2. What is illegal downloading?
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally
stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio,
images and video), documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented
through a variety of ways. Common methods of storage, transmission and
dispersion include manual sharing utilizing removable media, centralized
servers on computer networks, World Wide Web-based hyperlinked
documents, and the use of distributed peer-to-peer networking.
Peer to Peer File Sharing
Users can use software that connects in to a peer-to-peer network to search
for shared files on the computers of other users (i.e. peers) connected to
the network. Files of interest can then be downloaded directly from other
users on the network. Typically, large files are broken down into smaller
chunks, which may be obtained from multiple peers and then reassembled
by the downloader. This is done while the peer is simultaneously uploading
the chunks it already has to other peers.
3. History of Illegal Downloading
1978- 1985: Files were first shared by file system through bulletin board such as Usenet
1988-1997: Files could be shared through chat rooms
1991: Mp3 encoding
1998: Mp3.com and audiogalaxy launched and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed
1999: Napstar was released as main peer-to-peer system
2001: Napstar was sued by several companies
2002-2003: Other p2p sites like Limewire and BitTorrent. Recording Industry Associates of America shut
down Audiogalaxy. Other Torrent sites like isohunt and the Pirate Bay launched.
2005: Megaupload launched
2006: Pirate Bay temporarily shut down
2009: Pirate Bay found guilty in court of illegal file sharing
2010: Limewire forced to shut down
2012: Megaupload forced to shut down, it’s estimated it had over 50, 000, 000 users. China pass laws
stating illegal downloaders can face jail sentences.
4. Legality of File Sharing
The legal debate surrounding file sharing has caused many lawsuits. In the United States, some of
these lawsuits have even reached the Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster. In that particular
lawsuit, the Supreme Court has ruled that the creators of P2P networks can be held
responsible if the intent of their program is clearly to infringe on copyright laws.
On the other hand, file sharing is not necessarily illegal, even if the works being shared are
covered by copyright. For example, some artists may choose to
support freeware, shareware, open source, or anti-copyright, and advocate the use of file
sharing as a free promotional tool. Nearly all freeware, and open source software may be
shared, under the rules specified in the license for that specific piece of software. Content in
the public domain can also be freely shared.
Japan have recently introduced piracy penalties.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19767970
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/30-arrested-for-illegally-sharing-manga-music-
movies-tv-shows-and-anime-online
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/11/minnesota-woman-songs-illegally-
downloaded
5. Illegal Downloading in the U.K
Manchester has been named the piracy capital of the UK, according to a new study seen exclusively by the BBC.
The research said there were more illegal downloads per person in the city than any other in the country, followed by
Nottingham and Southampton. The statistics, from monitoring service Musicmetric, conclude that in the first half of
2012, UK users illegally shared over 40 million albums and singles.
Globally, the research suggested that the UK is a significant player on the world stage as a country of illegal music
downloaders.
According to Musicmetric, the highest levels of piracy based on downloads per person in the UK are:
• Manchester
• Nottingham
• Southampton
• Liverpool
• Sheffield
• Leicester
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Glasgow
• Cardiff
• Leeds
• Bristol
• Edinburgh
• Wolverhampton
• Derby
• Reading
• Bradford
• Kingston Upon Hull
• Birmingham
• Coventry
• London
6. Top 20 Countries for Illegal Downloading
1. United States: 96,868,398 (most popular artist: Drake)
2. United Kingdom: 43,314,568 (most popular artist: Ed Sheeran)
3. Italy: 33,226,258 (most popular artist: Laura Pausini)
4. Canada: 23,953,053 (most popular artist: Kayne West)
5. Brazil: 19,677,596 (most popular artist: Billy Van*)
6. Australia: 19,103,047 (most popular artist: Hilltop Hoods)
7. Spain: 10,306,829 (most popular artist: Pablo Alboran)
8. India: 8,965, 271 (most popular artist: Billy Van*)
9. France: 8,400,869 (most popular artist: Sexion d’assaut)
10. Philippines: 8,351,260 (most popular artist: Maroon 5)
11. Mexico: 7,522,865 (most popular artist: Jesse y Joy)
12. Netherlands: 6,671,428 (most popular artist: Birdy)
13. Portugal: 5,587,198 (most popular artist: Pablo Alboran)
14. Poland: 5,029,204 (most popular artist: Gotye)
15. Greece: 4,919,567 (most popular artist: Billy Van*)
16. Hungary: 4,470,948 (most popular artist: Pitbull)
17. Chile: 4,210,641 (most popular artist: Los Bunkers)
18. Romania: 4,152,252 (most popular artist: Billy Van*)
19. Sweden: 4,074,594 (most popular artist: Laleh)
20. Belgium: 3,880,900 (most popular artist: Gotye
7. Effect on the Music Industry
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded between
2004 and 2009. Even with sites like iTunes and Rhapsody offering legal downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing still exists.
