In 2012 capitol recors sued a company called ReDigi in complaints that they were illegally allowing unauthorized downloads of capitol records music through their network. ReDigi argued against Capitol Records accusations stating that they are not allowing illgal downloads rather helping people sell their unwanted music in an easy accessible manner.
ReDigi is a company that allows poeple to connect to thier network and download and sell their music to another person that is looking to buy the music track at a discounted price. Once someone has uploaded their music track to their server, it then deletes the track from the persons computer. ReDigi believes that there is no harm in this doing this since it deletes the old files instead of creating copies of the tracks, thus not promoting loss for the record companies.
Recently a judgemet was decided in favor of Capitol Records and ReDigi was forced to rethink their approach. Though they may not be making duplicates of the files, it is still not putting the money where it belongs, in the hands of the record labels that own the tracks.
I think the biggest questio in this case is where to draw the line at what is legally acceptable and what is not in digital commerce. What makes the idea that ReDigi had any different then say E-Bay, that allows users to sell their CDs from person to person? As technology grows I beleive that theese lines are going to get harder and harder to draw due to the fact that though these things may have the same idea, they are bought and delivered in completely different ways. Technology makes things more accessible to buy and recieve things easily. But with that ease should come tighter securities to make sure that the product remains a profitable product.
You bring up and interesting point Kelly. Honestly, this will not be a problem in the near future. It is a severe problem now however. The internet and file sharing is a part of the future and there is no way around it. Many people see this, even the music industry. Just take the band Radio Head as an example. They have started to put out their new albums on the internet allowing everyone to download it for free from their site. They just tell them if they want to buy it they can buy it for whatever price the customer thinks is right. If the customer wants it for free they can get it for free. They can also make a donation when they get the music. It has worked out really well for them. But like I said, file sharing is something of the future. There is no way around it.
ReplyDeleteTyler Williamson
Yes, I agree with you, file sharing is something of the future!
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