The Historyof Internet Pi Peer to peer file sharing is nothing new, and its widespread use today is a result of many developments in the past few decades. A quick look at how internet piracy has transformed, progressed, and evolved:
1991 MP3 File Format The MPEG-2 Audio Layer III file format is developed by a coalition of scientists including the AT&T Bell Research Lab. It is able to compress a standard CD sound file by eleven times and becomes widely used throughout the nineties.
1998 digital millenium copyright act The bill is passed unanimously by the US Senate. It increases
the penalties for theft of intellectual property online, and officially outlaws the development and devices and services created to aid in copyright infringement.
instantly explodes in popularity, peaking at 80 million songs and 25 million active users.
A&M Records, along with several other music record companies, sues Napster for violation of the DMCA and for aiding in copyright infringement of mp3 files. Napster is forced to shut down in July 2001, and declares bankruptcy the very next year.
1999 Napster Sean Parker, Shawn Fanning, and John Fanning launch Napster, a peer to peer file sharing service that primarily aids in the dissemination of digital mp3 files. Napster
possibly unfair enforcement.
2000 A&M Records vs napster
O’Dwyer’s legal troubles as well. I don’t know, nor do I particularly care, if you pirate music,
Have you ever heard of Richard O’Dwyer? He is a 24-year-old
movies, or textbooks with basic knowledge of copyright laws. If you
student whom the U.S. charged with conspiracy to commit copyright
do, I especially don’t know or care why. Perhaps you are struggling
infringement and criminal infringement of copyright, which sound
financially and just want to watch that new action flick without
pretty similar but are apparently very different to the U.S. government.
shelling out $30 for a DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital/Magic/Extended combo
He created a search engine to find links to other websites with movies,
pack. Perhaps you are a wealthy trust-fund kid who just wants to
many of which were illegally uploaded. The best part of the whole
stick it to the man. Perhaps you just want to ruffle some record-
story? He’s not even American. No, dear readers, O’Dwyer is British.
company feathers. (If that sounds like you, then way to go. It worked.)
The United States has been trying to extradite him for well over a
Whatever the reason, things are changing, and quickly.
year now, and he could face up to five years in prison for each charge.
O’Dwyer’s situation is not an isolated event. It’s been happening
The Open Rights Group, an organization based in the United
more and more frequently, and while some may say that the
Kingdom that is aimed at “protecting your rights in the digital age,”
suspects deserve their punishment, many more would say that the
disagrees with charges and has been very outspoken about the
consequences of getting caught pirating are a little extreme. In
situation. They claim that O’Dwyer did not break any U.K. laws, and
2009, a woman was ordered to pay 1.9 million dollars because she
that he should not be under the jurisdiction of the United States.
downloaded and shared 24 songs from Kazaa, according a Huffington
Well, now what? Who’s right? If the fact that the internet is global
Post article. Yes, she broke the law. No one (well, besides her) denies
didn’t make it hard enough to monitor activities of questionable
that. But 1.9 million dollars?
legality, then the fact that no countries have the exact same laws did. And remember how Wikipedia protested SOPA? Well, they protested 42
neos november 2012
In addition, colleges and universities around the country