Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Oct. 21, 2009, edition 1 / Page 19
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nnmpiis\^i~p> Wednesday, October 21,2009 ■■ {The Blue Banner} Copyright infringement: costly and complex Ending copyright infringement requires removal ot the file-sharing sources Eliminate the source, and elim inate copyright infringement. The federal government should punish the owners of programs that allow illegal downloading, not students. A possible reason college stu dents download illegally is be cause they can. Allowing free file-sharing pro grams is like putting a piece of candy in front of a child and say ing, “Don’t eat it.” Programs like LimeWire, Bear- share and Kazaa allow students on college campuses to illegally download music, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. If students were never permit ted to participate in illegal file sharing, there wouldn’t be an is sue. Because these programs target and inform students on how to il legally download, they should not exist. “Over the years, record com panies have cracked down on regulating illegal downloading,” university librarian Jim Kuhlman said. Kuhlman said whenever he receives a complaint from the RIAA, he blocks students’ In ternet access in accordance with the provisions of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. “Copyright infringement has a huge impact on sales of music, movies and other computer soft ware,” Kuhlman said. “The prob lem with using the software is that one out of every 10 million people Use it legally. Everyone else uses it illegally.” It is ridiculous to expect mil lion dollar payments in copyright damages from college students. The federal government should By Precious Barksdale Staff Writer PJBARKSO@UNCA.EDU Economi cojuaif tgriiftRIAA; The federal government can’t find everyone who commits piracy, but they can always find the Web sites that al low piracy. force downloading programs to prohibit their users from stealing copyrighted items. “I’ve heard about a lot of peo ple getting fined on the news,” biology student Angelia McElrath said. “A lot of my friends down load illegally. I don’t think they view it as a big deal, they just look at it as being free.” Students who don’t know downloading without permission is wrong shouldn’t be punished simply because of their ignorance. “I used to buy all of my mu sic, but it got really expensive. I just started downloading again from LimeWire just because it is cheaper,” McElrath said. Global music piracy causes $2.5 billion of economic loss es every year, according to the RIAA. Those trying to protect the rights of music and movie pro ductions should encourage aware ness of copyright violations. • Global m«iic|>trac|^^ises$a:i^jbilh femes ' (v ^ /'’■-'/'s’'* f -A Over 70,000 ^ ® ■ Loss of $29| mil • 31 mtliion lost m c^po| taxes “We don’t want to be the copy^ right police,” Kuhlman said. “I know I do this job because I be lieve in the law and respect the intellectual profit that people cre ate.” The RIAA should regulate and enforce copyright policies, not the university. Uninformed students who didn’t know it was wrong to ille gally download music shouldn’t be penalized. If there were more incentives to obey the current copyright laws, illegal downloading wouldn’t ex ist. The federal government should work harder to eliminate these Web sites instead of suing stu dents for copyright infringement. “I like to think that we are a buffer between the RIAA and the student,” Kuhlman said. “A lot of folks want freedom in using oth ers’ work and not their own. Fun damentally it’s stealing, regard less of its purpose.” An e-mail warning students about the illegal file sharing went out this semester, he said. and production ‘Our school could enforce more file transfer protection, but it could create a large issue among our students,” Kuhlman said. “If we block peer-to-peer transfers, students would argue that not all students are using the software il legally.” Blocking Web sites that allow unauthorized downloads would prevent future copyright lawsuits. The federal government needs to realize they won’t be able to re solve the issue until they continue to seek to eliminate the sources allowing the piracy. The government should be more lenient toward students who make the choice of illegal down loading or those unaware of the law. Even though students who break the law deserve to be pun ished, they also deserve to move on with their lives without being heavily in debt. The federal government can’t find everyone who commits pi racy, but they can find the Web sites that allow illegal download ing and punish them.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Oct. 21, 2009, edition 1
19
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