Illegal Downloading

Illegally downloading music has become a major issue in today's society. It has become so prevalent that music downloading sites such as Limewire have been shut down by the federal government due to extensive peer to peer file sharing. The downloading of songs for free is not only illegal but also cutting into the profits of the artists who have created the songs. This may not seem like an important issue to some people, but in reality, it is cutting into the CD sales very drastically.

Along with the issues of copyright and infringement, illegal downloading brings to light some ethical dilemmas as well. One in particular would be the Bok Model for Ethical Decision Making. This model can be related to illegal downloading in the consumers' perspective. The consumer needs to consult their conscience when deciding whether or not to illegally download music. They need to decide between right and wrong and what is legal vs. illegal. The consumer also needs to seek out alternatives. A few alternatives in this situation would be to purchase the artist's CD, purchase the music via Itunes or to not download the music at all. If the consumer would perform any of these alternatives, the action would not be illegal and they will be supporting the artist as well as getting the music that they desire. The last step would be to hold an imaginary dialogue with everyone involved. The consumer should ask how their decision will affect others. They should discuss this issue in terms of each person involved such as the artist, the public, and the government. In following this three step process, the consumer will have a better understanding of how their decision is ultimately affecting themselves as well as the people involved with producing the music.

A second ethical dilemma would be the categorical imperative by Kant. This is the idea in which an individual should act in a way that they would be willing to have everyone else act. This could directly relate to illegal downloading in that if everyone downloaded their music illegally it would ultimately put the music artists out of business and the consumers would not be able to get their music at all. In turn, society should act in a way that they would accept the rest of the world to act. If everyone would purchase music in a legal manner, there would not be any issues in the concept of illegal downloading.

Despite these apparent ethical issues, illegal downloading is always going to exist with the availability of technology and the internet. Unless strict government control and laws are put into place, artists will always have to deal with consumers getting their music for free. Artists now need to focus on different means as a way to replace the profits they are loosing from illegal downloading.