Ethics of P2P File Sharing: Should Free Movie Downloads be Banned? - By: Pete Nisbet

The ethics of P2P file sharing will be discussed till the cows come home, whenever that might be, but should free movie downloads be banned? My arguments will say yes and no, and while free movie downloads should never be banned absolutely, there are certain circumstances where P2P file sharing is used a bit naughtily.

Even then, the ethics of P2P file sharing can be argued, since those that are against it are also those that have made millions from the public through overcharging for small plastic disks, and have only turned to offering less expensive downloaded movies and music for the very reason that they have to compete with their more technically superior protagonists - the kids that understand the internet and the software that makes it work.

These kids knocked the socks off the big music and movie moguls, and they just couldn't hack it! So they complained and made free movie downloads fro p2p file sharing software illegal, along with downloading games and music free of charge. Only it wasn't free, because a membership fee was paid for the software and support, and still is - but that is irrelevant to this argument.

Should those that made billions from us have the high moral ground now that others are screwing them back? Legally, yes, but morally, no! They can bleat as much as they like but they will never get the public on their side and what did they do when the kids were beating them? They prosecuted the kids and fined their moms! High school kids that couldn't afford the thousands of dollar fines, so their moms were forced to pay, probably even when they were single parents!

However, should free movie downloads be banned because of that? Of course not, because P2P file sharing and free movie downloads are not illegal. What is illegal is using file sharing software illegally to download copyright protected material. I do not condone that, although I would have thought that more music and movie corporations would have employed available software to prevent that being possible. It is available.

They have made billions from us by selling plastic disks costing next to nothing to make for massive profits, yet can't be bothered to protect their tracks from being copied online. Even I can do that! They deserve all they get, but that doesn't make it legal. Not does their turning a blind eye to their precious dears, the recording 'artists' that break the drug laws daily and behave atrociously in public, but I suppose that doesn't make illegal free movie downloads legal either.

However, we all know who doesn't have the moral high ground here, and we would all likely be more sympathetic if they behaved with a bit more morality themselves. They have screwed us in the past and will do so in the future, and they still can't make that slight change that will make copying copyright-protected music and movie tracks impossible.

Many people use P2P file sharing software to offer their material free online. This is done for a number of reasons: to get their name known, to get their work known or to test the water with new ideas or different ways of presenting movies or music. If the work gets a good response then they can go ahead with the commercial versions.

I may want to publish some my own amateur work and allow my family and friends to download it, so P2P file sharing software is a good way to do that. It's not copyright and it's not illegal, so why ban free movie downloads or free music using file sharing software? It's not illegal - it's how it is used that can be illegal. However there many examples of that.

It's illegal for under 16s to smoke, but they do. So should cigarettes be banned? It's illegal for under 18s, 21s or 24 year olds to drink alcohol, depending on what country you live in. We all know they do, so should alcohol be totally banned from sale to everybody? Underage kids drive cars, so should all cars be taken off the road.

That is exactly the case with file sharing: should all free movie downloads be banned, even though it is possible to prevent copyright material to be made uncopyable? I think not! I also think that illegal file downloading should remain illegal, as it is, and that offenders be pursued, but the law of the land should also apply, and if a 10 year-old copies a movie, the parents should not be fined - they are not fined if the same kids hit me with crowbar and steal my wallet!

So is using P2P file sharing software for free movie downloads more serious than my fractured skull and stolen cash. Apparently so! Let's have less bleating and more sanity in assessing the scale of the problem relative to vast amounts of cash that music and movie studios make.

About the Author

For more information on the legal use of P2P file sharing software check out http://www.online-free-movies.com where you will also find out how to use Free Movie Downloads properly without breaking the law.

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