Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Everyone knows about downloading. If you don’t, you must know about someone else who does. Common knowledge says that downloading copyrighted material is illegal and unethical. Peer to peer file sharing programs, the most common method of music downloading today, are easily accessible but blur the lines between copyright and open source and free material.

Different countries have different laws for illegal downloading.

In Canada for example, downloading copyright music from peer-to-peer networks is legal, but uploading those files is not. It is because Canada has imposed fees on recording mediums like blank CDs and similar items. These levies are used to fund musicians and songwriters for revenues lost due to consumer copying. Canada has initially charged this tax on MP3 players, but a recent Supreme Court decision ruled that the law was written in such a way that these players were exempted from the tax.




However in the US, the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act is much stricter and deems copying of copyrighted music (with the exception of making a copy for your own use) as illegal. The U.S. Code protects copyright owners from the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation or distribution of sound recordings, as well as certain digital performances to the public. In more general terms, it is considered legal for you to purchase a music CD and record (rip) it to MP3 files for your own use. Uploading these files via peer-to-peer networks would constitute a breach of the law.

!!!BEWARE !!!

In Malaysia, if you download material illegally from the Internet, be prepared to fork out a minimum fine of RM250,000. The maximum fine for downloading material illegally from the Internet was as high as a whopping RM500,000. It doesn't matter whether it's buying a CD from the street or illegally downloading songs from the Internet. It's still the same as stealing…




Ways to avoid illegal downloading:

1) Read user agreements carefully.
2) Ensure that you’re legal P2P software is not set to share the files you have on your computer.
3) Check the Web sites of the musicians, record companies, or movie studios to see if they allow distribution of their materials on the Internet.
4) When purchasing music, movies, games, software, or other materials, read the license carefully to learn if you have permission to convert materials to other formats for personal use.
5) Don't share or distribute materials unless you have permission.



Sources:
www.dailymail.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_to_peer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4110436.html

Labels: downloading, Internet