Illegal vs Sharing

As our dependency on technology increases over time, many people turn to different sources in order to attain the music that they love. Such sources provide a new and convenient way of downloading music, videos, software, and photos that would otherwise cost them money.

"File Sharing," as many techno-buffs have grown to refer to illegal downloading as, is however against the law. Many organizations and trade groups, including the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), have begun to crack down on these "copyright-counterfeiters" in an attempt at ridding the country of illegal file sharing.

File sharing is sometimes referred to as P2P, or Peer-to-Peer, as wriiten by Marco Montemagno in the P2P Manifesto, which you can read here. Montemagno claims that P2P File Sharing is beneficial to not only the consumers, but to businesses, compainies, and the general US economy as well.

But, even as many normal people grow increasingly dependent and comfortable around file sharing interfaces, the laws stand firm. As chapter 5 of the US Copyright Code, states: "Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed— (C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution." in which the punishment shall be (title 18, section 2319): "imprisoned not more than 5 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies or phonorecords, of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500"

The concept of "file sharing" poses two major questions that test our country's copyright justifications: is distributing copyrighted music actually a BENEFIT to our economy as a whole? Is it beneficial to the companies in whom we detract billions of dollars from every year just by choosing free P2P sources to get our music? Do people pay the price for the crimes that they commit, or do you think that the consequence for this crime is too severe, or should P2P File Sharing be completely legalized!?

What do you think?