“Harmful” Programs

With all of the hype about copyright issues and piracy, I thought I should bring up something new to compare to these issues: products of the free software movement. As a class, we have already explored this topic, but not in the same context. Previously, we analyzed the effects and significance of free software as a force that flattens our world. Now, I would like to analyze free software as a program that is potentially harmful to a specific market.

To start the comparison, I will analyze the perfect example of a copyright-infringing program: BitTorrent. BitTorrent is used by many to quickly download hundreds of song and videos at a time. Loved by the consumers of illegally downloaded files, BitTorrent is hated by the creators of said files. Those whose work is subject to illegal downloading go after the downloading community, typically using one main arguments: that people downloading their work causes a drop in their profits.

And that is where I draw my comparison between the free software movement and piracy/copyright infringement. Before free software, there was the software created by windows and mac (mostly windows when it comes to office programs). These two companies enjoyed large profits from selling their software. Then, free software, like Linux and Ubuntu, was created. It could very easily be said that the creation of free software was an action specifically against the software created by Mac and Windows, whereas the same cannot be said of BitTorrent. After all, the general population that downloads music still loves the music industry itself. Some people even pay for their music just to support the artists they like, even while knowing that they could get it for free. People who use Linux or Ubuntu certainly do not care whether or not Windows and Mac software remains on the market.

I do not want anyone to think that I believe free software should be illegal. In fact, I am trying to compare the piracy/copyright-infringement issue to something that is not illegal. The only difference between the two is that piracy/copyright-infringement has been deemed steeling, although the term should probably be redefined for our modern world.

Piracy

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No person can harbor any doubt that piracy is rampant on the Internet. Powerful tools such as BitTorrent allow the rapid sharing of files with ease. Sites such as the Pirate Bay allow BitTorrent users to find the files they seek. Limewire is still in widespread use. Media organizations looking to protect their rights are working as hard as ever. Ars technica, a technology news website, has an excellent article on the statistics provided by organizations such as the RIAA and MPAA on piracy. The article takes an in-depth look at the reported losses due to piracy and finds that the numbers are grossly inflated.

In my opinion, the media industry is being absolutely ridiculous in its attacks on piracy. While I agree that copyright holders have some right to enforce their ownership of works, the industry needs to embrace the Internet. The history of media has shown that while new mediums can have adverse affects on the incumbent media, like that of television on radio, the incumbent media can easily adjust their business models in response and then profit further, like radio’s embrace of the music industry after TV became the dominant entertainment medium. Media consumers are the media companies’ customers. Attacking these customers with accusations only further alienates them, no matter how true these accusations are. A better tactic would be to invest the necessary capital to move the anachronistic music industry into the age of YouTube, Garageband, and Facebook and thus attract customers back to the licit portions of the industry.

While some in the media industries have slowly embraced the power of the Internet, the laws have not been updated in such a way as to allow consumers to take advantage of the Internet using their media. For example, while digital music sales have taken off, there is no way for consumers to create content that utilizes that media and post it on the Internet. Copyright law, as it always has, favors the copyright holder. I do not wish to dispute that balance of power. Rather, in the age of the Web, I say that laws need to be updated so that consumers can pay some reasonable fee and utilize a song in a way that does not fall under fair use in a YouTube video or on their Facebook. Fair use evaluation today is too arbitrary, and the process too protracted, to allow for the embrace of the Internet. I exhort the media industries to wake up from their slumber and realize that they are in an age that could either be golden in the quality of its media production or gloomy in the lack of the ability of consumers to create new works using the user-empowering technologies of our age.

New Technology for good or for bad

Today, if someone wants a picture of something they would go online and print it out, but what if someone wants an object. Most people today think the only way of getting that object is to either go buy it somewhere or make it they. What if you could just find it on your computer and print it out like an image? Would that even be possible? With the technology of today we have successfully created what we call “3d printers”, and surprisingly they are getting cheaper and cheaper. Soon everyone will have one just lying around in his or her house.

The way it works is it uses lasers to harden plastic into the figures you want. It starts off with a very thin layer of this liquid in what you may call a tub. Then it burns what would be the first, or bottom, layer of the model into the plastic, therefore hardening it. The 3d printer then puts enough liquid in the “tub” until it makes one more layer. The laser burns the next layer of the model into the plastic and the process continues.

Most people would think of so many benefits that could come of this and don’t seem to think of the cons. This opens up a whole new way for pirates to steal using the Internet. Now-adays a teenager can get online and download a song in a matter of seconds if they know what they’re doing. So far, online piracy has mainly been intellectual property, but what is going to happen when someone can go online and download their new gi joe action figure they want, or even something as complicated as a working rubiks cube. This is the future were heading into. Will this crash the economy or will this open up a whole new can of worms no one sees coming.