Alllea Cauilan Professor Altman English 115 #14334 29 October 2014 Click Here to Share Information is spread and shared around the world in a matter of seconds. When there are new discoveries, the news spreads quickly. During the Enlightenment period, new discoveries in information that went against the es science emerged. Religious groups stepped in and banned any i ( teachings of the religion. Similarly, in Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, government agencies maintained and censored the information available to the public. The government did mot want Cw, information that went against the government or information that would decrease the government's credibility. In the real world, governments also filter the internet available for the public. One online activity often targeted is the illegal downloading of media, also known as piracy. Websites like piratebay and kickass provide people with links to downloads and to a rents. \ yy argue that piracy is simply stealing, but Governments try to shut down these websites. Many ma “We it is also a great way to share and obtain information that is usually not available. Although torrenting and file sharing causes a decrease in revenue for many industries, the government should not shut down piracy sites because these sites could be used as a marketing strategy for 2 = ° many industries that oppose it, they give access to rare and creative information for millions, and” these sites provide a space for freedom of speech.. e: ‘The society described in V for Vendetta is similar to our soci 3 Verdetta’s government enon controls all of England and they manage to filter the types of information that reaches the civilians, Other than the people working for the government agencies, civilians only knowCauilan 2 information coming from the television or radio. Both are highly regulated by the government So it is an opportunity for the government to control and manipulate what the audiences know and feel. When the main female character Evey is brought to the Shadow Gallery by the protagonist dbs V, she exclaimed, “All ofthese paintings and books...1 didn’t even know there were things like oe ig” 4 w this” (Moore 18). From this, readers can deduce that the government had tried to hide and WON Ane destroy all of the books and art that they didn’t want the public to be exposed to. Government control and restriction of information is not limited to comic books and stories. The real world has seen many governments try to hide information from its citizens. Whether its China’s strict v ban on several internet websites, to Japans recent DDOS attacks on torrenting sites, to the U.S’ NSA monitoring of internet activity, government control of ‘information is not limited to fiction. ‘The main reason for the aim to remove piracy is the fact that piracy destroys revenue, especially for the music and movie industries. Kollin J. Zimmermann, an intellectual property lawyer, talks about file sharing in his article “Peer-to-Peer Services Facilitate Copyright Infringement”. Millions of people illegally torrenting music has caused the music industry an conomic loss every year” (Zimmermann 1). Music is one of the estimated “$12.5 billion of e« most popular things that people illegally download online. Instead of going to a store to buy the entire album, people would rather but a single song online for free. This is potential profit that the music industry is missing out on. Not only is the music industry suffering, but the movie industry as well. The Atlantic’s Quirk, Matthew describes how “the U.S movie industry lost %2.3 billion in revenue to Internet piracy in 2005"(1). Due to the faster internet speed and greater understanding of computers, internet piracy has only gotten more popular since 2005, hh means that the revenue loss has been getting greater. Piracy allows people to access media whiclCauilan 3 for free, causing industries to lose potential profit. Although piracy may seem like actions similar to stealing, popular music and movies is not the only thing people download illegally. Although losing revenue, industries could turn things around and use file sharing as a new marketing strategy. Piracy gives us easier access to information which music and movie ‘c C Pb industries could use to their advantage. People prefer to use torrents because it is faster and a» cheaper than waiting for the CD or DVD. Technology is changing so quickly that some industries realize that they cannot defeat the pirates. Some movie studios try to take this into pee their own advantage and “have worked out a deal with Bit-Torrent, a file-sharing site, to allow CO moderately prices movie downloads that self-destruct after viewing. As watching movies at one wy home becomes ever easier, couch potatoes may end up spending more time (and more at money)...If the studios play their cards right, the digital age may hold more promise than peril lo \ for Hollywood” (Quirk 1-2). Piracy may have is disadvantages but if companies look at the good (> Nal aspects of file sharing; they can use it for their own benefits. File-sharing could make it easier for HV enh companies to sell to the public, and could