P2P sharing. Ethical or Not?

Writing a paper on P2P sharing ethics and want your input on how you feel.

Do you think its ethical or not and why?

It depends. Is it being used for something that can be shared, like software under the GPL, and things like that nature, or is it copyrighted music and movies?

If it is for copyrighted music and movies, then I don't think it is ethical. I don't care how much money the record inustry or the artist makes, if you didn't buy it, then it is stealing.

I don't think anyone can argue that sharing of copyrighted material is ethical.
But is it fair? The record companies treat the consumer (and usualy the artist,) unfairly. Which is why so many people download illegal music and movies.

[quotefece9cc905="Peinecone"]I don't think anyone can argue that sharing of copyrighted material is ethical.
But is it fair? The record companies treat the consumer (and usualy the artist,) unfairly. Which is why so many people download illegal music and movies.[/quotefece9cc905]

I have to argue that point. I think most people download illegal music/movies because they just plain don't want to pay for it.

I would never pay a dime for music, that's just me though.

I never feel bad about it, but you can't really mix ethics into file sharing. I think it's where morals come in. Gosh someone should sticky that morality thread, and the slang thread. Anyway, I don't really feel bad for doing it, because artists have enough money, they're not going to run out........I would feel bad if these people were just trying hard to make a living and like weren't being able to because of file sharing. That's not the case.......

Gotta run, my torrent for the Family Guy series has just completed lol

[quotea3577fbb21="CollidgeGraduit"][quotea3577fbb21="Peinecone"]I don't think anyone can argue that sharing of copyrighted material is ethical.
But is it fair? The record companies treat the consumer (and usualy the artist,) unfairly. Which is why so many people download illegal music and movies.[/quotea3577fbb21]

I have to argue that point. I think most people download illegal music/movies because they just plain don't want to pay for it.[/quotea3577fbb21]
I agree. Another reason is how easy to download and not be pursecuted. But i think the greed of the record companies makes many people not feel bad or think twice about it.

not all the money goes to the artists. this is a huge misconception the general public has.
maybe what the record companies should look at is what drives people to share music. one big part of it for me is the fact that cds do not last nearly as long as they did 10 years ago. i rip everything as soon as i get it. the only stuff i download now is one song here are there but I rarely do...my fav bands i buy their music to support them, especially the lesser known bands like the man in my sig )

I download music for free but if I had the money I would buy it.

The way I see it is that I can download some new band's album for free on Usenet, listen to it, like it and then buy it when I get the money, or I can not download it and never buy it.

Same goes for software or movies. I downloaded every episode of 24 from the start of Series 1 to the end of the most recent series (5) and I plan on buying them all when I get the cash but if I hadn't downloaded them, they'd never be seeing 1 cent of my money.

How many people share music offline? I think most people do. If you have an album your friend wants to hear are you gonna tell him you're not gonna burn it for him or he can't copy it because it's illegal? Fuck no, you'll give it to him.

[quote00e7af8da2="OldManWrigley"]I never feel bad about it, but you can't really mix ethics into file sharing. I think it's where morals come in. Gosh someone should sticky that morality thread, and the slang thread. Anyway, I don't really feel bad for doing it, because artists have enough money, they're not going to run out........I would feel bad if these people were just trying hard to make a living and like weren't being able to because of file sharing. That's not the case.......[/quote00e7af8da2]

This is not true. Major pop artists may not need the money but a majority of artists tried damn hard to get where they are, and in the end it's still a job for them.

I don't download music because I don't like the music quality; CDs are just better. I download progams because I can't justify paying hundreds of dollars for photoshop.