Will I continue to do so? Yes. Why? It�s a pleasure to have the ability to do so, and it is free. Am I ashamed? No. I am not a criminal (as Richard M. Nixon once proclaimed, after caught breaking the law.) Aside from toilet papering the grade school bathroom in fifth grade, I never really committed a crime in my life. I am not happy about sharing files when I consider the whole picture, and maybe that is why I still continue to buy an occasional CD or cassette. There is nothing quite like having the real thing, with the artwork and written data included. I even rationalize that most of those who download would not buy the recordings anyway, and even I would not buy most of the recordings I download. So, until the FBI comes and locks me up, I will continue to download music from any server on line.