QotW3: To download or not to download...

Information in the virtual world is easily accessible. It is not difficult for a person to download a file and share it among his peers. Here comes the issue of copyright. Especially in the music industry, artistes have lament over their music being illegaly dowloaded. This means that their music is being circulated for free. According to The Copyright Act of 1976, the items of expression such as literary, dramatic, and musical works; pantomimes and choreography; pictorial, graphic and sculptural works; audio-visual works; sound recordings; and architectural works have the right to be protected. (Copyright Website, 2006) When these works are protected, it means that only the rightful owner have the authority to reproduce the work, to distribute copies of the work, to perform the work publicly and to display the work publicly. (Copyright Office Basic, 2006) If these works are misused or circulated without permission, the owner is able to take legal actions. The owners have the right to take credit for any use of their work and also to gain monetary profit from any sales of their work. So, if the rights of the content creators are protected, does that mean limitations to the public?

Over the years, the music industry has been fighting against piracy and illegal file-trading, claiming that they are the reason for the declining music sales. File sharing software such as Napster and Kazaa have been slammed with many lawsuits. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has taken several measures to curb the problem of illegal downloads. Hundreds of individual file sharers have been tracked down and sued for infringement of copyright. (Will Knight, 2004) The RIAA believes that these acts will make users switch to legitimate uses.

Unfortunately, even with the copyright law, illegal file sharing continue to rise. How then do we benefit both parties? In one situation, the music industry is suffering because copyright laws are infringed, on the other hand, public still download illegally due to certain reasons. Users are aware of the law but they do not see it as a threat. Researchers, Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf believe that most downloading is done over peer-to-peer networks by teens and college kids, groups that are "money-poor but time-rich,"... In fact, illegal downloading may help the industry slightly with another major segment, which Oberholzer and Strumpf call "samplers"—an older crowd who downloads a song or two and then, if they like what they hear, go out and buy the music. (Sean Silverthorne, 2004) If downloading can actually help the music industry, we need to do it in a legal manner. Artise and songwriters will seek to benefit if music downloads are charged accordingly. This way, profits can be shared among file sharers and rightful owners. "We need a mechanism that collects a pot of money from file-sharers and divides it up among artists and copyright owners... Known as "voluntary collective licensing," the concept is simple: the music industry forms one or more collecting society, which in turn offer file-sharing music fans the opportunity to "get legit" in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month."(Fred Lohmann, 2004)

I think such a solution will bring about the best of both worlds. Users can now share their music without any worry of breaking the law. The solution also create a balance for both content creaters and the public. With the copyright act, public are not given the opportunity to express their freedon and creativity. Now, since they have paid for their download, they can then have the right to do what they wish with their music. Artistes on the other hand gain monetary benefit from the music downloads.

References

Copyright Office Basic . (2006). Retrieved February 3, 2007 from
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci

Copyright Website. (2006). Retrieved February 3, 2007 from
http://www.benedict.com/

Fred, L. (September 29, 2004). Law.com:Is Suing Your Customers a Good Idea?.
Retrieved February 3, 2007 from http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434496352

Sean, S. (June 21, 2004). Music Downloads: Pirates—or Customers?. Retrieved February 3,
2007 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4206.html

Will, K. (March 2003). Net music piracy 'does not harm record sales' . Retrieved February 3,
2007 from http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4831

COM 125 Week 2: Electronic Mail

Introduction

The electronic mail or e-mail for short is one of the Internet's greatest tools that allows users to share information and communicate with ease. With just a hit of a button, our messages can be send instantly to the directed party. E-mail started way back in 1965, even before the Internet was introduced. (Wikipedia,2007) Just like how the invention of telephone has made it easier to communicate, e-mail has also changed the way we interact with others.

"one could write tersely and type imperfectly, even to an older person in a
superior position and even to a person one did not know very well, and the
recipient took no offense. The formality and perfection that most people expect
in a typed letter did not become associated with network messages.." (Email
History, n.d)

However, it was Raymond Tomlinson who implemented the e-mail system that is similar to that we are using right now. Unlike the system that were used in 1965, the e-mail could not be sent to users who were using the same computer. As such, Tomlinson came up with the use of @ to separate the users from their machine. (T.Vleck, 2001)

Besides composing messages, images, audio and video files can also be sent. The messages can also be sent to multiple recipients. This special feature makes communication so much efficient. It is especially useful for organizations where information can be reached to many members at once. Sorting letters would be such a hassle but with e-mail, we can arrange our mails accordingly. Lawrence Roberts improved on READMAIL, which required messages to be read in order, and with no ability to save or reply.... The new program included capabilities to sort email headers by subject and date..(Email History, n.d) Users now have control over which mail to read, reply, or save in the order that they wish.

Unfortunately, the e-mail is not without its problems. One of it is spamming which involves sending identical messages to numerous recipients through e-mail.(Wikipedia, 2007) We can say that spam is the electronic version of junk mails. Considered a nuisance, spam is rapidly increasing in the virtual world.

Another threat to e-mail would be worms. Typically the worm will arrive as email, where the message body or attachment contains the worm code, but it may also link to code on an external website. (Wikipedia, 2007) Although a virus corrupts files on a computer, worms only harms the network.

Today, communication is even more efficient. With the development of the e-mail, arises other Internet tools such as IRC and Instant Messaging. These programs, like e-mail, saves time, share files and require no formality but they have an extra feature. IRC and Instant Messaging recieves instant feedbacks. Recipients reply to their message instantaneously and senders can view the replies too. All this happening in a short period of time.

The e-mail gives a whole new meaning to communication and interaction. People all over the world are virtually closer. Physical boundaries are not an obstacle to reach out to one another. Great discoveries like the electronic mail create opportunities for the human race to interact and share information in a new way altogether.

References

Computer Worm From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved January 27, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_worm

E-mail From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_mail#Internet_e-mail_header

Email History, Retrieved January 27, 2007, from

http://www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm

Ray Tomlinson From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved January 27, 2007, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Tomlinson

The History of Electronic Mail, T. Vleck, Retrieved January 27, 2007, from

http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html

Knowing Me...Knowing You..

First blog..first entry..I did it!

I'm Dalina...who is not really that tech savvy and clueless when it comes to the world of internet. Well apart from turning the computer on and off and surfing the net, i do know a little bit here and there. It's just the technical mumbo-jumbos that i don't get.

So, given the opportunity to create my own blog, i hope i'll be able to put to use my computer skills or lack thereof. I think this will be a good start for me to develop my writing and thinking skills too.

I didn't know it would be so simple to start a blog..i mean even my 12-year old niece has one so i figured it couldn't be that hard.

Like everybody else...my main interest is music. I listen to probably all kinds of music as long as it sounds pleasing to my ears.. I guess it would be hard to really point out what genre i listen to...it's an eclectic mix from pop to rock. I adore chicks who play musical instruments - Sophie B. Hawkins, Jewel, Alanis, Lisa Loeb, KT Tunstall, Michelle Branch and the list goes on........

I will get the hang of this..eventually..i hope..

Hmm..i need to get a decent picture..now where is that Beyonce pic..hahaha..(Warning: I can get pretty lame sometimes..)