Copyrighted music and videos are intellectual property that is protected by law. Control over the material should be determined by the owner of the copyright and downloading music and videos without permission of the owner is wrong.
Many people regularly use the Internet engage in the download of copyrighted music and videos. There are two kinds of downloads, illegal and legal. Illegal downloads means the music or videos are being downloaded without the permission of the copyright holder; the latter means that the owner has freely given permission to make their intellectual property available for use.
Despite copyright laws, illegal downloads, otherwise known as piracy, runs amok on the Internet. Each day countless numbers of people across the globe engage in this practice of downloading music and videos without paying for them.
These kinds of downloads are unequivocally wrong. When a person downloads copyrighted material without permission from the artist and/or owner of the item, this is stealing. Yet, despite this fact many people don't see this, or refuse to acknowledge copyright laws.
Downloading digital without the owner's permission is stealing. It is generally accepted that walking out of the local music store with a CD or DVD and not paying for it is stealing, so why wouldn't the same thought process apply to Internet downloads? Both are against the law, the only difference is the technique used to steal the item.
The dispute of whether or not downloading copyrighted music and videos is a volatile one and a debate most people feel rather passionately about. Advocates of illegal downloads justify the practice by rationalizing reasons it should be acceptable. These justifications typically include that big business and/or individual artists are too rich already and they should spread the wealth.
This argument is weak at best. It doesn't matter how much money the person or entity has, essentially it comes down to the law and property ownership. People work hard for the property they own and those who develop copyrighted property put the effort in their intellectual property and are entitled to be compensated for their work.
Another justification pro-piracy advocates use try and argue that downloads are equivalent to the Fair Use provisions of copyright law and it's no different than burning a copy for a friend. While there may be a level of validity to this statement, it is really apples and oranges because by sharing music and videos online, this is offering the item to millions of people, not just one friend. That's a lot of sales the artist is losing out on and as a result they take a significant financial loss.
The question begs asking why so many people actively engage in piracy, and there are three potential answers to this question.
The first is that the downloader isn't aware of copyright laws and honestly don't know it's wrong. They view copyrighted music and videos no differently than they do web pages; it's all information which can be attained from the web. This ignorance doesn't make it any more acceptable, but it does show levels of unawareness which society should work to address.
A second reason why people routinely engage in piracy is because they don't care; after all, the price is right and they can obtain music and videos for free. The third group of piracy offenders knows stealing copyrighted music and videos are wrong, yet do it anyway.
Not because they don't care, but because they are so wrapped up in instant gratification they don't stop to think of consequences or conscience and instead get caught up in the moment. A twinge of guilt may be felt for an instant, but then they are onto the next desire.
It is the latter two trains of thought which are problematic. These kinds of societal attitude are going to lead to expanded ethical problems as people become more self-centered and concerned with on-demand wants. This type of attitude is going to shape the future of society.
Are people who engage in this practice willingly doing this because their victim can't see who they are, or is it because they know there is a good chance they won't be caught? Is it because there is a higher degree of comfort stealing knowing no one "sees" the act?
Piracy is an ethical problem which needs to be addressed. Society teaches children it's wrong to copy homework, steal candy from the store or take a toy that doesn't belong to them, but yet it's hard pressed to see just how much awareness is being raised to the problem of piracy. Sure there are commercials addressing the issue put out by the music and movie industries, but that's not enough.
Teaching right from wrong starts in the home. And yes, downloading copyrighted music and videos is wrong.