Copyright Issues

Copyright issues and plagiarism is something that I have had beaten into my brain since I was a sophomore in high school. I've been learning about it in English, Journalism class, Newspaper and various other classes that bring it up any time I have to write a paper or anything else.

One thing that I learned during the guest speaker, Diane Graves' presentation is the difference between copyright and plagiarism. Obviously, they are different things, but I hadn't ever really thought about the difference before. For example, file sharing is considered a violation of copyright but because I wouldn't actually take a song that Taylor Swift sings and try to distribute it on the internet as my own, it isn't considered plagiarism.

I also had no idea how serious the consequences were for file sharing. Lawsuits by the RIAA of college students have been up to $15,000. In addition, Universities are required to give the name and information of students whose IP address is caught file sharing. They really aren't kidding around, especially with college students.

I think that the Copyright laws in the United States are a little bit harsh, but that plagiarism is a problem. There shouldn't be any problem with using another person's material to enhance your own as long as you give that person credit. However, I do sympathize with the RIAA's cause because people should receive monetary compensation for their creative works, particularly if that is their full-time job. What many people do not realize when downloading music illegally is that they are not taking away from the already rich artists, but the song writers and the little people who help with the production. We need to find a middle ground, whether that includes redistributing the income from the profits of things like songs, or changing how copyrights are protected and when they can be used.

Ms. Graves gave us an excellent website called Creative Commons that provides an alternative to Copyright, because the rules are relaxed a little bit more. The philosophy there is "you can use my stuff if I can use yours. But if you're going to make a million dollars off of it, give me a call."