Illegal Downloads I believe the practice of illegal downloads is another form of stealing. The way I see it, is that you’re taking something produced by someone else without pay or asking permission, which is equivalent to stealing. Many of us do illegal music downloads. It’s a common activity people do because they don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars just to get the latest song. I’ll be honest; I used to do illegal downloads, until one day I read an article of a woman arrested from the illegal downloading. She ended up paying for all the songs that she downloaded illegally, and that was millions of dollars. Yes, it is so easy to download music easily. Today you’re able to get music easily through other search engines. It is wrong because you’re not paying for the music that someone else produced. For the people that produce this music, this is their job. They have a musical career and to think about all the money they lose out on, when you illegal download their music.I do not find any relevant distinction to be made between this practice and other forms of "taking something for free.” When I think about taking something for free, usually, you’re allowed to take it and usually there is always someone or a sign that will say “FREE.” When you have the permission to take something, it is not illegal. The connection to illegally downloading music and “taking something for free” has no relevance since there are two different types of actions being done. The difference between them is one you’re taking the product without permission and not being able to pay for it and the other action you’re taking something with the permission of being okay to do so.
Premise 2: illegal downloading, just like stealing is morally wrong
Premise 3: Illegal downloading is not equivalent to practices involved of taking things for free
In conclusion, she states that there is a difference between downloading content illegally and downloading free content as the former has no permission from the owner while the latter is authorized for download.
Unstated premises
Legal downloading is expensive
Critical analysis of argument reconstruction
Such materials are, usually, available on the internet, and one can easily access them on the click of a button. Usually, the artists as well as producers of the content, usually, try to ensure their material is protected by copyright laws that are enforced by legal authorities. The author provides an example in the second premise, to indicate the action taken against the illegal downloading of music. Furthermore, upon illegal downloading of materials online, one is not legally purchasing the content using their money, hence does not have the right to do so.
The owners of content are also not aware of this practice, hence have not conferred their approval. Therefore, it is almost accurate to deduce that illegal downloading is indeed a form of stealing.
For individuals who have labored to make the intellectual materials such as music and books, they expect to receive the monetary equivalent accorded to the materials in focus. Furthermore, they have spent their own time creating these materials. Time is money, therefore, the price tag also accounts for the time value of money. They have also spent their money to get the song recorded, or the book published and has had to part with a lot of money to ensure they produce content that will be acceptable to their audience. Therefore, it is not logic to almost spend all their time and money creating free content. Furthermore, they do not label their content free. Therefore, it is wrong to assume the material is free, just because it appears in a search engine.
However, this premise is misleading as it contradicts the mediums used to distribute free content. In this case, the premise brings in the factor of websites that have the reputation of providing free material to their audience. Therefore, one would assume that downloading content from these websites is not illegal. In these cases, most of these websites often submit downloading revenues to the respective authorities hence make such downloads legal.
Conclusion
Even though, the content is easily available for download, it should not be a reason as to why individuals should choose to engage in illegal downloads. The author clearly states that the ease of downloading content illegally should not be a factor to partake in this practice. Furthermore, one should respect other individual’s work and not take part in practices that may jeopardize their careers and put them out of business.
The above identified premises are in sync with the conclusion as they highlight components involved in an argument. They are succinct and straight to the point hence providing a well-defined argument that arrives at the conclusion that the practice of illegal downloads is also morally wrong and should not be condoned by society.
Works cited
Spinello, Richard. Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace. New York: Jones
and Bartlett Publishers. 2013. Print
Marissa Tagatac. Illegal downloads Illegal downloads. Retrieved from: Class discussion board post
