Filesharing - Digital Creative Content

(Redirected from File-Sharing Technology and Digital Creative Content)

Table of contents

1 1. What are the defining elements of File Sharing Technology and Digital Creative Content?

2 2. How has File-Sharing Technology affected the distribution of Digital Creative Content and what has been done to stop piracy?

3 3. What is the current approach, and what strategies are in place to protect Digital Creative Content from detrimental uses of File Sharing Technology?

3.1 Sub Topics

3.1.1 Chris
3.1.2 Louise
3.1.3 Daniel

4 References

1. What are the defining elements of File Sharing Technology and Digital Creative Content?

File sharing has become an extremely popular past time for internet users over the last decade and allows people from any part of the world to join a network and share music, movies, software and many other forms of digital content. It has become the new way of communicating over the internet and allowing people to work on projects from different places at one time (Bruns, 2003 p 2)

File sharing is as it suggests. Compressed files can be stored on computers that are then linked up in a network each time a member signs themselves in. Once signed in, their digital files (such as music files) then become a part of the central computer system and can be accessed by computers asking for these files. The files are shared between computers. That is the files remain on the original computer but can also be downloaded to the computer of the person requesting the file. [[1]]

The defining elements of file sharing technology can be seen by analysing a website or host that offers access to worldwide file sharing such as Kazzaa or Napster In order for the old Napster to work as a file-sharing network, several steps must occur. When you used the Napster programme, your computer became a server for the Napster network allowing your files to become available others. Other people on the network could then request any file that was on your computer and their computer would download that file straight from your computer. Filesharing technology has this same element in all programs. This covers the copyright law loophole that allows friends to share music with other friends. Kazaa uses a very similar function for sharing files â€˜peer to peerâ€™. The use of supernodes and no central server differ from Napster, however the basic sharing elements are essentially the same. (Montgomery, 2004, p22) In order for Kazza and Gnutella to work, the users place the files they wish to share on their hard disks in order to share these files in a peer-to peer manner. The files that can be shared through these peer to peer networks vary from music files, movies, computer software and other creative content and the illegal sharing of this content does have massive effects on the creative industries. (Creative Content Media)

Creative content can be defined as the subject matter or symbolic significance of something that has gone through a creative process. The creative process my include writing the content, drawing the content, designing the content or even over seeing any of these processes. The largest creative content form on the net is in digital form. This is when the files are compressed in to a digital file. This compression takes the redundancy out of the file and makes it much smaller in size. This reduction in size allows for faster transferring through the internet. (Wallace 1998, p 15) The downloading of these digital creative content files has great effects on the industry to which the files belong. The music industry for example suffers greatly from the creation of digital creative content files.

Mp3 files are a common form of compressed digital music that is widely available on the internet. To look up Mp3 files on any given artist on a search engine, thousands of responses can be retrieved. Artists to promote their own music have used Mp3 files, however music is not the only form of creative content that can be compressed in to a digital file. Movies can be downsized in to Mpeg files and still pictures down to Jpeg files. These files are much faster to transfer over the internet and all digital form of creative content has this defining element in common.

The content matter can define digital creative content also. The last decade has shown that people are willing to use and listen to programs and music, however they are not so willing to pay for the same programs and music legally. The content of many of the files downloaded through filesharing programs is music and software for computers. This content is obviously creative as a creative process has been undergone in order to achieve the final result. Being in digital forms makes the content of these files a higher quality in sound and picture and can also be downloaded on to external plug ins such as ipods and Mp3 players. (Wallace 1998, p 20) People should not let this creative content sharing diminish their love for creating songs and using the internet as a means of distribution.

Louise Connors 17:38, 9 Sep 2004 (EST)

2. How has File-Sharing Technology affected the distribution of Digital Creative Content and what has been done to stop piracy?

The inception of file-sharing technologies into mainstream use on the Internet revolutionised the traditional Paradigms for distribution of digital creative content. Napster was the main driving force behind the massive increase in the online sharing of copyrighted materials in the late 1990s (Jones, 2003). Originally, Napsterâ€™s main use was for sharing Mp3 files, however soon after Napster was created, a rush of copycat programs such as Kazaa, Imesh and Morpheus emerged as alternatives. These programs were used for a wider array of content including images, movies and software (McCandless, 2001).

