File Sharing

My generation, otherwise known as Gen Y, is known for the vast amount of online file sharing. When I think about it, most people my age are illegally file sharing every single day. Nowadays, file sharing is not something I would even think twice about! It’s just an easy way to access and share things online with friends such as music, movies, software and so much more. “The development of the Internet and MP3s have created an easily adopted mode of distribution, making it easier for users to upload and download files from a network of other users alike.” (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010). I completely agree with this statement, because since the introduction of the Internet, sharing online files is now an easy manner of allotment of anything on the Internet. Doing so, many ethical issues have been brought up and widely debated throughout the social compass when people are continuously and illegally downloading files online, diminishing the need for people to purchase things such as music, therefore, putting artists and organisations involved with the artist at financial risk as their product is being illegally downloaded and shared instead of purchased.

Martin describes  “One tactic used is the Devaluation versus validation tactic which outlines how powerful perpetrators try to devalue targets by applying derogatory labels to them, disseminating discrediting information or setting them up in compromising situations” (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010) and with this we can discover how file sharers are basically stealing their product without paying for it.

My opinion on the matter is quite biased because I’m not going to pretend that I’m not guilty of file sharing. But condemning file shares as criminals seems very far-fetched as the crime is continuously being committed world wide, each and every day, and people are not ashamed of it, unless they get caught of course.

In my research I found an article about a young American woman who was sued by an American recording industry for illegally downloading music in 2006 and had been ordered to shell out $1.5 million in damages. “Of the hundreds of songs found on her hard drive in 2006, which she downloaded and shared on the peer-to-peer music sharing program Kazaa, 24 songs were deemed to infringe on Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) copyright.” (TorrontoSun, 2010) When I first read this I was completely flabbergasted. $1.5 million for downloading music seems completely ridiculous and pinning her down as a ‘criminal’ seems a bit over the top. Therefore, in my own opinion, the Devaluation versus validation tactic may not be extremely persuasive in convincing people that all file sharers should be deemed as criminals, because I honestly cannot imagine how many criminals I wouldn’t know.

References:

Martin, B, Moore, C, Salter, C, 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12

TorrontoSun, 2010, 'Woman ordered to pay $1.5M for downloading songs', November 4, retrieved August 6 2013, <http://www.torontosun.com/tech/news/2010/11/04/15967161.html>

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