The internet has allowed a broadening of everyone's horizon,
enabling access to information that would normally be unavailable to
most individuals, and allowing people to easily remain in contact
through social networks. The internet has also created a
giant cache of copyrighted materials that can be easily accessed or
downloaded for free. Everyone agrees stealing a CD from a store is
wrong, so how is stealing a song from the internet any different?
Governments are expected to protect their citizens' rights, both
individual and corporate. As much as we'd like to "stick it to the man",
we can't allow rampant theft to go unchecked on the internet.
Governments have a responsibility to uphold the law,
even on the internet.
Recently, the United States government attempted to pass several
acts of legislation (SOPA and PIPA) to police the internet. These acts
were met with outrage by the internet community. The heavy-handed
approach in these acts would do more harm than good
and if left unchecked, could possibly result in shutting down every
website out there. Obviously this isn't a good solution, but there
should be something done to protect individual and corporate rights on
the internet.
I do agree that something needs to be done about online piracy. Money thats been taken from downloading illegally is having a potential impact on corporation balance sheet. This problem if fixed could bring money back to the corparation and from there create more jobs durring the process. I think government regulation is not the answer but having fines on websites who promote illegal downloading.
ReplyDeleteI think the government should not pass any law that would regulate the web. The internet should be able to publish freely. I think more government regulation will cause more frustration into the digital world and would prevent companies from andvancing. I think we need to leave the internet free and let is spur innovation and creativity.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can all agree downloading of "stealing" from the artist is wrong, however we the majority of the population still continue to do it. I believe there should be some kind of compensation but the internet is ever evolving and people find new ways to beat the system everyday, so as much as they try, I don't think they can be successful in their attempts to stop it.
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