The End of Illegal File Sharing?
By: Audrey Adelle
Probably not. After news of prominent file sharing website giant, The Pirate Bay closing for three days followed by the creators being sentenced to nine years in prison, users are not sure where that leaves them. Though the website remains unaffected and the creators are appealing the courts verdict that hasn’t stopped whispers around the web.
An avid file sharer claims, “It has always been this cat-and-mouse game. They find a new way to take us down, we dig a different hole.” Is this why The Pirate Bay is still up and running? Is it just to teach a lesson that you can go to prison for creating such a website? If so, that doesn’t even begin to stop what the courts are opposed to. Why punish the creators yet let the website continue running? It’s not very likely they will be tried again.
Perhaps, the courts do not want to look incompetent in the matter as they do realize that there will always be new file sharing websites popping up when one goes down. “It's always been a war. We will never go away as long as there is a demand. People are much more clever than you or I can even conceive especially when you bring the minds of hundreds or thousands together; you get a collective knowledge greater than the government of any country can defeat.” While, that may be true the Swedish government seems to think this is the best way for them to handle file sharing.
The most common argument from record labels and production companies is that when their content is illegally downloaded, the Artists lose money. But according to a study by the BI Norwegian School of Management those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don’t. If that is the case, then prohibiting file sharing may not be the best solution for Artists afterall.
So maybe file sharing is really another outlet for promotion, albeit the full content and not just a sample. But if this encourages more people to actually go out and buy it after it has been tested, then what is the harm? “File sharing is just that though—it is about the sharing. Everyone has a different reason for doing it - some for the thrill, some for the money, some because they couldn't otherwise get something (imports), and some simply because they cannot afford to get the things they enjoy." No matter the reason, file sharers will always be around if they can help it.
Though scare tactics are being used on file sharing websites, it seems safe to say that file sharers need not worry, it will take a whole lot more to stop the sharing.
Who knows, maybe in the future, file sharing will be welcomed instead of condemned.
