Text 2:  Unpaid Downloading of Music from the Internet(2)

1    There are many different forms of stealing,from theft of property, muggings and burglaries, to theft of ideas throughplagiarism. Although there are legal sanctions against many forms of stealing,the issue of moral and social sanctions has always been more complex. Forexample, Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor is held up asa great British hero. Piaskin (1986) suggests that ethical issues are notsimply questions of right and wrong but should be regarded as “dilemmas”. Inthis essay I shall use the example of downloading music from the internet tohighlight these complexities but, contrary to the view held by Piaskin, toargue that in this case, stealing is always wrong.

2    In recent years, there have been a number ofhigh profile cases against people who have shared music files for free on theinternet. Prior to the development of the internet, music was similarly sharedvia home taping. Lee (2006) argues that although home taping is technicallyillegal, no one pursues this as perpetrators cannot be caught. Because it ispossible to catch internet file sharers, Lee argues that they are beingunfairly punished. Whilst there may be a practical basis to this argument – itis easier to catch downloaders than home tapers – this does not mean that onebehavior should be considered acceptable and the other should not. This kind ofargument is a rationalization, used to make unacceptable actions appearacceptable.

3    Indeed, this point is made by Cuttle (2007).Cuttle, a legal expert states that “piracy of software, video games and musicis stealing” and makes it clear that all such copying is illegal. Given thatthere is a legal argument against both home taping and internet downloading, itappears reasonable to assume that both should be considered as wrong. However,it is important to explore the moral arguments in order to evaluate whethersuch behaviors should also be considered “wrong” from an ethical perspective.

4    Research by Mixim, Moss and Plummer (1934),as well as later studies inspired by Mixim et al., suggest that most people domaintain an ethical sense of right and wrong even in areas where stealingappears to be more socially acceptable. Their findings suggested that people’sethical sense wanes when payment methods are difficult but they do not forgetwhat is ethically right. Ebo Markham and Malik (2004) examined the effect oninternet downloading of easier payment schemes. During the study there was adramatic decrease in illegal downloads with the majority of users choosing tomake use of the easy payment scheme. This indicates that the majority of peoplein the study acknowledged that to download music for free, in effect stealingit, was wrong.

5    A different ethical perspective is suggestedby those authors who support unpaid downloading, especially those who useethical and artistic arguments to counter economic arguments. A number ofauthors such as “Carla” (2006), an internet downloader, assert that the mainargument against downloading comes from record companies who are primarilyconcerned with their won profits. Economic arguments are treated by suchwriters as if they are intrinsically weaker than artistic ones. “Carla”develops this argument to suggest that true artists are driven by a desire tohave their music heard by others and welcome the “service” provided by filesharers. Hibbs (2006), a member of the public, also argues that file sharing isa kindness between friends. These kinds of arguments can sound convincing asthey make downloading appear to be altruistic, and altruism appears to have theethical advantage over the rush for profits. On the other hand, it could beargued that this is altruism at someone else’s expense. The economics of freedownloading do not help less well known artists, so not paying for downloads oftheir work is unethical.

6    Furthermore, those who defend downloadingoften act as if they know best the “real” wishes and interests of artists.Carla, for example refers to “true artists”, without defining what a “trueartist” is, or providing evidence to show what such “true” artists would want.Authors such a “Carla” and Hibbs do not provide evidence to show that artistsregard free downloading as being more in their interests than the actions takenby businesses. As music sales are usually of direct financial benefit toartists, many artists may also disagree with free downloading.

7    Moreover, Cuttle (2007) asserts thatarguments such as Carla’s and Hibbs’s are invalid in free market terms.Publishers have a right to charge the highest price that they are able toobtain, and consumers can choose whether or not to purchase. In that case,business is not in the wrong to charge whatever price the market will sustain.However, there are other economic, and indeed artistic, arguments againstCarla’s and Hibbs’s positions. Such authors assume that objections todownloading come mainly from large corporations who can be dismissed as“greedy”. Kahliney (2006) argues that small, independent companies andrecording artists are most likely to suffer the effects of downloading as theiroverall reliance on sales is greater. Given that sales for independent artiststend to be low anyway, falling sales could mean the collapse of small labels.Whilst artists could still have their music heard via free downloads, theirposition is unlikely to remain financially viable for long. Ironically, thisincreases the likelihood of a music industry populated by the type of “bland”or “middle of the road” acts that Carla complains would exist without internetdownloading: they will be the only artists that can guarantee reasonable sales.

8    In conclusion, I have demonstrated in thisessay that there are arguments to support the view that all stealing can beregarded as “wrong”. This holds true even in relation to complex areas such asinternet downloading, where social behaviors may appear to support the viewthat downloading without paying is acceptable. Indeed, in the case of unpaiddownloading, there are legal and ethical, economic and artistic arguments tosupport the view that stealing from the industry is wrong. There are counterarguments, such as that downloading offers a service to music and smallartists, but there is little evidence to support such views or to suggest thatthey represent the view of the majority. On the contrary, when givenaccessible, affordable payment options, most people chose not to steal, therebyacknowledging that free downloading is wrong. Although moral positions caneasily be influenced by practical circumstances such as how easy it is to pay,research suggests people maintain an ethical sense that stealing is alwayswrong.

Activity1: Complete or translate the following expressions based on the informationgiven in the text.

Formsof theft:

theftof p_________     theft of i_______through p__________

无法接受的行为____________         文件共享____________

对是非的道德感____________        道德感削弱____________

由某人买单的利他主义行为altruism _________________________________         

金钱利益____________             要最高价charge_______________

支付方式选择________________________________

Activity2: Isolate the key information from the text, then illustrate the line ofreasoning of the argument with a graphic organizer.

Active3: Evaluate the argument with the help of the evaluation sheet.

Reading Evaluation Sheet