Essay about Bit Torrents: A New Technology

Facts: Grokster, Ltd. and another company, StreamCast Networks Inc, created software that allowed users to share electronic files through a series of peer-to-peer networks on computers without using a central server. This software allowed users to share any type of digital file, but most people used the software to share and distribute copyright music and video files without permission of the copyright holders, which was encouraged by the software companies. As a response a group of movie studies and other copyright holders sued Grokster and StreamCast for the infringement on their copyrights, arguing that the software companies were knowingly and intentionally using their software

In the various media industries there are extreme worries concerning unauthorized downloading and copying of their products known as piracy. Piracy of items has been part of commerce for centuries; counterfeiting of currency for example. With the information age the ease at which media can be pirated has caused an explosion of this phenomenon. This practice is an illegal act that is done by individuals for personal use and also for profit. The first do not seem to see the issues caused by this practice such as; the spreading of viruses and lower quality products. We will use Reynolds' Seven-Step Ethical Decision Making Approach for the breakdown of the ethical reality of software piracy.

After reading “Dear Piracy Apologist: Downloading unreleased films is not cool”, the author expresses that he does not torrent films with the reasoning of, ‘because I can does not mean that I should.’ He states opposing arguments with bias for anti-piracy and defends reasons not to pirate.

This paper is an analytical essay on global ethical issues on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. A history and background of peer-to-peer file-sharing will be given, as well as how it became an issue. This paper will explore what aspects of file-sharing are ethical and at what point it becomes unethical. An explanation of the laws will be described and whether the laws different from region-to-region around the world. The paper will include personal experiences with file sharing, as well as an in-depth analysis on the topic with high-quality industry and academic references to defend a particular moral/ethical position.

Notably, Vaulin was arrested in July by the Polish law enforcements and since then he has been detained in a local prison. He filed a motion last month on behalf of his legal defense team, seeking the dismissal of the criminal charges against him. However, the U.S. court has strictly denied the motion and states that Kickass Torrents operated like a “flea market” illegal file sharing, reports Christian Today.

Copyrights of distribution of Dallas Buyers Club (DBC) v iiNet Limited case over infringement of copyrights. They complain that their copyrights were infringed by 4726 internet users downloading and then sharing their work via torrent websites without paying for the privilege. DBC LLC 's, Voltage Pictures, used a German-based firm Macek Eye UG to find out users sharing the film using Bit Torrent and found out 4,726 IP addresses. The case was filed before The Federal Court of Australia requesting the personal details of the infringers linked to the IP addresses to 6 Internet Service Providers (ISP) to recover the damages of copies download and upload by infringers.(DBC) wanted to recover the cost of the purchase of a single copy of the film, for each copy download. A "licence fee" for each person found to have also uploaded the film without copyrights and the court cost for expenses in retrieving each downloader’s name.

Along with the development of a file format (MP3) to store digital audio recordings, came one of the new millennium’s most continuous debates – peer-to-peer piracy – file sharing. Internet companies such as Napster and Grokster became involved in notable legal cases in regards to copyright laws in cyberspace. These two cases are similar in nature, yet decidedly different. In order to understand the differences and similarities, one should have an understanding of each case as well as the court’s ruling.

In the global market that we leave in companies are trying to find any and everyway that they can to get ahead in their respective markets. This most of the time brings out the most innovate thinkers that can come up with a way to keep it’s company on top of their market and sometimes we see that there are companies that like to take a short cut by using non legal and malicious methods. According to Lewis, (1985), Software piracy is the illicit copying of the operating instructions and applications programs, which make computers work, is a large and growing industry. The Pirate Bay is part of a European social and political movement that opposes copyrighted content and demands that music, videos, TV shows, and other digital content be free and unrestricted. In the words of the Pirate Party, “the Pirate Bay is a unique platform for distributing culture between regular people and independent artists, and that’s something we want to preserve.”

Bit torrent breaks copyright laws because it allows you to share excessive amounts of information. If you use this information and don’t put it in your own words you are plagiarizing. Plagiarisism is illegal. Although it is illegal it does not have any civil or criminal offenses.

The evidence claims, "Illegal downloading is, of course, a real problem. People who work hard to produce creative works are entitled to enjoy legal protection to reap the benefits of their labors. And if others want to enjoy those creative works, it's reasonable to make them pay for the privilege." Even though this might be true, it can't be classified as theft. The article explains, "But framing illegal downloading as a form of stealing doesn't, and probably never will, work. We would do better to consider a range of legal concepts that fit the problem more appropriately: concepts like unauthorized use, trespass, conversion and misappropriation." Even though people who illegally download media should be punished, companies couldn't use words like "theft" to accuse someone because media isn't tangible and can't be

“Comcast blocked all encrypted traffic to BitTorrent back in 2007, they claimed it was because BitTorrent was used for copyright infringement…” (eff). But Comcast didn’t take into account the users who weren’t pirating. I’m not going to deny piracy being an issue with the free internet because it will be. This is a problem many internet providers try to push to gain support. It’s hard to strike a balance where we can protect the people’s right to speech and knowledge and also keep piracy low. Plus it’s very difficult to stop piracy that happen worldwide because each country has their own policy on

We all know that downloading pirated music and films is illegal, but what exactly is it? The term piracy refers to the copying and selling of music, films and other media illegally; in other words you are copying and selling copyrighted media without the permission of the original owner (NiDirect, n.d.). With the massive growth of the internet and its ability to store and capture vast amounts of data, we have become much more reliable on information systems in all aspects of life, but it does not come without the risk of information technology being used unethically. With the number of IT breakthroughs in recent years “the importance of ethics and human values has been underemphasised” often resulting in various consequences. Not surprisingly one of the many public concerns about the ethical use of IT is that “millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners of those copyrights” (Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, 2015). This essay covers the ethical issues of downloading pirated music and films and the impact it has on music corporations and recording and film companies.

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This

Ever since the start of illegal music downloading there has been an ongoing debate. As with any controversy, there are those whose positions stand at one end of the spectrum or the other and also those who are moderate or nonchalant. Many believe that downloading a song without paying for it is not only illegal, but also immoral. None-the less, people continue to download songs, rationalizing that the record companies are getting what they deserve after years of overpriced CD's or that the artists won't really miss the money. Some people are not sure what to make of the situation, sympathizing in some respects with either side. There are several proposed solutions to this problem, but it has become obvious that there is not easy or clear

Downloading a movie or a song from torrents it is considered piracy and it must be punished. It is a minor crime but still it has to end at some point. If someone gets used to get what he want for free then imagine if in the following years they find a way to get also money for free. What would happen then? It appears only in digital on the screen. Stealing an original movie from the local DVD store it is considered a crime, it is the same stealing it from the web, and the difference is that it only appears on your screen. If you rob a bank in the web and just numbers appear on your account is going to be the same easy thing as downloading a movie in a few