Should file sharing be punished just like stealing a CD? Some say that sharing music with others is the same as stealing. However, 28% of Americans said that they have used illegal file sharing programs before. So what would you say? Should file sharing be punished like stealing?
I think that file sharing should be punished like stealing because it does not give any credit to the author, artist, and producer. However stealing a CD is more costly to producers because of the CD,CD case, and cover are added to it.
File sharing should be punished as stealing because it kills the music industry. When people download copyrighted files from the internet, the music companies do not get paid. If it gets bad enough the music industries will not have enough money to produce money. So file sharers who love their music are in a sense killing their music.
With so many Americans using these file sharing programs, punishing everyone would be nearly impossible. However, if the owners of the file sharing programs themselves were punished it could put an end to illegal file sharing. Save the music! Stop file sharing!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:13 am
It is unjust to prosecute anyone sharing music files. Anyone who willfully arrests, fines, or prosecutes anyone for sharing music should themselves be imprisoned. File sharing isn’t stealing it is providing musicians an opportunity to distribute their talent to an enormous audience of potential customers for free. Musicians win when people come to see music performed live.
Filesharing is marketing without cost. Musicians need and depend on filesharing. Laws against filesharing are anti-small business and seek only to foster giant corporate monopoly.
Copyright laws are protection from unauthorized commercial use, not non-profit filesharing.