file sharing. Options

[*kryogenix*]

file sharing. should people be allowed to "share" software, movies and music with others over the internet, or is this cheating the author/studio/artist etc. ?

I believe file sharing is wrong. People are hard at work producing these things. Why don't people just buy the licensce to the software/movie/music?

Why am I against file sharing? Because I'm going to be a computer programmer. I don't want to starve because some 12 year old downloaded my program off KaZaA. Think about how the artists must feel. I know they aren't starving, but still, they aren't receiving money that's rightfully theirs.

Software is to be treated like a book. You purchase the "book" and can read and access the material within the "book" any time you want. You can even share the "book" with a friend. However, because two people in two different places cannot be reading a book at the same time. When you lend the "book" to someone, you effectively lend them the licensce to view the book as they please. The same goes with software. Treat it as a book. You can share, but when you do so you are transferring the licensce to the person you are sharing with.

Sharing is fine, but only when one of the parties has a licensce to use the media that they are sharing.

[ryfitaDF]

i don't think their's anything wrong with it. if i like the band i'll go to their show and buy a shirt and directly give money to them. if it weren't for pirating music i would have never gotten into alot of my favorite bands. and, also, smart people don't buy CDs unless they like most of the songs on it. how are they going to to know how much they like it if they don't "share" it.