26/02/10 23:36

© 17 year old Kamal Dhillon: downloading music, movies and games without paying is not wrong, just Illegal

by Josep M. Ganyet

Posted in Why didn't I think of that?, copyright | 1 Comment » Tweet This Post

Kamal Dhillon, a 17 year old Canadian student is the 2010 Glassen Ethics Competition winner. This year’s essay topic was: “Is it OK to download music, movies and games without paying?”

Her answer was: “Not wrong, just illegal“. I love the refreshing views she has on copyrights, file sharing, and free culture. Some highlights follow.

I support the act of file sharing and argue that the free sharing of these forms of intellectual property would likely produce, overall, more good than harm for society.

Everyone knows that it’s illegal to download movies, games and music without paying. Why, then, do so many people simply ignore copyright laws?

The fact that something is illegal doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily immoral.

Not only do we think that the copyright laws are unjust, we also know that it’s easy to get away with breaking these laws.

No matter what laws are put in place, technological advances by ingenious young computer geeks mean that youth will always be one step ahead of the authorities.

…most young people believe that it’s morally acceptable to share their music, movies and games with others.

…the movie industry opposed the introduction of video recorders. They were short-sighted. It turns out that the VCR was one of the best things to happen to the film industry.

A recently published, three-year study on online music sharing concluded that 95 per cent of all downloads were illegal, yet the worldwide digital music business grew by 25 per cent in 2008 — the sixth year in a row that it has increased.

(about taxes on recording mediums) If I buy a book, and lend it to a friend, should I be charged because they haven’t paid for the book themselves?

(similar argument here on my previous post: p2p and libraries are not that different)

Whether it’s one degree of separation or 1,000, if sharing is morally justifiable in one case why isn’t it also justifiable in other similar cases?

So, the legal ban on file sharing won’t work and it’s also unfair, inconsistent and irrational.

Read the full article at the Winnipeg Free Press’ website: Not wrong, just illegal

(The funny thing is that I copied and pasted this excerpts from a magazine that has a nice Copyright sign at the bottom of the page. This could create a hole in the space-information continuum)

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