The original Napster was despised by music industry professionals. They saw it as a real threat to profits and didnâ€™t look at it as an opportunity. In conjunction with the band Metallica, record companies had the original Napster shut down its central index, thus rendering the program useless (Schumacher-Rasmussen, 2003). After managing to set precedence, the next program to be targeted for legal action was Morpheus. Morpheus was able to have their case dismissed by using the Betamax Defence. A judge ruled "Grokster and Streamcast [the company that provides Morpheus software] are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights". The court also pointed out that over 61 million Americans use file sharing technology and that these technologies should not be expelled because of misuse (EFF, 2004). Effectively, this ruling meant that file-sharing technologies should not be linked with piracy as that is only one possible use of many.

Newer file sharing technologies like Kazaa cannot be shut down. They have been designed to work co-dependently in a decentralised network of supernodes. Effectively this means that in order to shut down the Kazaa network, enforcers would have to physically delete every copy of the program in existence (McCandless, 2001). There is no way to tell how many copies of Kazaa exist, however one study suggests that an average of 3.5 million users are connected at any one time (Schumacher-Rasmussen, 2003). Therefore it would be literally impossible to shut down a decentralised network such as Kazaa meaning record companies have had to look at new ways to combat piracy.

Mp3â€™s are only one of many types of files traded on the internet in programs like Kazaa. The invention of the Divx format has allowed DVD movies to be compressed down to be small enough to fit onto a CD. Added together with the increase in the popularity of broadband, Divx copies of copyrighted films are now readily traded on the Internet (Cole, 2004). Along with Divx, the well known Mpeg4 and .Avi formats are still very common. Before Divx the motion picture industry did not feel threatened by file-transferring technologies because file sizes were too great for decent quality. Now that Divx has arrived, protection of illegal copies from getting onto the internet has become critical to the success of some films. For instance the film Soul Plane starring Snoop Dogg was available in high quality on the Internet for over a month before itâ€™s cinema release. The film flopped and its producers blamed filmâ€™s the lack of success on a leaked copy being pirated (Cole, 2004).

One way record companies have challenged music piracy is to target individuals. (EFF, 2004) The theory behind this is to effectively scare the ordinary user into not downloading for fear of a lawsuit. College students in particular have been hit with hefty fines (Chmielewski, 2004). Motion picture companies have looked at the problem differently. According to the British Video association (BVA), 1.67 Million UK residents are downloading illegal video off the Internet. BVA estimates this as being a loss of $45 million in DVD sales revenue or 2 per cent of the gross. However, in the face of these losses the movie industry has rejected law suits and rather focused on appealing to the conscience of the perpertraters. BVA Director-General Lavinia Carey has said of the matter, â€œWe have seen what has happened in the music industry and we are taking a different approach to downloading. You don't have to be paranoid about downloading and the (film) studios are working on systems that allow consumers to download quality movies and pay for themâ€? (Cole, 2004).

Pop star Madonna came up with one of the most effective was of fighting against piracy in file-sharing networks. Anticipating that songs off her new album would be released on the net, she flooded the networks with bogus copies of her songs with no music and a loop of the phrase, â€œwhat the fâ€¦ do you think you are doing?â€™. Madonnaâ€™s official website was hacked in retribution, The words, â€œthis is what the fâ€¦ I think Iâ€™m doing" were plastered across her main page and legitimate copies of her songs were offered for download from her very own site (BBC, 2003). However, Madonnaâ€™s idea has been copied by other artists or record companies as networks like Kazaa are now littered with fake song files often containing unpleasant distortion (Borland, 2004).

Daniel Fisher 19:21, 9 Sep 2004 (EST)

3. What is the current approach, and what strategies are in place to protect Digital Creative Content from detrimental uses of File Sharing Technology?

