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opinion:
pro/ con
Should the Napster
shutdown be upheld?
Pro: Obtaining
copyrighted material without compensating the artist is illegal,
regardless of your intentions.
Downloading and
owning copyright music on a personal computer or on a burned
compact disc without paying the artist is wrong. In fact,
it is copyright infringement.
Napster, responsible
for opening the musical floodgates to millions of users, is
cheating the recording industry of well-deserved profits.
Allowing so many people to essentially own copyrighted songs
by downloading them for free is a scary and costly thought
for the recording industry.
Others claim that
Napster cannot lawfully be banned because it is not responsible
for subscribers who download and swap copyright music files.
However, Napster
is liable for its subscribers swapping copyright material,
according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The company,
fully aware that copyright music files were being swapped,
is not protected from imminent litigation by the recording
industry.
The most common
defense of Napster supporters is that big recording artists
like Metallica generate millions of dollars in revenues each
year anyway.
Recording artists
should have the last say when it comes to the music they produce.
Regardless if the artists are high profile or relatively unknown,
if their music is copyrighted, Napster must respect their
desire to optimize the sales of their songs.
The issue boils
down to proprietorship. Recording artists own their copyrighted
music and Napster has no right infringing on those copyrights.
Thus, the recent appellate court's decision ruled in favor
of the recording industry.
I am fully aware
that most users can only see the positive aspects of Napster,
but we must put ourselves in the place of a recording artist.
If you or I belonged to a band that composed copyrighted music,
we should have the right to distribute our music in any manner
we choose.
Napster is denying
artists the authority to have the last word when it comes
to their music and how it is released.
Recording artists
own their music. They dictate how they want their music to
be released.
If you don't believe
me, ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ben Dimapindan
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
Con: Music file
swapping has not only not caused a drop in music sales, it
is not even illegal.
Napster is not
illegal. Shawn Fanning, Napster's creator, has broken no laws.
The court, contrary
to popular belief, did not nail Napster for direct copyright
infringement. Direct infringement deals with the actual trading
of copyrighted material without consent of the authors.
Instead, the court
found Napster guilty of secondary copyright infringement.
The 9th Circuit had said that Napster has a direct financial
interest in stealing from record companies', and that Fanning
should police the program better.
This was not true
when the suit originated. In the beginning, neither Napster,
nor its site contained any advertisements, the main source
of revenue for online ventures.
It was only recently
that Napster started running two ads, one of which advertises
a relatively unheard of band. This was Napster's purpose:
to let unknown bands compete in the ruthless world of the
music business.
A disclaimer clearly
states that Napster cannot control the available content,
and that its users decide what content to make available.
How is Fanning
supposed to police this? The variations in song titles alone
discredit this option. That just leaves deleting files by
hand. With over 50 million users, that will not work.
The record companies
are making a killing in the industry. Based upon 1999 shipments,
the record industry has found that more money, not less, is
being spent on music, despite the introduction of Napster
in May of 1999.
Audio piracy will
continue to exist despite Napster's failed attempt to settle
with the record companies.
Many programs out
there emulate the Napster format. Gnutella, a Napster emulator,
is slow, but deadly to the record industry. Everyone is connected
in Borg-like fashion.
Even worse, everyone
uses an alias for anonymity. If one person gets knocked out,
the collective will continue.
The digital revolution
cannot be stopped. While computer programs are updated practically
daily, laws drudge through the legislative process.
Michael Watanabe
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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