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Essay on Ethics of Copying Music, Movies, Software and Books from the internet
Copyright gives authors of certain forms of creative work the right to prevent their work from being copied. It also grants authors additional rights, such as the right to publicly display the work and the right to make new works derived from the original work. Copyright does not need to be sought by the producer of a work; it subsists by statute in all original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. Until recently, content was largely consumed according to three business models: the purchase of copies of content, the purchase of access to content, and the free (and sometimes involuntary) experience of content.
The primary business model has always been the purchase and ownership of copies. Books, paintings, compact discs, and newspapers are sold according to this model. The copy purchaser's rights under this model are fairly substantial. For instance, once a book is purchased, it can be shelved, read a thousand times, resold, shared with a friend, or even used to prop up a window. A second business model has been the purchase of limited-time access to content experiences (of a given work or a library of work).( Gasaway, Laura N. and Sarah K. Wiant. 2005) Theaters, video rentals, movies, cable television, and America Online follow this model.
The key feature of this model is that access to content is purchased but the content will cease to be accessible after a certain period (e.g., a single show, two days, or if a monthly bill is not paid). Once the time period ends, the content purchaser is left with only a (hopefully) pleasant memory. Obviously, a content purchaser's rights under this model are more limited.A third model of content distribution has been the distribution of free copies or free broadcast performances......
