Negative Case
We advise, oppose the topic Resolved: Americans should be allowed
to share copyrighted media over the internet. If you were to support this; it'd be like
teaching a little child that it's fine to steal. It's just wrong. For some reason people
seem to think that the internet is void of all laws. To vote pro would be agreeing so.
I'll explain.
Firstly, the movie and music industries are being devastated by
internet piracy. Internet theft of copyrighted works has hurt the music
business. Statistics show that in 2000, unit sales dropped by 7%, 10% in 2001, and
11% in 2002. Obviously there's a steady downfall. The growth of the file sharing
network, says the RIAA, allows music piracy to cut into it's profits around 4.2 billion
dollars. And though movie piracy may not be as popular, a simple incline in movie
piracy could severely hurt the industry. The movie business makes nearly 50% of
their profit from DVD and Video sales. Once that form of profit starts going down; so
does the whole industry. And more and more people are getting quicker, easier
ways to download full-length movies all the time. And for anyone who says that the
rich and famous stars of the music and movie business can deal with losing a little
bit of money; it's not only them who's hurt. Everyday people who enjoy music and
movies will suffer. As profits go down for the industries, they must start making CDs,
DVDs and Videos more expensive for those who abide the law and actually take
the time to buy them and keep these industries alive.
Secondly, no one wants their work to be simply taken without them
receiving anything back from it. So what ends up happening is the quality of things
like literature, movies and music tumbles downwards. In countries like China,
where copyrights aren't respected, true quality literature has all but dissapeared.
Robert Lerose explains,
"Using the product of writers and artists without proper compensation or acknowledgment robs those creators of their livelihood, imperil their existence, and erodes their incentive to continue to produce. Individuals and companies complicit in the larceny, regardless of degree, should be held accountable."
Simply put, if we decided to ignore copyrights, creators motivations to
create will be gone. There won't be anything to protect. We don't allow people to
waltz up the the local Best Buy and steal and bunch of movies and music, yet every
day countless people steal countless amounts of illegal media on the internet.
This is not fair and simply wrong. We advise to vote Con.
