Technology is Changing the Way We Listen to Music
Downloading MP3s from the Internet should be made legal. An MP3 is a near CD quality digital recording of a musical piece that is compressed so it can be distributed through the Internet (Simple Net). High prices, new technology, and availability are causing most music lovers to turn to the Internet to listen to their music. It's convenient to search a computer database for a song you've been wanting to hear by your favorite artist, download it, and copy it on to a CD. More and more people are doing this because with the help of search engines it's possible to find any song imaginable and download it for free. What most people don't realize is that the reproduction of a musical work, distribution of copies of a musical piece, and the public performance of the work without the copyright owner's consent are all violations of copyright laws (Anderman and Paez 5). However, they do know that getting caught for this crime is very unlikely. Catching those who violate copyright laws is very tricky because in most cases it's hard to tell who is at fault. Because of very detailed, complicated copyright
The increasing popularity of MP3s has resulted in the need for copyright law reforms. Because MP3s violate copyright laws, service providers have to take extreme precautions to avoid liability for copyright infringement (Anderman and Paez 7). The first of many says that service providers are not liable if the provider doesn't start the transmission of the audio file nor manually carry out the copying process (8). The provider can not select the recipients, nor can the transmissions make any changes to the online material (8). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, otherwise known as DMCA, addresses many issues associated with copyright infringement and rules for digital audio transmission over the Internet. It deals with many issues that include anti-piracy provisions, liability for online copyright infringement, and requirements for digital music delivery (1). These reforms, designed to protect the Internet Service Providers from liability, make catching individuals who break copyright laws very hard. It's difficult for providers of interactive web sites and networks to search through all of their hosted web sites for pirated materials so in order for them to be shielded from liability, they can't have anyway of knowing about the pirated material stored on their server. If the provider is notified of the infringing material, they have to stop accessing to the particular web site immediately. There are many specific rules that the providers must follow in order to avoid blame for copyright infringement if one of their web pages is hosting pirated materials (Anderman and Paez 8). Under the DMCA a service provider is required to provide designated information about them so they can be notified of pirated materials, such as MP3s, on their web sites (Anderman and Paez 7). They must also develop a policy that allows them to punish or get rid of all account holders who infringe the material (10). An Internet Service Provider or ISP does not have the right to alter any measures taken by the copyright owner to protect their work. If the copyright owner asks a service provider for the name of a copyright law offender, the ISP has to disclose the information to them (10). However, the issuing of a subpoena for this information is a long, rigorous process, and now the problem is deciding whether or not the violator of copyright laws should be prosecuted for committing the crime or not. Safe harbors from liability, specified in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, were enacted to protect against indirect copyright infringement (7). MacDonald, Patrick. "Music Industry Hearing a Whole New Song." Seattle Times. 4 Oct. 1999. Online. 13 Oct. 1999.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Anderman Paez, Copyright Act, Service Providers, MP3s Internet, Simple Net, Portable MP3, MP3s Musicians, Internet Waiting, Anderman Paez10, Provider ISP, copyright laws, copyright infringement, violate copyright laws, anderman paez, copyright owner, violate copyright, pirated materials, web site, service providers, web sites, simple net, mp3s violate copyright, internet service providers, illegal copies copyrighted, anderman paez 8,
Approximate Word count = 2175
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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