Impact On Illegal Downloading

Today technology and science come to pervade every aspect of our lives. Internet starts to become predominant part of people’s daily lives. It provides abundant resources for people such as data, films, books and music, etc. So, “illegal downloading” appears——Many people download what they want illegally from some websites without paying any fee. It makes negative effects on copyright, encroaches not just on producers’ rights, but also customers’ and media industries’ benefit.

The worst effect of illegal downloading is copyright infringement. It is convenient for some people can download the book, music, film for free from some websites. However, this behaviour doesn’t respect producers’ works, because they download resources without getting any permission from producers or agencies or through legal ways. Some trade organizations contribute to protect producers’ copyright such as RIAA. It protects music producers’ right from illegal issues, especially focusing on using P2P software to develop music data on Internet. Some people share their resources on the Internet, but they do not realize that they have encroached on producers’ benefits. RIAA have sued more than 20,000 people who were suspected with sharing work which had copyright.

At the same time, customers’ rights are damaged in same way. Customers pay for what they want legally. It gives customers right to manage their goods. When others get the goods for free illegally without being punished, Customers’ legal rights suffer from the challenging. Some of them start to think it is unfair, and imitate this action to get some creative work and resources without paying. It becomes a trend which affect media industry negatively.

The most, but not the least, illegal downloading leads the economic in media industry decreased dramatically. RIAA points out that piratical music make music industry lose hundreds of millions benefits all around the world every year. Also, the Industry Canada mentioned: “For most performers, royalties from the playing of their recordings are not the only, and generally not the most important source of income. A 1993 examination of the Canadian recording industry found that because deductions to recoup production and related costs are so high, up to 80 percent of artists never recoup royalties. For many artists, the main benefit from distribution of their recordings is that it helps build their reputation and thereby contributes to their ability to generate future earnings through club and concert appearances and more favourable recording contracts. An artist's "reputational capital", which is a key determinant of his or her earnings' prospects, depends on music distribution in all forms, through broadcasts, CD sales, legal downloads and illegal downloads.” Producers cannot get the benefits they deserved totally. It is no deniable that illegal downloading is a very serious problem in people’s social lives.

Overall, illegal downloading challenges every one of interested party’s rights and benefits. Media industries also suffer from this issue seriously. 

Cite from：

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/ip01451.html

http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php?content_selector=about-who-we-are-riaa

Reflection on "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Last Friday, our school organized us to watch the play called "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which edited from one of Shakespeare's comedy. This famous play uses new setting combining with modern elements that makes audience become more interested about this work. This play shows: When the wedding day of the King of Athens Theseus and the Queen Hippolyta is coming, a man called Egeus disagrees with his daughter’s love with another woman Lysander. A young man called Demetrius loves Egeus’s daughter Hermia, but Hermia falls in love with Lysander. Dramatically, Hermia’s best friend Helena loves Demetrius so much. Because of father’s forcing and the King’s order, Hermia decides to run away with Lysander. Helena spills this thing to Demetrius, Demetrius also follows Hermia and Lysander to the forest. At the same time, a group of actors comes to the forest to practice their shows in order to perform in King and Queen’s wedding. These two groups of people go further in the forest gradually. Oberon is the king of fairy world, he disputes with Titania, the queen of fairy world, because of a Fairchild. Oberon orders his servant called Puck to look for a magic flowers’ juice to play trick on Titania and solve the problems in four young people’s complicated relationships. However, Puck is so tricky that she makes the main character of the group of actors called Bottom become a freak with donkey head, makes Titania loves Bottom after being enchanted and makes Lysander and Demetrius love Helena at the same time. After a mess, everyone returns to normal life: Titania becomes a obedient wife; Four young people’s love have a happy ending; Bottom return back to a man and keep practicing shows…

Scenario adds modern elements to make this play more interesting. Titania’s role-player is a man, he combines his masculinity with femininity in this role, and audience think it’s more humorous. My favorite role in this play is Puck. She holds a tricky attitude to be an onlooker of the mess. She crosses the complicated relationships and solves the problems. These kinds of polyamorous relationships also appear in the contemporary commonly, maybe we need puck to help us solve these problems.

Using Media Arts For Social Justice

   After watching the documentaries of Lesotho, I was very shock and started to know there are so many people who have same age with me are living in such tough environment. I realized that we have duty to disseminate social justice and make more and more people “start with us” to help those vulnerable people live more healthily and more safely. But how? For the contemporary, media is the best choice because its high speeds. Once information are published by media，almost everyone in the world can get it in several days. With popular use of Internet，the speed is still accelerating by times. It is no deniable  social justice is also advocated by some people or groups through media such as documentaries，public advertisements，music，Radio，TV Show，Newspaper and magazine etc.

Media arts make effects on social justice. Because of Media arts’ special glamour, people’s judgments are influenced gradually. A good guide in Media arts can make people enhance their qualities. In contemporary, people start to touch Media arts when they were very young. Branding exposure will through their lives all the time. Media arts pervade every aspect of not just their lives, but also the whole society.

《Start With Us》 by Prionnsias James shows us Besotho’s lives in Lesotho. They don’t have enough substance but abundant thoughts. They have many dreams and have strong desire to make their dreams come true. As an audience, I feel a little bit shock about this documentary that these people don’t lose their optimistic attitudes to their lives in such rough environment that Lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world - just under one in four people in the country are living with HIV. Also education there is also not very sturdy.

Many directors put their most efforts on public film and documentaries in order to make more people know more about vulnerable group and help most people realize many problems in society. One thing I'm concerned is that after watching these films, many people was shock, but just shock. And several days later, they will forget what has shock them. It will lead the media lose its meaning in some extends gradually. Will people become more and more indifferent about social issue because of common documentaries? When I asked James this question, he said that in his opinion, he thought it is worth to do. I believe other directors also think in same way.