Copyright

For centuries copyright has existed in the United States and debate about it has taken place many, many times. Today the internet provides numerous websites where people can illegaly download movies or music. This illegal downloading is a hot topic today. Often one hears about a student caught caught downloading illegaly and having to deal with a huge and expensive lawsuit. Like any argument, there are two sides to this debate. Some believe that it is no big deal to download music and movies for free and that the government and labels overreact to a few songs downloaded for free and preventing the owner from recieving a measly sum in comparison to what they have already earned from their work. They believe it takes too long for the copyrighted item to be free to the public. Others argue that it is the owner's property and that they deserve every cent. They are in favor of harshly cracking down on illegal downloading and holding on to that copyright for as long as possible. Personally I stand on the middle ground. I do believe that artists and producers should earn money for the hard work they put into their music or movie, but I also feel that the author's lifetime plus seventy years is a long time to keep a work from becoming free to the public. I think that the best thing would be to shorten the lifetime of a copyright and also being more lenient on those who break the law when the offender has only downloaded a few dollars worth of music. Perhaps someday this debate will end with both sides happy, but until then, illegal downloading will continue to be a problem.


Copyright by Allison Kelso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.