The Recording Industry Association America (RIAA) is at the forefront of a legal stalemate against pirates of digital creative content. In the United States, the RIAA have pursued individuals, particularly college students, hoping that making an example of the day-to-day offenders will act as a deterrent to the nearly 61 million users of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology across the country. In 2001, the RIAA filed suit against 531 college students for copyright infringement, after identifying the users for significant breaches and misuse of file-sharing technology for the downloading of music. The emergence of Napster just two years earlier in 1999 was held responsible for a rapidly spreading wave of piracy propelled largely by students engaged in file-swapping on American college campuses. This significant headway made by the RIAA acted as a launching pad for its Australian counterparts who in 2003 raided Sharman Networks headquarters (and the homes of its executives) to find evidence for suspected misuse of its search engine, Kazaa, to facilitate illegal file-sharing of protected digital creative content amongst its widespread user base.

The music industryâ€™s fight back on the endemic problem of piracy and file-sharing is being piloted by some the worldâ€™s leading recording companies such as BMG, EMI, and Time Warner. Although Compact Discs are noted as continuing to account for up to 86 per cent of total sales for recording music in England, recording kingpins are thinking of ways to re-invent the nature in which music is produced, packaged, and sold to consumers in an attempt to recapture a user population currently immersed in a wave of illegal file-sharing and downloading music.(Winkley, 2004)Bertelsmann, president of BMG worldwide, has announced the companyâ€™s â€˜three-tier strategyâ€™ for the sale of compact discs. Several international recording artists have already committed to this revolutionary approach to music sales which involves publishing 3 versions of each CD album sold: a cheap, no frills version with a plain cover and no lyrics; the regular version of a CD which is currently sold worldwide; and a more expensive version containing bonus material and multimedia content. This strategy is being launched with a view towards meeting the needs of users from different ends for the market spectrum, and relies on a belief that users will return to legitimate CD purchasing for a fraction of the usual price. (Winkley 2004) EMI, however, are more focused on developing and expanding the market for online music, predicting that it could make up nearly one-quarter of itâ€™s total sales market by 2009. Similarly, major players in the Asia-Pacific music sector are recognizing the virtually exponential growth in sales of licensed and legitimate digital creative content online, which is expected to be responsible for almost nine per cent of the sales market by 2008. (PwC, 2004)

The continued emergence of online subscription outlets over the past 12 months is a vital step back towards protecting digital creative content from the detrimental uses of files-sharing technology. The purpose and functionality of these outlets is simple â€“ to provide users worldwide with online access to legitimate copies of and licenses for digital music for a nominal cost. The market mover in this respect was Appleâ€™s iTunes, a digital music subscription service developed in conjunction with the release of the iPod Player, Appleâ€™s compact digital music player capable of storing up to 10,000 songs. Within its first year of operation, the online Apple's iTunes store sold 70 million songs in the United States alone, yet the product is yet to become available to Australian users. (Jones, 2003)In a typically Microsoft fashion, a competitive product was recently introduced and made available online known as Janus. (Lewis, 2004)Microsoftâ€™s unique software differs to iTunes in the availability of licenses. Instead of transferring title of a song, users simply â€˜borrowâ€™ songs for a one-month period for a fraction of the cost, and can choose whether or not to continue subscribing to each song. This idea therefore allows users to enjoy thousands of songs for as little as US$10 per month, rather than buying songs for US$0.99 through the iTunes store.(Lewis, 2004)Sony also announced its bid to enter the online subscription market with its product, SonyConnect being launched in the United States.

However, the linchpin to the success of these products is a relationship between the music industry and the corporate world (which is at the moment, corporate America). For example, Sonyâ€™s partnership with United Airlines allows users to swap frequent flyer miles for songs on SonyConnect and viceversa(Trakin, 2004). McDonaldâ€™s Restaurants also run a promotion in the United States in partnership with Apple, whereby customers who purchase a large McValue meal receive one free download from the iTunes website.(Trakin, 2004) These online outlets also operate largely in conjunction with the RIAA, whos aim it is to deter current users from illegal file-swapping by using the internet to itâ€™s advantage. Marketing campaigns for iTunes in conjunction with the RIAA and McDonaldâ€™s feature a small group of teenage children from New York who have been caught downloading music illegally, and demonstrating to the wider public the benefits of reverting to legitimate methods of obtaining digital creative content.

Chris Paine 02:14, 10 Sep 2004 (EST)

Sub Topics

Chris

Apple

Chris Paine 10:58, 10 Sep 2004 (EST)

Louise

Filesharing

Louise Connors 15:12, 9 Sep 2004 (EST)

Daniel

Napster