Question

Read the following fictionalized case and discuss the views of the "players" involved in this real-world scenario:

A 12-year-old girl in Toledo, Ohio, receives an email from her Internet provider regarding a subpoena. She doesn't understand it, so she ignores it. One year later, her family is formally served with a lawsuit naming her mom as a defendant. The suit alleges that the mother, who was the ISP account holder, illegally downloaded 10 copyrighted music files from a file-sharing network and seeks damages for each song. The plaintiff record companies offer to settle for $6,000.

• The 12-year-old girl downloaded the songs, but she didn't know she was doing anything illegal. She found the files on a site that was free to access, but there were no warning signs that the bands didn't authorize the site. She's a huge fan of these bands – she owns all of their CDs and just wanted to hear the new songs.
• The Mom doesn't believe that she should be sued. She can't afford to pay the $6,000 settlement fee, and she can't afford to hire an attorney to fight the case in court. (The attorney she spoke with asked for a $10,000 retainer just to get started.)
• The plaintiff record companies claim that this is theft from their hardworking artists and that making the mother pay the settlement fee will deter others from illegally downloading copyrighted music from the Internet.
• Popular Music Artist/Band A, whose music the girl copied, says that band members should be paid for their creative works; fans should buy their CDs and not get away with piracy. Making music is the band's job, and musicians need to be compensated; they're losing money when fans illegally download their music.
• Popular Music Artist/Band B, whose music the girl copied, has a different perspective and supports music file-sharing technology, even encouraging fans to download its latest album of MP3s for free or for whatever they want to pay. Band B believes P2P file-sharing helps promote its music and encourages an even wider spectrum of music to be heard. Band B also allows its fans to remix its songs as long as the use is noncommercial.

Discuss and answer the following questions:

• Could the above scenario be true?
• Which of the stakeholders is right, if anyone? Why?
• Are the views of the other stakeholders legitimate? Why or why not?
• How do the students feel about P2P file-sharing technologies?
• Is P2P technology itself illegal?
• Is P2P technology just for music and movie file-sharing?

Answer 1

Could the above scenario be true?

Ans: Yes , this scenario can be true and valid.

Which of the stakeholders is right, if anyone? Why?

Ans: Here I am guessing, stakeholders refers to the Artist/Band A and Artist/Band B. Though the music is actually own by the plaintiff record companies. So here I would say, Artist/Band A is right as one cannot just use someone else's content(here it's music) without paying a price unless the content is licensed as free of cost without any hidden terms and policies.

Are the views of the other stakeholders legitimate? Why or why not?

Ans: In some way, Artist/Band B is also correct. it is upto the creator if they want to allow people to use his artistic work to be used that it return help them grow or help them gain more financial stability. Here Artist/Band B supports free download and modification of their songs(remix) for non commercial purpose. So, this helps this particular band to gain more popularity , reach a wider audience, influence people more.

How do the students feel about P2P file-sharing technologies?

Ans: Students have a higher tendency to use P2P file sharing technologies as money is a big factor for them. So getting free content through P2P is still ok for them. Infact , 75% of students in Sweden has admitted that it is ok to download files and content from internet and P2P file sharing networks, even if it is illegal.

Is P2P technology itself illegal?

Ans: No P2P technology is not illegal. Users can freely use P2P clients or software in their devices which might sometimes be unsafe(in case downloaded or received from untrusted sources), but it doesn't violate any rules or laws.

Is P2P technology just for music and movie file-sharing?

Ans: P2P or Peer to Peer is just a technology used for sharing files between 2 or more devices where each device acts as a server and a client making a 2-way data transmission where chunks of data of a content is uploaded and downloaded at the same time. Now music and movie are two content types. Apart from those two there are other content types, e-books, games, applications etc all of which can also be shared through P2P technology . All of these sharing are legal untill the creator of the content has provided his/her permission, otherwise it's all illegal.

Please upvote if it helps. Thanks