File Sharing

Recently the operators of the internet site thepiratebay.org were charged and convicted of aiding in copyright infringement (The Pirate Bay Ruling). The Pirate Bay is an advanced search engine that finds BitTorrent files scattered across the web. Some of these files may contain copyrighted material in the form of but not limited to movies, music, books, television shows, and various photographs. Users, such as myself, can create a BitTorrent version of a file in our possession. Using a BitTorrent client, such as Vuze, enables users to share their BitTorrent files online. Sites like The Pirate Bay search for those files through various BitTorrent clients. Upon finding a file, users can then choose to download the file using a BitTorrent client of their choice. The BitTorrent client takes small pieces of that file from all the available sources the file is being shared from and puts them together to form the original file. The Pirate Bay is only one of many sites that search for BitTorrent files. BitTorrent file search engines are some of the most advanced search engines used in the online world at this time. However The Pirate Bay was not charged with federal copyright infringement because of the search engine it uses, but because of the way in which the site promoted the illegal files and refused to remove links to copyrighted files after being asked by the copyright holders.

I personally don't agree with charging the creators of The Pirate Bay with the allegations of copyright infringement. BitTorrent is a way for mass amounts of people to share different types of content online. Without sites such as The Pirate Bay it almost becomes impossible to find BitTorrent files; the BitTorrent clients only offer ways of downloading BitTorrent files. The Pirate Bay creators claim they should not be held responsible for the content that users share online as their site only searches for said content (The Pirate Bay Ruling). The government needs to rework the fine print of copyright laws. BitTorrent users gain nothing in the form of monetary value by sharing a file with someone else. Also most BitTorrent users give full recognition to the original owner or creator of a file. Copyright laws were originally intended to protect creators from having content stolen and passed off as works by other people. Now copyright laws are used as a way to prevent people from sharing content. In fact, if a person stops to analyze copyright law, if I were to record a sporting event on my TiVo and put it on a disc and watch it at a friend's house, I could face fines or go to jail for infringing upon the copyright of the broadcast.