Copyright this!

Today, the topic of copyright has become extremely controversial .Copyright is a set of exclusive laws regulating how many times information or an idea is used (Copyright). Copyright infringement is a violation of copyright, or simply using someone else’s work without permission. As college students we are all guilty of copyright infringement. A few more common terms associated with copyright infringement include bootleg, piracy, or theft. Some of the most common methods of copyright infringement and are common to us include unauthorized downloading of videos, music file sharing, and bootleg recordings.

Many of us are common with Napster, a file sharing service that set the stage for other decentralized P2P or peer-to-peer file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, iMesh, Morpheus, and BearShare(Napster). Illegal file sharing and music downloading has caused a series of law suits because the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA) claimed that this practice was damaging the music industry. Many of the networks were shut down and I know for a fact the government is continuing to crack down on individuals who violate copyright laws. I used LimeWire my freshman year at SUNY Oswego and after a short time using it received a letter that my internet would be shut off for two weeks and I would have to meet someone concerning the situation. Luckily I didn’t get into any more trouble than I did and there was no further punishment. This just goes to show that copyright infringement is being looked at more and more and that it is a serious crime and yes it is stealing!

Copyright holders and pro-copyright organizations have release statistics showing their expected lost profits due to copyright infringement. For example, the MPAA estimated the global cost of the unauthorized copying of films in 2002 was $3.5 billion and recently in 2005 the MPAA estimated that the global cost of unauthorized copying of films was $18.2 billion (Copyright Infringement). Copyright holders are joining to fight copyright infringements. You can click, but you can't hide is an advertising campaign being mutually run by several international associations, most notably the MPA, the MPAA, and the GVU, as part of the larger "Respect Copyrights" campaign against peer-to-peer filesharing of motion pictures .

As ways of helping our copyright holders, certain companies like Apple have designed a way to help prevent theft. By creating the iPod and iTunes, Apple allows you to connect to the iTunes Store in order to purchase and download digital music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, various podcasts, and feature length films (iTunes). ITunes Library songs can be shared over a local network using the closed, proprietary Digital Audio Access Protocal(DAAP), created by Apple for this purpose. As a way to prevent copyright infringement only computers on the same subnet can share music. LimeWire is also a peer-to-peer file sharing client which also encourages users to pay a monthly fee which will then give the user access to LimeWire Pro.
With the help of companies like iTunes and Limewire music stealing has become less common. All the protection software has made it almost impossible to steal songs without at least paying some kind of price. For me it was losing my internet for two weeks but for others it could be fines or even jail time. I feel fortunate that I only recieved a slap on the wrist, compared to what I could have recieved. Musicans are pressuring the companies to help them crack down more to help protect the music that they made from being stolen and used for free.