Eckert 3

Travis Eckert

Wentworth, Lindsay

English 101; 4th period

15 April 2007

File-sharing, it supports terrorism

In the world of technology today, there is a thing called file-sharing. Which means free music. This sounds great, but the controversial part about this glorious file-sharing is, it is considered illegal, at least by the RIAA. By studying file-sharing music, a person can find out why file-sharing music is illegal in order to understand why file-sharing music is so popular even though it is illegal in most cases and why the RIAA is going about it the way they are.

Why is file-sharing music illegal? A question anyone might ask. “Under current copyright legislation, downloading music for free is definitely theft…”(“Is Music Piracy Stealing?” p. 2). So legally, this quote shows file-sharing is indeed illegal, the problem is, it is not enforced well and might not be just. “I don’t think very many folks are unaware that music is copyrighted, or that unauthorized copying is illegal.”(“Is Music Piracy Stealing?” p. 11). Most people just don not care, and some may actually be unaware. But technically, it is the owner’s property. “Why don’t people use the legal services? It costs money to download music from legal services.” (Eckert). This shows the incentive for piracy. The incentive is free music, because a lot of music can get very expensive.

If file-sharing music is illegal, then why is it so popular? “Imagine an ideal global information storage system…”(“In Praise of P2P.” p. 2). The clients are so well executed. They are also easy to use and have a lot of power. Because of all this, the popularity is increasing. “…popular as more years pass? It’s too easy, and covered by the media, and only a handful of people get prosecuted for it.” (Eckert). So the reason why it is so popular is media coverage and low chance of any penalties for file-sharing. Some might think availability is a problem, well it is not “… the more a file is in demand, the more available it becomes.” (“In Praise of P2P.” p. 14). So with file-sharing demand is not a problem and it also helps everyone most of the time, if not many people have something, people might not find it. So popularity has increased by a few million over the past few years, and that is why.

By now most would know why file-sharing is illegal and why it is so popular, but what the RIAA is doing to try and stop it is wrong. “If the USC student declines to settle, for instance, the RIAA could sue for 750 per song, meaning he could face a penalty of 1.16 million if he fights back and loses.” (Kropper p. 4). This suing is out of proportion, as if a college student has that money. The RIAA is too greedy. At the same time, if a room is shared, they cannot exactly tell who did the file-sharing. “But because many dorm rooms are doubles, triples, and quads, it’s not always clear whether the student who receives the RIAA’s letter is actually the one who did the file-sharing.” (Kropper p. 6). Someone can get blamed for something they did not do, even if it is under their username. Also, the lawsuits are not stopping the file-sharing. “The RIAA is going about this the wrong way. It’s not stopping kids from downloading music. It’s like skipping class. Everyone knows it’s wrong, but everyone does it.” (Kropper p. 10). So the RIAA is getting a bad reputation, which only hurts themselves. Also, nothing stops the file-sharing. The RIAA just need to join the file-sharers, not fight the file-sharers.

A person can find out why file-sharing music is illegal in order to comprehend why file-sharing music is so popular even though it is illegal in most cases and why the RIAA is dealing with the problem the way they are. File-sharing music is technically illegal, but at the same time, it’s just too easy. This is why it is so popular. The RIAA is going about it the way they are because this has never happened before, and they just do not know how to deal with it. So, today’s new technology, free file-sharing, which means free music.