Filesharing... is there an end to this madness!?!?
File sharing has taken a new spin over the past few years. With the Internet growing and developing as rapidly as it has, it’s only made it that much easier for millions of individuals to exchange music and video files on all these various forums that have been developed. I think that Barlow (2000) explains the situation well by stating, “To put it mildly, the geriatrics of the entertainment industry didn’t see this coming.” (p.1) This fad, in my opinion, spun off so quickly and people reacted just as fast, that it was near impossible for the entertainment industry to try and put a stop to things.
DRM, in my opinion, is a strategic business move by Apple to implement this into their iPods. They are going to lock individuals into purchasing music from their iTunes Store, and potentially prevent millions of individuals from accessing unauthorized sharing and copying. Personally, I would much rather purchase music digitally and by a per song basis, verses going to the store and purchasing a CD by one artist, and end up only listening to 2 out of the 18 songs on the disc. According to Jobs, “If a copy of a DRM protected song is posted on the Internet, it should not be able to play on a downloader’s computer or portable music device.” If this actually really does work, I think it will be a great thing. However, I have little doubts that this will be effective, because of the number of hackers out there. I am a strong believer of the saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” I think that someone, somewhere, will be able to find a way to get DRM protected music to another individuals’ device.
I think Valenti brings up some very good points in his interview. One of the questions Valenti was asked is “Why can’t people who legally purchase DVDs make one backup copy?” In my opinion, people always find a way to use and abuse privileges they are given. If you allow one back up copy to be made, what’s going to stop these individuals from making a second, third, fourth, etc. When you purchase a DVD, you are legally purchasing that one copy of the DVD, you aren’t purchasing and owning rights to copying this DVD for further distribution.
Another thing I found interesting in the Valenti interview was about how the RIAA has forced Verizon to hand over the names of customers who were swapping copyright-protected content. I guess my question is, why isn’t the Verizon company being targeted for creating and implementing devices that allow this swapping to take place in the first place??