Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Everyday millions of people download music files off the internet. These people are known as criminals. It’s as easy as opening one of the many peer-to-peer file share programs, selecting the tracks, and burning them to a CD-ROM. What’s not so simple about downloading music is the copyright protection laws that millions of people break everyday by downloading music tracks off the internet. The U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 deems copying of copyrighted music as illegal. Although you can’t download music from the internet, it is considered legal for you to purchase a music CD, and rip it to MP3 files for personal use. Uploading these files via peer to peer networks would breach this law. Many argue that this takes away our right that we have to share music that belongs to us. Being that there are so many lawful issues surrounding downloading music, you might wonder about the huge influx in MP3 players, CD burners, and software that allows people to rip music from a CD to their computer. These devices have all been found to have a legitimate and legal fair use association. Even though they are all legal, it is illegal to use them in music stealing acts. A study has found that statistically, over eighty percent of people who purchase these devices and software use them in some way associated with downloading music from the internet. These devices and software should be made illegal or at least regulated if the government really wants to stop the downloading of free music. I can not see how they can enforce these laws while still providing all of this technology for the general public to use.

There is a way to legally get the music you want without going to a store and buying that new CD. You can get this music on the internet by using many music purchasing web sites such as Itunes. Itunes songs are reasonably priced at about one U.S. dollar per song. Itunes is easily the most popular of these sites, with 150 million songs purchased from them so far. Those who obey the Copyright Protection Laws, pay an average of about twelve to fifteen dollars for a new album, which is still cheaper than buying the CD in the store regularly. In the past year, record labels have sued 3,429 men, woman, and children have been sued for damages of up to half of one million dollars each and so far. at least 600 cases have been settled out of court. This is because, people realize taking on the multi million dollar companies would surely result in their loss. According to Findlaw’s national survey, fifty six percent of American adults oppose these lawsuits, while thirty seven percent support them. Younger people mostly feel that they are wrong with about four fifths agreeing that people should not be sued for downloading music. I have an idea that these companies are filing lawsuits against these people to set an example. These companies could surely never prosecute everyone guilty for these crimes and so are trying to scare people into not downloading. These people feel that it is their right to share music over the internet and do it regularly. The other side to this downloading battle stands on the grounds of the music industry. The big issue for the industry is revenue loss. In theory, a person that’s able to download his or her favorite music off the internet, that person would not need to purchase the CD at a local music store. The most common average of numbers for record label losses is about 20 percent globally in sales since 1999.

Organizations that support music sharing say that some these losses are due to bad economy and fewer new releases hitting the market. This loss effects musicians, sound technicians, recording studios, and music stores. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have set the penalties for breaching the copyright act by up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines, repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to six years. In the future, what must be done to solve this issue is there must be regulation to the machines and devices that make music sharing possible. If it is such an illegal act, then the big industries that have created these laws should strive to make these devices illegal to purchase and own. It this is done, then people will not be able to illegally download music files because, they will simply have no means to do so. For all those people who believe it is fair and should be legal to share and download music free using the internet, thoughts have to be aimed towards fighting the laws that have been set in place. If these laws are made well known and put through critical examination, then there is a chance that they could be overturned, or abolished. It seems to ll be a matter of who wants it more. The industries, or the millions of people who see this act as their right as an internet user and music fan.