We were discussing a moral question in class which was “should people who download music and movies for free be punished?” Everyone has different perspective or point of view of the question.
In some way, some people agree that people who download music and movies for free should be punished. People tend to download music and movies from the Internet or some website illegally which is for free, instead of buy CDs or go to cinema to watch movies. Download movies or music illegally is just like stealing something from others which without the permission. Because people who download music and movies illegally are destroying the business and damaging the entertainment companies. It will cause people be unemployed which the singer, songwriter or actor should get money for every sale they get, but if you download it illegally they will not get money they deserve. Also, it will destroy the passion of the artist, and causes companies to lose money to decrease the economy. So in this point of view it will be unfair to the original creator, because they won’t get the payment they deserve.
In other point of view, some people disagree that people who download music and movies for free should be punished. Downloading music and movies are completely free. People think if they get punished then there will be a huge amount of people should be punished too and it will never stop. Internet is huge connection between people and they know how to work with it, meaning they could easily slip in illegal movies or music downloaded from wherever or whenever. Even people be punished, the action will be continuous because they can find another way to download movies or music illegally again. So it will be meaningless to punish people and never stop the situation.
My own opinion will be I think people who download music and movies for free should be punished. Because the singer, actor and publisher spend a long time of working on their piece of work. As they put so many effort into their work, they should get the payment they deserve. So we shouldn’t download something for free without paying them the money for their work.
April 5, 2015 at 8:46 am
Hi Anya,
You’ve made a pretty black and white case of this. Basically you say downloading copyrighted movies or music for free = stealing, so people who do it should be punished. If this is the case, how would you determine an appropriate punishment for perpetrators and what do you think that punishment should be? Also, given that a lot of young people today are freely downloading such content, would you notify the authorities if a friend of yours was doing it in order that they be punished? Why or why not?
Sorry for all the questions, but I don’t think it is enough just to say downloading is wrong and perpetrators should be punished. I’d like to know how this punishment will ultimately benefit the musicians, movie makers, and other stakeholders in the debate.