Preview

Copyright Laws, Napster and Personal Ethics

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1784 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Copyright Laws, Napster and Personal Ethics
Copyright Laws, Napster and Personal Ethics

Abstract: The current lawsuits against Napster have brought out new ethical issues surrounding the exchange of MP3s and copyrighted material on the Internet. This paper discusses the ethical case against those who participate in MP3 trading services such as Napster and suggests ethical alternatives to these services.

The free exchange of CD-quality music in the form of MP3s has created quite a stir in the media in the past few years and has forced the public to take a hard look at the laws governing electronic data. After the invention of MP3 files and the creation of free distribution channels such as Napster, individual users of the Internet gained incredible power in interpreting copyright laws. In the midst of the lawsuits and the controversy surrounding Napster and digital copyright laws, the Internet user must determine how to ethically decide on the use of MP3s.

Of all controversies surrounding digital copyright laws on the Internet, the Napster lawsuit has received the most media attention because of its wide popularity and revolutionary approach to file sharing. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suing this Internet service for "lost revenue" from songs Napster users downloaded for free using its services. As the RIAA represents major record labels such as Warner Brothers, this lawsuit represents the first major copyright litigation brought against an Internet service. In addition, this lawsuit has many implications for other laws governing the Internet, not just those pertaining to copyright infringement. This case is forcing America and other countries to think about the laws that govern the relationship between companies that provide Internet services and ones that provide Internet content.

On the legal side, section 512(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 says, in essence, that those who provide Internet services are not held accountable for the content that


Bibliography: 1. Associated Press, Recording industry and online music services battle over copyright laws. 16 May 2000. http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/05/16/mp3.napster.suit/. 2. Fisher, Dennis. Napster has some catching up to do. 17 November 2000. eWeek, http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/45/ns-19158.html. 3. Charny, Ben. BMG and Napster Tie the Knot. 31 October 2000. Zdnet, http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2647781,00.html. 4. Chidi, George A. Napster Users Also Big CD Buyers. 21 July 2000. IDG News, http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=17771. 5. Borland, John. Study finds Napster Use May Cut into Record Sales. CNET News, http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1945948.html. 6. King, Brad. Despite Piracy, CD Sales Up. 24 April 2000. Wired News, http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,35848,00.html 7. Associated Press, Gov 't Says Napster Violates the Law. Wired News, 8 September 2000. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0%2C1294%2C38693%2C00.html
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Chap 16 Govt 2302
    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Chap 16 Govt 2302

    8. The rise of Napster in the 1990s and other music exchange services demonstrates 1. that new technologies have made it more difficult for the government to protect property.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Online music distribution in post-Napster World
    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Online music distribution in post-Napster World

    Napster introduced a revolutionary change to the way music was distributed conventionally. Music companies worked with the artists to produce music. Thereafter they invested heavily into burning the music CD’s, marketing and advertising of the music and managing the distribution of the music to end customers via retailers. Retailers incurred staffing and real estate and costs. In contrast to this, Napster was able to bring together over 60 Million users who would share their collection of music to the remainder of the user base. In doing so, the reach and range of music distribution was significantly raised. Strong Community Feeling, word of mouth effect and High customer awareness led to low cost of marketing for Napster.…

    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Banning File Sharing Research Paper
    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Banning File Sharing Research Paper

    Two main recording artists Metallica and Dr. Dre have taken actions against Napster. They accused over three hundred thousand people on Napster for music piracy, which means they are stealing songs. There is a huge difference between sharing and stealing. All Napster did was to allow people share songs from one another. At some time somebody had to have bought that recording artists C.D., or it would not have ended up on the Napster network. People who have C.D. burners take it into their own hands to burn them. Burning songs from Napster onto your own C.D. is a copyright infringement, but Napster did not provide C.D. burners in their software the computers people own do. On Napster's web page, there is a warning about the copyright infringement laws. Recording artists feel they are being cheated, but record sales went up 2% since last…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ethical Dilemma of Napster Essay Example
    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ethical Dilemma of Napster Essay Example

    The ethical dilemma of computer downloads, namely music downloads, has been under great scrutiny in the last few years. Napster, if any one symbolizes the new technology, was the front runner in developing the new digital trading. The ethical issues seem to revolve around the all mighty dollar. Some particular musicians, namely Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Dr. Dre (rap star), have had some serious issues with Napster. Their claims have merit, but so do the claims of the creator and users of Napster.…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    The Digital Age in Music: How Advancements in Technology Are Re-Shaping the Industry
    • 3340 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The Digital Age in Music: How Advancements in Technology Are Re-Shaping the Industry

    McCourt, T. a. (2003). When creators, corporations and consumers collide: Napster and the development of online music distribution. Media, Culture & Society , 333-350.…

    • 3340 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Music Industry Structure and Interaction Assignment- Music Piracy

    • 1520 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Music Industry Structure and Interaction Assignment- Music Piracy

    When and how did it start? The info graphic below exhibits the diminution of CD sales, transpiring from the year of 2000. This quandary was due to organised Illegal digital downloading companies, capitalising off illegal downloading, via P2P file sharing. Napster- a P2P file sharing network was one of the main culprit s during 1999-2001, causing the music industry a mass loss of revenue.…

