File sharing, the simple act of downloading data (source). As a tool, simply revolutionary.
It makes sense too, in how our current society works; the economy and market puts value on products that people have put in work to create. I think the general idea of digital piracy would be taking the products that do require payment and distributing it freely for no payment. But, these products have fine prints as to what may be done with them and products are sometimes given away for free anyways -- what is the difference between that and piracy?
And why limit the ability to give?
The entertainment industry has been arguing that file sharing has put a huge wedge in their profits.
But, they wouldn't continue to huge these tools if they were not profiting from them. A study has shown that their profits remain healthy, which, really, should be expected (source) -- and people like their entertainment.
I think this goes beyond just money and legal rights. More of raw Power potential, and, yeah, sure money is power, but power is not just money. As we continue into this digital age, do we really expect people to use file sharing systems less? It'll be essential, a core to how society will run. Control over that is infinitely more powerful than have money.
Hello there, as far as I remember, this is my first time reviewing your blog. I really enjoyed reading this post on file sharing. I liked your way of seeing the file sharing as the power for people at the beginning. I pretty much agree with your view that "money is power, but power is not just money". Now that this post is up, the entertainment industry has to figure out how to straighten their argument against file sharing. Keep up with your work!
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