be used as a powerful marketing strategy. Torrenting and file sharing isn’t all bad, so the government should not ban websites for doing so. S Were ve ON Rare media is often downloaded on file sharing and torrenting sites. Torrenting is often misunderstood by those who have never tried it. Many think that illegal downloading is only for popular music and media but actually, “one is presented with the créme de la créme of culture, whether a pristine copy ofa Fellini film or that Ella Fitzgerald recording few have ever heard” (Alang 1). Since torrenting requires one person to upload and share a file, some rare and. exclusive files may be found only from this method. Media that was discontinued by the publisher can still be found online only in torrents. This gives people access to information they would have never found, and since it is not sold in stores or online anymore, there is no revenueno Cauilan 4 Joss. Many forms of piracy do not create harm against media and publication companies. It is just way to share information around the world so the government should not ban torrent sites. The sntemet was made to share knowledge and express art to millions and torrenting sites do exactly this, They make the internet the diverse community that it is today so they should not be filtered and banned by the government. If piracy is banned because itis copyright infringement, then many other internet a activities would be banned since they are also forms of copyright infringement. There isn’t @ clear definition of what internet infringement is. Joe Karaganis from the National Review a) explains that when people illegally “download a movie we infringe. But we also infringe when an e-mail or repost a funny picture to Facebook or upload a video of kids dancing to we forward a pop song”(1). Failed acts like the Stop Online Piracy Act were shut down because people felt. Cl it was a threat to their freedom of speech. If all kinds of copyright infringement were banned \ Onn online, social media sties and the simple sharing of certain files would be banned. Since many file sharers are not making a profit off of the files, many can argue that there is nothing wrong with sharing files, If the government monitors all of the websites for any type of copyright infringement is outrageous and violates our privacy. Our freedom of speech and creative expression comes before copyright infringement so the government should allow some forms of piracy. ‘Torrenting and file-sharing should remain a service on the internet and the government should leave it alone. Although it costs money for certain industries, that is not the only face of torrents. The file sharing community uses the internet to share and connect to the world. Rare and exclusive files can be accessed by millions instead of limited to a select few who were just so lucky enough to buy the item when it was legally on sale. File sharing is the fastest and mostPavcaieit way to get the shows and caterGiincient thst we want, but if eitertsimanaot Upp eS manipulate this, they could make even more money from us. It’s not all about the free stuf, many people torrent because of the convenience, the creativity, and the social aspects that come with sharing files. The internet is diverse in the information that it contains. People can post and say Whatever they want, and others can search for it. Without file-sharing and torrenting the internet would be less diverse. Our knowledge would be limited and our freedom of self- expression and speech would also be limited, Banning torrenting means banning many other forms of social networking and would make the internet less appealing. The World Wide Web would not be the same without the capability of sharing files so the government should not interfere. Legislature should look more to the people rather than simply listening to the demands of large companies. If they expended their views they would realize that illegal pirating, although on the surface seems bad, has an array of creativity and knowledge that makes the internet what itis today. alee had A (et ot tall, ariak i is: Dn Kavision | ty fo Conblane_ You Coutharatguminbe de @ inte phe qt Vol XK) led aC Lon ols our Nor Avant. bX if fe ile One fool it \owwWorks Cited Alang, Navneet. "Pirates of high culture: there's more to online piracy than Beyonce singles and porn.” This Magazine Mar.-Apr. 2010: 42.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. Karaganis, Joe. “Copyright for the Internet age: what we like doing online should be legal.” National Review 25 Feb. 2013. National Review Online. Web. 20 Oct. 2014 Quirk, Matthew. “The movie pirates: will Internet bootleggers kill Hollywood, or make it stronger?” The Atlantic,1 June 2007, The Atlantic. Web. 20 Oct. 2014 Zimmermann, Kollin J. "Peer-to-Peer Services Facilitate Copyright Infringement.” Copyright Infringement. Ed. Carol Ullmann and Lynn M. Zott. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Actual Transfer’ Versus 'Making Available’: A Critical Analysis of the Exclusive Right to Distribute Copyrighted Works.” The Computer and Internet Lawyer 29.8 (Aug. 2012). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.