    • 1520 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Napster
    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Napster

    In the summer of 1999, a website, napster.com by Shawn Fanning, then an 18-year-old freshman computer science student at Northeastern University., was launched in the US, changing the global music industry forever. Napster was a system which enabled persons to locate music available in the MP3, and WMA1 music formats. The website made it possible for its users to freely share their music files through the Internet with other users around the world. however, Napster maintained a database of music files held on the computer hard-drives of other registered Napster users. this allowed a user, looking for a particular song to send a request to Napster, which the software then checked the availability of that song with this database, and if available, sent it to the user who requested it. The service became tremendously popular within a short span of time. The website involved 1.6 million simultaneous users during the height of its popularity in February 2000. Napster's offering of this 'peer-to-peer' technology was however robustly condemned by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade group with record labels including, Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, EMI Group and Bertelsmann AG. RIAA alleged that Napster was engaging in or assisting others in copying copyrighted music without payment or the express permission of the owners. RIAA also claimed that Napster would significantly damage the sales of the recording industry.…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Napster Case
    • 4580 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Napster Case

    Our research objectives include the analysis of the controversy surrounding Napster 's business, the ethical background of the case, and the ways by which Napster was accused of being unethical on carrying out its business activities. Our project aims to discuss the ethics in dealing with intellectual property on the net, and how file sharing/music sharing in the Internet has brought forward a new ethical dilemma for this matter. The project report will also look into how Napster tried to defend itself against the accusations, and how this case have affected the legal and ethical environment of file/music sharing in the Post-Napster Era. We look forward to inform the reader about…

    • 4580 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Human factors and cyber policy
    • 4860 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Human factors and cyber policy

    With the proliferation of 3-D Printers and the availability of copyrighted materials posted online, there is an additional facet to the current debate surrounding copyright and ownership of intellectual property. Piracy of digital media such as music and videos has been a long-standing issue since the 1990’s with Napster and similar peer-to-peer file sharing programs.…

    • 4860 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Napster vs. Music
    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Napster vs. Music

    There are several people against the use of programs like Napster. The band Metallica filed the first federal suit against Napster. The band is suing the company for copyright infringement and racketeering. Lars Ulrich, the band drummer says; "Napster hijacked our music without asking. They never sought out permission. Out catalog of music simply became available as free downloads on the Napster system"(Internet). Metallica is suing Napster and has accused Napster of copyright infringement and racketeering. The Metallica bands as well as other groups believe that Napster has cost them much money. They do not believe it is fair that people can go in and download their music for free instead of having to pay for it. The drummer suggested that the music traders were cowards using high technology for low-down theft (Metallica). In this day and age on has to consider the money issues. These issues are what make Napster bad. Napster has been accused of illegal acts…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Downloading Copyrighted Music: Legal or Illegal
    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Downloading Copyrighted Music: Legal or Illegal

    In the past four years downloading music off the internet has cost the music industry nearly twelve billion dollars in profit. This is do to the fact that is much easier,…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Music Piracy
    • 2845 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Music Piracy

    Richtel, Matt. "Music Industry and Napster Still at Odds." New York Times 21 Mar. 2001, sec. C: 1-2. The New York Times. 16 July 2012 <http://query.nytimes.com>.…

    • 2845 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    To Download or Not to Download - Revised!!!
    • 2096 Words
    • 9 Pages

    To Download or Not to Download - Revised!!!

    Marc Geiger, executive of "Artist Direct," an online music-marketing firm and Napster champion, states, "Napster is totally community oriented. It brings artists and fans together, and can allow struggling musicians a chance to be heard; that 's what the program is all about. The more people hear the songs, the more they want {to} buy the CD" (Sullivan). Struggling musicians who do not receive widespread media coverage to enhance their own album sales find Napster invaluable (Sullivan). These avid Napster supporters can use the medium to distribute and publicize their music with literally no cost (Sullivan). Richardson, CEO of Napster, Inc., is promoting the good side of the software, and trying to make upset artists understand that this program is for the little guys (Sullivan). Richardson maintains that Napster will not hinder music sales, but will have an opposite effect (Sullivan).…

    • 2096 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Pirate Bay Case Study
    • 1736 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Pirate Bay Case Study

    The global enforcement of copyright laws, combined with the risk of large fines and potential imprisonment have not been enough to dissuade sites like The Pirate Bay from aiding, encouraging and boosting copyright infringement (Lauden & Traver, 2013). As with any company, file sharing amenities are in the business to generate a revenue stream and although these services are illegal they are still able to lure “blue chip brands” to advertise. As long as there is the prospect for money to be made, file sharing sites will continue to subsist in the global internet world.…

    • 1736 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Internet Piracy
    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Internet Piracy

    Internet Piracy has become a worldwide phenomenon. In the U.S. alone more than 100 songs are downloaded every minute. With this growing problem, 3 main groups suffer. The recording artist suffers financially, the RIAA (The Recording Association of America) also suffers financially and finally the downloader suffers if caught. This catch 22 tool has been a thorn in the side of technology since its introduction in 1999. Since then, downloading- or peer-2-peer sharing- has become one of the worst acts of technology affecting the world at large.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics