In your own words define and describe each of these aspects.
Copyright
As soon as an idea in an original form can be viewed by the public it is automatically protected by copyright. This means that owner does not need to apply for protection for their work.
That includes files like videos, written documents, audio files, and images.
Under the copyright law viewers were not allowed to: replicate the owners work, sell the work, display their work in public, make a modification/ adaption to their work and allow anyone else to the these things to that work.
In order for the viewers to do these things then they must ask special permission from the owner themselves.
Copyright Act 1994.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons have a set of licences (7)
These licences explain just how the copyright holder will let their work to be used.
This means that viewers will be able to use the copyright users content depending on the creative commons license.
Understanding Creative Commons.
The Creative Commons Licenses.
There different sites that share specific files using creative commons. This means that there are sites that only share music files or video files and images.
Some websites that share content under a creative commons license include:
- Flickr
- Fotopedia
- Wikimedia Commons
Piracy is the act of someone using a copyright holder's work without creative commons or without special permission.
This means that if a viewer were to replicate, modify, sell, display or even claim that product as their own then that is an act of piracy.
New Zealand set a new law that was set in place September 2011, called the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011.
Basically if someone were to be caught then they would first be given two warnings and if caught a 3rd time then they would have to pay a fine of $275- $15000 straight to the copyright holder.
Task 2
Next you need to discuss how each of these legal, ethical and moral considerations are related
Copyright is the moral and ethical consideration that protects digital information that is automatically uploaded to the internet. Creative Commons gives the viewer a chance to use that owners work but under the conditions set by either the owner or the creative commons license that the owner had chosen for their work. Piracy is when a viewer decides to use an individuals work without either asking permission or following the terms of the creative commons license placed on that work if there is one.
Task 3
Next you will need to write a brief case study on the controversy surrounding the online file sharing/storage service megaupload and the new file sharing/storage service mega.co.nz
1) How copyright law has been breached which = Piracy & Unethical and immoral behavior
Kim Dotcom was accused of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering. copy Copyright infringement is when an individual or user downloads and uploads another's piece of work without their permission. Mega Upload was capable of sharing another person's work to the world with or without that individual's permission. This is also an act of piracy. This may have led to some suspicions of him racketeering or being involved in illegal business.
2) How copyright law has been worked around? Is there a grey area?
Kim Dotcom claims that Megaupload had tried to prevent copyright infringement by stating that the termas and services of the website forced the users to post material that was not copyrighted. He also claimed that he gave permission to individuals and companies direct access into mega upload to take down any infringement files, that were of significane to them. However that did not stop the users from uploading infringed files. I believe that because of the US privacy laws that do not allow administrators from looking into the accounts of the users, catching the users would be close to impossible. So I do believe that there is a way around the law by just anonymously infringing files and knowing that the officials do not have the right to check if it were you.
3) Megaupload was shut down. Who are the significant players in this scenario?
Megaupload was shut down on January 19, 2012 by the United States Department of Justice. This was due to the charges toward founder, Kim Dotcom and users constantly breaching copyright laws. Also the people who are after him the most are the US, seeing as they have requested to extradite him back to the US. However because he is protected by new Zealand law he is still fighting the extradition. After Kim Dotcom's arrest it was proven that illegal means was used to help locate Kim Dotcom and as a result John Key had to make an apology toward Kim Dotcom and the citizens of New Zealand.
4) How did/do both sites work?
Megaupload allowed used the cloud storage system which allowed the user to store and access data and programs on the internet instead of saving it in their computer. This cloud storage system is said to the feature that gave the users the chance to commit acts of piracy. The successor of Megaupload, Mega also has the cloud storage system. However Mega has a different encryption of the files during the upload process. This means that all files stored on mega are unacceeable by anyone unless they have the decryption key. As a result Mega is unable to view the contents of the file just in case it is very sensitive material. This also means that beacuse they are unable to see the contents of the files, then if someone were to share an infringed file then mega cannot be held responsible.
5) Are there other sites that operate in a similar way that have or have not been shut down?
Some similar sites that work like megaupload are Youtube and Rapidshare.
