Scholars against Internet Piracy

The article that I found from the Texas A&M library database is written by Fabienne Oguer over the topic of internet piracy. The article is scholarly for a couple of reasons. The first is a perk of using the A&M database, if you search an article and then click on show full text there is a box to the right that tells you if it is a scholarly source or some other type of source. The second reason you can tell is because it is peer reviewed and in the "Review of European Studies" journal. I also did some research on the author and he is a reputable source.

The article compares embracing the HADOPI Act rather than to continue to support the theft of online materials through the digital medium of a file sharing website. The author analyzes the credibility of using enacting such a thing and offers a number of justifications in instances when it would be applicable in employing this act and some when it is not. Basically the conclusion he came to was that if the actual person committing the piracy is "sufficiently guilt averse" then is would be germane to apply this act. This article is successful in its rhetorical approach because the author presents sufficient evidence for both arguments and in the end he leaves the reader with the conclusion that under the certain set of circumstances the act is not applicable, but otherwise it is.

ePiracy

While reading up on piracy on the internet, I stumbled across two different blogs. One of these, by the author Sherry Soule,  talks about her personal difficulty that arises when people illegally download her book over the internet rather than buying a copy of her own. She appeals to the rhetoric principal of pathos because she tells the audience how they are essentially taking food out of he children's mouths when they illegally download her book because she gets no money from this. She also tells them that when they do this they are also squelching her dreams of writing because if she doesn't get any money coming in she can't continue to do the thing she loves the most, write. She also appeals to ethos by reminding the audience that stealing in any form, including illegal downloads, is wrong. She then empathizes with the audience saying she is having financial trouble too and she can't even afford her own reading habits, which is why she set her book price cheaper than others.

The second blog was by Karen Dionne. It similarly discusses many of the same arguments that Sherry Soule's blog did, about how piracy on the internet is illegal and there is no way to justify otherwise. She uses logos when she presents many different facts about illegal downloads which in turn produces its own sense of pathos because the reader realizes how many self published and indie authors are getting cheated out of what is rightfully theirs. This blog does differ from the other one though in the sense that it is told in a way that is merely presenting information to the reader. The first blog is a first hand account of an actual author and how she is getting cheated out of her paycheck and how it is physically effecting her. I believe that the first blog is more effective in stopping someone from illegally downloading because everyone can clearly see the immediate consequences of their illegal downloads and she makes the people doing so feel guilty that they are taking away from what she has worked so hard to obtain. I believe that both blogs are successful in conveying the same message but the first one is more powerful in its delivery.

We're not in Somalia anymore...

As I stated in my last blog, the rapid growth of technology, mainly the internet, brought with it more ways for people to cheat the system. I talked about how people often steal things like wi-fi but thats not the only thing that gets stolen. One of the biggest problems of law breaking has been due to person to person file sharing.

 Basically its a way to not buy music, movies, etc and instead just share the media by making multiple copies of it. As stated in "Born Digital" the first of these to make a name for itself was the Napster. It focused on sharing MP3s among college students in order to find and share music. Since then, this concept has just exploded and struck a crippling blow to many people in the music industry virtually over night.

Being a college student I have to say I am aware of these sights, but i usually only use iTunes to get all of my music. This isn't so much that I have an incorruptible set of morals but more that I live in a dorm that is monitored and if I use those websights its only a matter of time before i get caught. Also I don't want to get any malware or viruses from those websights so i figure better safe than sorry. Although I don't actively use these resources I can't say that I see some thing wrong with them. Yes, I know it is illegal and I can see where people are loosing money but really the point of music is to be enjoyed. Artists shouldn't be in it for the money, they should be in it for the music so if they really care about getting their music to their fans they should like those programs. Also there really doesn't seem to be a way to stop it that I can see so it really just needs to be embraced. 

Is the power of creativity worth the risk of victimization?

The internet is one of the most remarkable inventions to date. It allows any average joe the potential to make whatever he wants from the ease and comfort of his own living room. With this great gift of creative freedom also comes an equally powerful counterpart. All of these potentially powerful ideas are flying around at such speeds and frequency that it is easy for someone to abuse this freedom the wrong way and steel ideas, property, or even identity from another person.

With people today logging so much of their lives on the computer, they have invested a great deal of themselves for many others to see. These relationships, figures, and ideas that they have poured into their computers is a part of them and is considered their own "property". Like any other tangible thing in this world, intellectual property is susceptible to theft and many people have quite a bit at stake to loose.

I choose to write about the issues of Creativity, Piracy, and Intellectual Property because they most interest me and I feel as though these principals are most applicable to my technological endeavors. With technology becoming more and more prevalent it is important to analyze it for its potential to exponentially grow our world in multiple aspects (be it socially, economically, or anywhere in between), but it is also vital to counterbalance this with its potential for harm and evaluate the pros and cons, or at the very least be cognizant of them.