In Andrew Potter’s article “No one likes to pay for music—or much else”, Andrew discusses the copyright wars going on today with illegal downloading. In a nut shell, the music industry is upset that consumers are downloading songs for “free” off the internet, which results in them losing quite a bit of money. At first glance, there may seem like there is no simple solution to this problem, but Andrew quickly introduces his readers to McGuinness’s tax-and-distribute model. This model would have the government give all Internet users an access tax collected by the ISP’s. In return, users can download however many songs (or in some cases, movies, games, and e-books) they want, whenever they want, guilt-free. The fee would then be paid in a similar fashion to the Copyright Board like radio channels do. And a truce is made…
I think the McGuinness tax-and-distribute model is a great idea. Not only is it ethical, but it’s fair to everyone, the music industry included. If we step back and think about it, the music industry workers are just like us. They go to work, do their job to the best of their abilities, and expect to be compensated for their work. They don’t do all they do just to have consumers take their products for free. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for us to pay for our goods. Not to mention that illegal downloading is just that: illegal! Schools, companies, and state officials are really cracking down on this issue; the punishment if caught is getting more and more severe. This model would allow one to download all they want, and it would be way cheaper than the fine you’d have to pay if you got caught doing illegal activity!
Overall, this is an easy, foolproof, moral solution. To read about how some schools are cracking down on this issue, see the following web page:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/05/MNT6RSPM6.DTL&tsp=1
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2 comments:
I agree how this could be a good solution to the problem. People want to think they are getting something for free. However, the people who don't download but still use internet would end up paying extra taxes for nothing.
You're response was really well written, but I feel that music should be available for download to the American public for free. I mean, when a school puts on a play, the school pays royalties to the publisher so that they aren't sued, but I'd like to think that since musicians have other means of making money; i.e. concerts and merchandise, that they aren't completely hurting for money and they should comply with the consumer. not everyone has the money to go out an purchase a CD, so if they have a friend that can download the whole CD for free, why stop them? their music is still getting out the the public, and they have other means of financial gain.
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