Internet Music Sharing and the RIAA Essay -- Internet Online Communica

Internet Music Sharing and the RIAA In today’s high-tech computer savvy world, one of the largest controversies brewing on the internet is the downloading and sharing of music using various peer-to-peer programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, Audio Galaxy, and many others. These programs use software that, â€Å"rather than going through a server to request information, can make requests directly to other software. This attribute is what allows users of P2P networks to freely exchange music, movies and other types of files (Friedenberg).† To the everyday user, downloading all of their music from the internet is great. Who wouldn’t want to be able to get the newest Radiohead CD months before it comes out in stores and for free? However, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) doesn’t find sharing music over the internet to be quite as appealing; in fact, according to the RIAA’s official website, they have begun launching their first of what could potentially be thousand’s of civil lawsuits against users of these peer-to-peer programs. (Recording Industry Begins Suing P2P File Sharers Who Illegally Offer Copyrighted Music Online). On Monday, September 10th, the RIAA sued 261 people, one of whom was a 12-year-old girl, Brianna LaHara of New York. This lawsuit was settled for $2,000 on Tuesday, by her mother (Music Piracy Suits Could Bring Backlash ) and was actually paid by P2P United, which is a group who represents major file-sharing websites on the internet (Mello). Mo st likely to appear to the people that are on the edge between the goods and evils of file sharing as the good guy, for helping out a 12-year-old who many believe shouldn’t have been prosicuted. Many people were upset by this particu... ... September 2003. . Mello, John P. â€Å"RIAA Settles First Lawsuit Against 12-Year-Old Brianna LaHara.† Tech News World. 11 September 2003. Tech News World. 23 September 2003. . â€Å"Music Piracy Suits Could Bring Backlash.† CNN.com. 10 September 2003. CNN. 21 September 2003. < http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/10/backlash.music.ap/index.html>. Recording Industry Association of America – About Us. Recording Industry Association of America. 21 September 2003. . â€Å"Recording Industry Begins Suing P2P File Sharers Who Illegally Offer Copyrighted Music Online.† 8 September 2003. Recording Industry Association of America. 21 September 2003 .