A society should not be judged on how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals …
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
Perhaps the article that ran last Tuesday [“Downloaders beware,” ODE Oct. 14, 2008] struck a chord because I’m such an Internet junkie. It could also be that my Info Hell subject indirectly relates to this very issue. Either way, I feel I have to get this off my chest, if only for some peace of mind.
Piracy is among the premier issues needing to be dealt with as we finish our turbulent entry into the Internet age. Around the time the mp3 became a household term and new artists were gaining popularity just by posting MySpace accounts, the world of music dramatically shifted. Suddenly, CDs were no longer necessary for listening to music. Soon we had music Web sites that gave you a file rather than a disk. Just like that, record companies became obsolete because we didn’t need records. Hell, we could make our own CDs!
Really, I think this is the core of the issue. The recording industry has realized that its period of usefulness is coming to an end. Now people can freely buy instruments, equipment, and even song recording and editing software that work with home computers. Many of today’s artists got their big breaks from posting mixtapes online and then communicating via word of mouth.
This recent bout of lawsuits on our campus is a good example of the record industry lashing out to halt the inevitable. In its furor, the Recording Industry Association of America managed to hit the least-viable target. How does the RIAA expect college students to pay $3,000 to $4,000 in fines when we’re already taking out bank loans to cover tuition fees as high as the sky? Forget the fact that none of us have that kind of money. These people are being hauled to court over the illegal downloading of 10 songs; it is like chopping off someone’s arm because they stole an apple.
In the interest of fairness, however, I must say that until something is changed in piracy laws, Internet piracy is like any other crime: If you commit it, you do so knowing the risks involved and the consequences therein. If you don’t, ignorance is no excuse.
As the immediacy and the prevalence of music availability on the Internet continues to grow, the RIAA or the Motion Picture Association of America will not easily be able to stop downloading, unless they plan on taking half the country to court. Perhaps in the future, these various industries will have an awakening and adopt new policies to work with, rather than against the Internet. It cannot be denied that there is no going back now that the Internet has become such a mainstay of our society. Until then, those who download do so at their own peril. If you can’t pay the fine, don’t commit the crime.
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