2007-11-29 15:55:49 · 5 answers · asked by marinka 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
The act of file sharing is not a negative concept, its the distribution of information which is an inherently good thing. File sharing itself should not be illegal.
The sharing of intellectual property which does not belong to you is an illegal act.
Sorry Sheebe, just because you paid for music does not give you the right to share it with others.
2007-11-29 16:18:55 · answer #1 · answered by georgeishere 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
File sharing is perfectly legal as long as the owner of the copyright in the material you share gives permission for you to do so.
Otherwise, of course it should be illegal - you can't distribute other peoples intellectual property without their consent.
As an aside to the person who commented about "If you put a book on the Internet..." Books are inherently different from music. Most readers still prefer a paper book, but once music is digitized and distributed, the receiver can convert it to a CD, put in an pod, whatever.
An illustration as to how different books are can be found in the free library offered online by Baen books. When Baen started putting the text of the books that they sell online for free the sales of those same books went UP !
Richard
2007-11-30 00:36:53 · answer #2 · answered by rickinnocal 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it should not be illegal. If you pay money for music, then you have a right to share it. It is the Internet. You can get software for free so why not file share?
2007-11-30 00:06:40 · answer #3 · answered by Sasha 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, only the illegal distribution of intellectual property that is protected by copyright.
2007-11-29 23:59:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
Imagine if you wrote a book. Someone buys ONE copy and posts it for free on the Internet.
There wouldn't be many writers left after a while.
Same would be true for musicians.
2007-11-30 00:07:28 · answer #5 · answered by Philip McCrevice 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