technoculture314-09

On the issue of downloading and copyright I found the concept of different moral standards for different types of artists quite interesting as I myself would never consider downloading any local content on principal. Perhaps it’s a matter of distance that changes the way we perceive downloading and copyright infringement. If the knowledge that your downloading effects the livelihood of someone in your own community then you are much less likely to partake in such an offence. I think that the same goes for those who are involved in particular types of media, e.g., Is a musician less likely to illegally download another artist’s work? But this is not a feeling shared by everyone. Many see file sharing in a much more liberal way. The only thing that can be agreed upon is that there must be changes made to the copyright law that properly fit the many different situations that arise in the world of file sharing. This is a difficult, if not impossible thing to be done as it means that different ideas about individual artistic, cultural and economic value conflict. These ideas differ for each individual, and is probably a major reason why there is such a massive gap between contemporary ideas about intellectual property and the laws that attempt to reflect this.