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