The battle over copyright infringements on peer-to-peer (P2P) has been storming for almost a decade now with little give to either side. People continue to pirate new files, particularly music and movies, and the government, partnered with major label companies, continues to fight these illegal downloads.
Illegal file sharing continues daily all across the globe. Most of the users do not even recognize their activities as illegal.
The first conflicts arose back in 2000, with the establishment of the first P2P network, Napster. Napster was only around for about a year before several artists including Metallica, Dr. Dre and Madonna filed lawsuits against the company's practices. Their songs were circulating the Internet and hitting radio stations well before their albums were even released. By February 2001, Napster peaked with 26.4 million users, but was forced to shut down in November. Since then, other companies have taken its place, including WinMX, Kazaa and, most recently, LimeWire.
Today, these P2P networks have found ways to dodge corporate lawsuits by providing evidence that they themselves are not doing anything illegal. They claim the users who are sharing illegal files are the reprehensible party. File sharing has been legal since March 2004, and it's hard to believe the United States is still having a problem with it.
Now in the United States, instead of placing heavy fines on a few individuals like in the past, the government is resorting to attempts to prevent these individuals from using the internet. Most households are warned by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). On college campuses, including Miami University, the most common punishment is the revoking of Internet privileges for a set amount of time. Unfortunately, there are numerous loopholes to avoid sanctions. Illegal file sharing is still climbing, despite efforts to reverse that trend.
Miami, in its attempt to combat these downloads, has blocked many of the computer ports through which file sharing has happened in the past.
Most recently, the Obama administration has supported the Recording Industry Association of America in battling a case in Massachusetts over an individual committing copyright infringement. It is disappointing that Obama has taken this side because he seems to be following the same policies as Bush, further distancing himself from the president of "change" he had promised to be.
These P2P networks, the companies whose rights are being violated, and the government all need to come together with a way out of this constant struggle. ISP's are losing customers when they revoke Internet access. Record companies and artists are losing large amounts of money due to the significant drop in record sales, and the government continues to spend incredible amounts of money to fight these companies and prosecute people who are file sharing illegally. Money could be generated for the companies by partnering with the P2P networks. Then the government would only have to stand by and regulate. If it's done right, the motivation to download something illegally will simply disappear.
Aaron Mertenmertenar@muohio.edu
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