Downloading on the internet as an ethical issue

Résumé du document

The growth of Internet has numerous consequences in business and ethics, particularly in accessing information. The following report deals with music and movies based as an ethical issue. Many data sharing softwares like KaZaa, E-mule or BitTorrent, a system which is now used by millions of people worldwide to share films, give to web surfers the opportunity to enjoy watching and listening various files in a free way. But a problem arises: is it ethical to obtain cultural files without paying them? To what extent is it considered as a right attitude? Are we stealing when we download files in such a way? How to know if the files (music, movie and different kinds of software) you download are illegal and so belong to an Intellectual Property? Record companies and artists are the first actors affected by this conduct and charge downloaders of being the cause of substantial financial losses. According to the 2006 Piracy Report provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the trade of pirate discs was worth US $4.5 billion globally in 2005. At the same time, almost 20 billion tracks were illegally swapped or downloaded on the internet in 2005.

Extraits

[...] It's a question of point of view. All is a question of the frequency and the quantity of downloading. However, every downloader has a part of responsibility in the of the entertainment market. Nevertheless, certain analysts declare that the drop of sales is not correlated with the increase of downloading. Does it mean that music business uses that argument in order to make increasingly profits? Bibliography ALBANESE Jay S., Combating piracy, intellectual property theft and fraud” HAYNES Richard, “Media rights and intellectual property” KOH, “Click,click,who's there? [...]

[...] For example Napster, which was a free provider, is now requiring its users to register and to pay for the downloading they do. Legal Napster is just relaunching, but there are other services where people can pay to download music, including MusicNet, iTunes. Nowadays, paying industry is getting huge. The following figures show that the annual growth of internet download sales is very high, in each country. So, no more free music? Currently, there are still free services available, such as BitTorrent. [...]

[...] The following report deals with music and movies downloading as an ethical issue. Many data sharing softwares like KaZaa, E-mule or BitTorrent, a system which is now used by millions of people worldwide to share films, give to web surfers the opportunity to enjoy watching and listening various files in a free way. But a problem arises: is it ethical to obtain cultural files without paying them? To what extent is it considered as a right attitude? Are we stealing when we download files in such a way? [...]

[...] “File-sharers” who illegally offer thousands of songs, can be identified through their internet address (IP address) and be taken to court. All these actions aim to condemn and even banish online piracy. Record companies “blame for the 50% slump in the singles market since the original - illegal - incarnation of Napster was launched in 1999. Some others pursuits are currently taken. For example, Allofmp3.com is a Russian- based website that is not licensed to offer recordings for download, either in Russia or anywhere else. [...]

[...] John, a downloader, expresses this feeling in his cyber letter go back to my early teens when I listened to the top 40 on the radio and taped songs from the radio before eventually going out and buying them. To me, downloading is exactly the same. I will go online and download songs three or four times a week, using BitTorrent. I've looked at other sites, like KaZaA, but it wasn't right for me. I've never burnt a CD and sold it on. It isn't done. You just do it for your own use. I probably spend more on music now since I started downloading. [...]