Downloading movies and TV

Question: Write an essay onDownloading movies and TV is not a crime. Answer: Introduction The case study that has been taken revolves around the topic about downloading of movies and TV from the internet for free and is termed as not a crime. The main reason behind increased downloading in Australia is around the additional costs that come with buying the same and easy availability of the content on the Internet. Also, there are no laws that are defined to term it as a crime and thus, there is an increase of this activity among the users. New legislations and supply side of the equation are some of the solutions that have been suggested to put a check on such activities and control the same (Life, News, crime, 2014). Analysis on the basis of Classical Ethical Theories Just Consequentialism It is an ethical theory that says that the ultimate basis of rightness and wrongness of an act can be decided by the consequences on ones conduct. It says that it is the end or the final outcomes of an act that makes it ethically correct or incorrect in nature (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2003). In Australia, there is an increased download of movies and TV. There are no laws that are defined to criminalize such an act which leads to no control over it by the legislative bodies. However, as per the theory of Just Consequentialism, such an act is defined as absolutely unethical. There are reasons behind the same which are as listed below in terms of the negative consequences in such scenarios: It leads to huge loss to the makers of the movies and TV shows as they do not get the deserved revenue and cost Copyright holders can take the matter to the court by terming it as a civil issue and the downloader can be sued for such an act Compensatory damages would be levied on the downloader if proven guilty It causes harm to the business As stated above, the consequences that emerge out of the situation are negative in nature. Most commonly, downloads are done for personal use and entertainment purpose but there are many who do it on a commercial scale (Moor, 2016). There are also possible risks that are associated with such download such as an open invitation to the malicious software like virus, worms and Trojan horses. Spywares are also downloaded along with this content which may sit in the system and monitor the activities performed by the user. It can violate the security of the private and sensitive information. Virtue Ethics Another popular theory that has ethics as its basis is Virtue Ethics. It is an approach that defined the ethics on the basis of individual characteristics rather than the consequences and the act itself. The formulation of this theory is based on Eudaemonism ("Virtue Ethics - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy", 2016). It says that the prime goal in life is to achieve happiness and the same can be attained by practicing virtues in everyday life and activities. In the case study, it is written that the major downloads that happen in Australia are for the personal use and entertainment purpose. As per Virtue ethics, if an act provides happiness and does not involve any malicious intention behind it, then the act is ethical in nature ("LectureforExercise1.html", 2016). There are two situations that are involved in this case study. Users who download movies and TV for personal purpose such as for entertainment or education or passing their time. Users who download the content from the internet such as movies and TV for commercial scale. These people would make money out of this content. In the first case, the virtues do not have any ill-intention or the practice of making profits over the cost of providing harm to somebody else or his or her business. However, in the second scenario, the intention is to download content for commercial purpose and at commercial scale. Virtue ethics would thus describe scenario one as ethical and scenario two as unethical in nature. Ethical Issues in ICT The present era is an era of technology and digital media. The technological advancements have given rise to the introduction of multiple ethical issues which have gained attention over the past few years and the resolution for the same is still under question. Information Communication Technology (ICT) also involves a number of different such issues that are raised on the basis of ethics. There has been a social change with the increased use of ICT and it is this change that has led to the involvement of so many ethical issues. These issues have been raised to a new and often perplexing level which has greatly affected the society in various ways. The challenges that come up with these issues are of serious impact for the individual and for the professional world as well in terms of working conditions and area of employment. However, there is still a lack of clarity and understanding around these issues which has led to hamper the design and development of resolution measures for the same (Edewor, n.d.). The most commonly occurring ethical issues in ICT are: ICT professionalism Privacy Security Cyber-crime Intellectual property Regulation on the internet Social inclusion Community and identity Pervasive and convergent computing ("CCSR:The Ethics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Business", 2016) In the case study that is under discussion also possess the ethical issues such as: Intellectual Property Security Cyber-crime Intellectual Property is divided in to two broad categories as Copyrights and Industrial Property rights ("WTO | intellectual property (TRIPS) - what are intellectual property rights?", 2016). The download of movies and TV does lead to infringement of copyrights and provides the maker with the right to sue the downloaded by taking him/her to the civil court. Any work of entertainment or media is a work of art that involves the thought process, creative ability and the effort of the maker. These works are protected by the Copyrights to promote and protect the same. Security is another issue that emerges with the download of movies and TV. These contents may bring with them malicious software such as Spyware and Adware. These are the set of programs that are installed on a machine and are used to monitor every single activity that is performed by the user ("What is spyware and adware?", 2016). It would lead to threat to the security of confidential, private and sensitive information and would also hamper the integrity and authenticity of the same. Cyber crimes are also ethical issues that are associated with the download of digital content that is not provided from the familiar and reliable sources. For instance, the movies and their links often re-direct the users to the web sites that are malicious or may contain an application that may install an unwanted program on the system. These programs are then used by the attackers to gain information from the system and make unauthenticated and unauthorized usage of the same ("What Is Cyber Crime? - Definition, Types Examples - Video Lesson Transcript | Study.com", 2016). Cyber stalking which is a byproduct of cyber crime is also possible through such unreliable downloads. The attacker might gain the IP address of the machine and may try and communicate with the same. It is a criminal through which an attacker may try to threaten or harm somebody. This crime can be perpetrated through email, social media, chat rooms, instant messaging clients and any other online medium ("What is Cyberstalking? - Definition from Techopedia", 2016). Other cyber crimes that are associated could be attack of computer viruses, denial of service attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks and many more ("What is a computer virus? definition and meaning", 2016). Conclusion Download of movies and TV is certainly not a crime as there is no law or regulating policy that is defined around the same. However, it is not ethical in nature, if done at a commercial scale as the same would lead the copyright holders to sue the downloader on the basis of a civil issue. There are a number of ethical issues that have emerged with the increase and expansion of ICT and the three broad issues that are seen as per the case study under discussion are those related to Intellectual Property, Cyber crimes and Security. There are no adequate solutions in place around such issues and it should be the responsibility of an individual to avoid such acts as far as possible. References CCSR:The Ethics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Business. (2016). Ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/resources/general/ethicol/Ecv8no2.html Edewor, N. Ethics and Social Issues Related to Information Communication Technology (ICT). Government, Social And Legal Issues, 135-147. https://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61692-012-8.ch009 LectureforExercise1.html. (2016). Spot.colorado.edu. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://spot.colorado.edu/~tooley/Lecture3-EthicalTheories.html Life, D., News, D., crime, D. (2014). Downloading movies and TV is not a crime. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/downloading-movies-and-tv-is-not-a-crime-20141126-11uyie Moor,. (2016). Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.idt.mdh.se/kurser/computing/DVA417/Lectures/Moor.pdf Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2003). Consequentialism. Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/ Virtue Ethics - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy. (2016). Philosophybasics.com. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_virtue_ethics.html What is a computer virus? definition and meaning. (2016). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/computer-virus.html What Is Cyber Crime? - Definition, Types Examples - Video Lesson Transcript | Study.com. (2016). Study.com. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-cyber-crime-definition-types-examples.html What is Cyberstalking? - Definition from Techopedia. (2016). Techopedia.com. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14326/cyberstalking What is spyware and adware?. (2016). Spychecker.com. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.spychecker.com/spyware.html WTO | intellectual property (TRIPS) - what are intellectual property rights?. (2016). Wto.org. Retrieved 22 May 2016, from https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel1_e.htm