Asked By
echua
40 points
N/A
Posted on - 03/08/2012
Are we stealing something if we download MP3 and Video from internet?
If so, what are the penalties?
Does MP3 and Video Downloading unethical?
Hi Echua,
It is a fact that varies one place or country to another. From some country you are free to download mp3s and video easily. There is no punishment. It's as your wish.
But there are some country where the songs or albums even some music videos must be bought. You must buy it first to enjoy music and videos. There you can't download it from any recognized website.Â
Laws also prevail in some country against audio & video piracy. The people who do that kind of piracy will be punished.
But you know everything has an alternative way. There are many file sharing websites in the world. Some people buy the albums or videos and upload it to that site. Then they share it's link with his near and dear ones and also in many social networking sites. Thus the silent piracy goes on.
No one is capable of stopping it.
Does MP3 and Video Downloading unethical?
Downloading of copyrighted materials is prohibited and I think this applies to all countries around the world. That’s why you will not find a single website in the internet that offers free movie downloads because all movies are copyrighted.
Actually, there are websites that have already been shutdown by the FBI in the United States because of sharing copyrighted materials. I’ve already visited one of these websites that’s been shutdown due to file sharing of copyrighted materials. Although it’s been shutdown due to illegal activities, the website is actually up but is only blocked from being accessed.
All pages of the website redirect to the main index file or the main page and you will see the big FBI logo in the middle together with few information about court order. Copyrighted materials come in different forms but most of the time they are the movies.
The videos in YouTube, on the other hand, are sharable since none of them are copyrighted. You can always upload and share your favorite movies there as long as no copyrighted part of the movie is shown. An example of the copyrighted part is the Blu-ray logo which usually appears at the beginning of the video.
Sharing of video that includes a copyrighted part is also not allowed in Facebook which what I did before. I intentionally inserted a Blu-ray clip at the beginning of my video and then uploaded it in Facebook. After a few days I received a message from Facebook informing me of my video and that it is illegal to upload such copyrighted material. I first got confused since I’m not aware that they are actually referring to the Blu-ray clip in my video.
I also tried uploading the same video in YouTube but then again I also received a warning about the video. But this time the problem was explained in detail. The problem was pointed out to the Blu-ray clip that was in the beginning of the video.
