The natural rights of an author should be protected equally around the world, especially with the rapid spread of information through the internet and the acceleration of technology. Even though we are used to ''sharing'' everything nowadays, when it comes to intellectual property we must take into account that it is private property for which the owner should be compensated for its use. With that in mind, the European Union launched several directives as an attempt to deal with copyright issues brought up by digital technology. As stated by Harald Von Hielmcrone , this in general has been beneficial to copyright holders, providing them "remuneration for public lending, prolongation of the term of protection, and legal protection of databases, and with respects to right to remuneration for reproductions, communications to the public rights and distribution rights."[1] But the key issue is that the way we share information has changed, and businesses, companies, artists, and copyright owners in general must adapt and take advantage of these new methods of information transfer, rather than fight against them.
Countries like France and the UK have very strict rules concerning intellectual property protection. The Hadopi Law and the digital Economy Act, laws under effect in France and the United Kingdom, respectively, have as a goal "to punish everyone who downloads from the Internet protected works, free of charge or without the permission of the Intellectual Property owner".[2] The premise of the Hadopi law for instance is that anyone who downloads protected goods from the network without paying royalties, after the third warning, can be banned from the internet. Achieving this is exceedingly difficult, since it would require monitoring every possible access to the network, which is a very costly endeavor.
So the initiative of some artists to actually embrace this new form of sharing files and getting their "product" out there is proving to be a much more effective way to approach the synergy that needs to start happening between intellectual property rights and sharing information. It's a much faster way to reach the consumer for artists, getting feedback and potentially increasing the number of followers as well.
Endnotes:
[1] Von Hielmcrone, Harald (2000). "The Efforts of the European Union to harmonize Copyright and Impact on the Freedom of Information." Vol 50. pp 36. http://www.librijournal.org/pdf/2000-1pp29-36.pdf
[2] Manacorda, Paola (2009). "The Intellectual Property as a New good." WIPO. pp 2.
I am glad to see that there is more people who think that closing down these peer to peer portals will not stop the file sharing through the web. What about messengers? They will have to eventually disable the file sharing features on AIM, MSN and all the other instant messenger providers. The problem is not the means people share their files is why we do it. We are talking about a globalized world where there is a free flow of information all around us. With music is no different there should be a free flow of it and people will still recognized the artist and the ones who make it possible. Closing down these sites is not the answer it is just putting a small barrier to access the music people really want to listen.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that there is more people who think that closing down these peer to peer portals will not stop the file sharing through the web. What about messengers? They will have to eventually disable the file sharing features on AIM, MSN and all the other instant messenger providers. The problem is not the means people share their files is why we do it. We are talking about a globalized world where there is a free flow of information all around us. With music is no different there should be a free flow of it and people will still recognized the artist and the ones who make it possible. Closing down these sites is not the answer it is just putting a small barrier to access the music people really want to listen.
ReplyDeleteGida, definitely adapting to the new ways of file sharing is the best option for artists, record companies and related businesses. File sharing online is an issue that will take too long to control 100%, if that ever happens. Now, about the Hadopi law, on which you can find a related discussion on my blog , it is not only the costs of tracing consumers, but also, the extremely important other side of the ethical issue: consumer privacy. How far can, or should, companies and government go to control consumers? I guess we will see...
ReplyDeleteShare information has changed and the digital market place is much different than it was before in the past. For this reason, new strategies must be implemented to define the limits and benefits that the creators, distribution channel and consumers who intervene in this industry chain deserve. Also a legal reform of the actual copyright law protection needs to be adjusted. It is necessary to adapt new strategies that educate the consumer who is immersed right now in a media world where the libertarian interpretation is the one that feeds the actual raise of the piracy illegal conspiracy. The new fusion concept as the creative common ideas sharing work where writers specify share criteria with others are right now positive steps that help to specify the limits and benefits of the creators
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