Illegally downloading music has had a significant impact on the music industry resulting in a loss of profits and jobs,
and changing how music is delivered to the masses.
The RIAA reports that music sales in the United States have dropped 47 percent since Napster first debuted in 1999. The
availability of free music has cost the music industry $12.5 billion in economic losses. To recoup some of these losses,
the music industry has filed lawsuits against individuals who have been found to have illegally downloaded music. In
some cases, individuals have been sued for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Singers and bands are the public face of the music industry, but creating, recording and promoting a song takes a large team
of people. As record companies have seen their profits decrease, they have cut positions they are no longer able to
afford. This includes artists as well as engineers, songwriters, producers, technicians and marketing support. The RIAA
reveals that more than 71,000 jobs have been lost as a result of illegally downloading music.
Declining profits and fewer staff leave the music industry with less funds and opportunities to recruit and develop new
talent. Record labels are more inclined to focus their money and time on established artists and only a few, promising
new artists. As a result, more new artists have to look for outlets to create and promote their music on their own, such
as selling it directly online.
The illegal sharing of music has impacted the way the music industry markets and promotes its artists. The introduction of
Napster and illegal downloading helped usher in a new era of digitally accessible music where singles trump a full-
length album. To expose its artists to a wider audience, the music industry has had to develop and deploy new tactics
like ringtones and digital licensing music to sites like YouTube and Pandora. Touring and promotional deals are more
lucrative for the music industry than selling songs.
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/illegally-downloading-music-impact-music-industry-27748.html
8. What is Being Done to Stop Illegal
Downloading?
Spotify is a Swedish music streaming service offering digitally restricted streaming of selected music from a range of major and
independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by
Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010, about 2.5 million of
whom were paying members. Total users reached 15 million by August 2012, 4 million of them paying monthly.As of May 2012,
the service is available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The system is currently accessible using Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Telia Digital-tv, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows
Mobile, Windows Phone, S60 (Symbian), webOS, Squeezebox, Boxee, Sonos, WD TV, and MeeGo.
Music can be browsed by artist, album, record label, genre or playlist as well as by direct searches. On desktop clients, a link allows
the listener to purchase selected material via partner retailers.
A six month free trial period is activated upon Spotify account registration or first login with a Facebook account, where a user can
listen to an unlimited amount of music supported by visual and radio-style advertising. After the trial, Spotify has a listening
limit of 10 hours per month, divided into a 2.5 hour streaming allocation each week (with any unused hours carrying over to the
next week). An "Unlimited" subscription removes advertisements and time limits and a "Premium" subscription introduces
extra features such as higher bitrate streaming, offline access to music and mobile app access. An active Facebook account is
required to use Spotify if the user has signed up using Facebook, but as of 30 August 2012 the option to make a Spotify
username has been reintroduced. Subscriptions are restricted to people with credit/debit cards or PayPal accounts registered in
certain countries.
iTunes is a media player and media library application developed by Apple Inc. It is used to play, download, save, and organize
digitalaudio and video on personal computers running the OS X operating system and the iOS-based iPod, iPhone,
and iPad devices. Editions of iTunes are also released for Microsoft Windows. It can connect to the iTunes Store to let users
purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, movies and movie rentals in
select countries, and ringtones, available on the iPhone and iPod Touch (fourth generation onward.) It is also used to
download application software from the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. iTunes has been criticized for not being
able to transfer music from one portable device to another.
iTunes was introduced on January 9, 2001. In June 2010, Apple released a new privacy policy relating to the establishment and
collection of users' real-time location information.[The information had been included in various device-specific EULAs since
2008, but was not included in Apple's general privacy policy until 2010.
iTunes 10.7 is the most recent version of iTunes available for Mac OS X v10.6.8 or later, as well as Windows XP, Windows
Vista,Windows 7 and Windows 8. On September 12, 2012, with the announcement of the iPhone 5 and the new generations of
the iPod Nano and iPod Touch, Apple announced a revamped version of iTunes to be released in October 2002, however the
release was pushed back to the end of November after Apple revealed it was taking longer than expected to finalise the
software.
