Hey guys, our group chose an article this week regarding the takedown of Megaupload titled "Anonymous Responds To Megaupload Takedown; Claims Credit For DOJ, RIAA, MPAA, Universal Music Outages".
Considering everything that has been happening lately, we agreed that this article was very timely and relevant to us college students.
This article shows that SOPA or similar legislations are unnecessary in taking down websites. The group Anonymous is making a very clear statement to not only the government but also everyday internet users like all of us.
After reading the article, do you think the Anonymous website attacks were a good message, or were they too aggressive? Will the efforts of the group eventually backfire?
In your mind, who is the real "criminal"? The government, attempting to take away all file sharing, or Anonymous, encouraging file sharing, which includes illegal music and movie downloads?
Are there any comments at the bottom of the article posted by others that you strongly agree/disagree with?
I thought it’s hard to say who did right and who did criminally because it seems that both the Anonymous and government did in a wrong way.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, piracy is indeed unfair for those people who work for their music or movies. If everyone can share their efforts for free, how can they make money and get what they should get in return? Piracy certainly can decrease people’s passion in work creation, so if government allows such behavior, there will be fewer and fewer people willing to work on music, movies, photos, etc. Therefore, government should protect the rights of those musicians and advocate that everyone respect other’s efforts. On the other hand, as customers, shutting down the websites directly connects with our benefits. I will buy a CD before listening to its most songs so that I can decide whether it is worthy to buy. In this way, the Anonymous provides us a good platform where we share and be shared with music and movies and we get access to choose, to judge what is good and what we like. The government should enact laws or take actions based on public’s opinions and try to ensure public’s interest and needs.
I completely agree with Chunan's comment on this topic. I don't think there is one good and one bad guy in this case. I feel as if the government and these music/movie companies need to come to a fair medium, because if they don't, the government could become too controlling and many wouldn't be interested for working for these industries anymore (this goes for the other way around as well). I think the government should interact more with the public to see their point of view on this and how they receive their music and movies.
ReplyDeleteI also completely agree with Chunan and Nikki. The government is suppose to protect our interests, that is why we vote. I think that there will always be piracy no matter how many laws are created to stop it. Anonymous should also stop trying to do exactly what the government is doing. I mean they are basically censoring sites when they are supposedly against it. No one should choose our rights for us and if this was a real problem it should have been dealt with a long time ago instead of the lengthy you take down our site we'll take down yours situation we have now.
ReplyDeleteI like the way Anonymous did to fight for the rights. They did not follow others blindly or bear the loss of their rights due to the government. If the government really controled everything and ignored the public rights, Anonymous would be the heros who would wake public up and strive for the rights. However, in this case, what they were looking for are the illegal "rights". If individuals shared the resources, a lot of people cannot make living by their hard working. Thus, I think we should praise and support the action for public rights, but the rights should be legal and benefits for most people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that there really isn’t a true right or wrong side here. Piracy is taking money out of the pockets of people in the music industry but I still don’t think that censorship is right. I also think that the way anonymous went about their protest was wrong. They shut down websites, which technically is censorship, the very thing they’re working against. However, I don’t think piracy is taking away from creative passion of musical groups. If a band is only in music for money I think that their not very passionate about their music in the first place. I think you also have to look how some new bands have embraced the new way in which music is distributed. The music industry has been really critical of the internet for piracy, but a lot of bands have found ways to use the internet to their advantage for new modes of distribution and reaching their audiences on a personal level. There are bands out there putting their music out for free through download links on their websites. If anything I think that the new way music is distributed has increased musical creativity because it allows bands to gain recognition without being signed to a major record company.
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing what people can do on the internet. If the government can't even keep their sites from being shut down then I don't believe they can really govern the internet. There is supposed to be freedom in this country. Once one freedom is gone than thats a big problem. However, I can see the other side of this argument against piracy. The government trying to stop piracy is no reason to give up freedoms in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with what Anonymous is doing, I think they are fine with saying they don't agree with it but how they are doing it is not helping their cause at all. A lot of people feel like the government is stepping on our toes with this issue and that they are impeeding on our freedom online. I think that no matter how hard they try piracy will evolve and find a way around it because it is easier than spending a bunch of money when you can get it for free.
ReplyDeleteI think that what Anonymous did is really impressive and brave. They are using their own way to fight against the government and show their right for freedom, but the way they are doing has went a little bit too much. Piracy is taking money from certain people and it is still evolving. And think neither of them is right or wrong, since both sides have their own benefit to protect. The only thing I think they should do is to consider about citizens a little more.
ReplyDeleteIm somewhat in the middle of an agreement between what aaron said and what zhen zhang said. On one hand, I think that the government had no buisiness shutting down megaupload, for multiple reasons. For one thing, I used the website a lot. Looking back, I realize that most of the file sharing I've done on the internet came through that website. Another thought is that while megaupload may have had some files that fell into the category of piracy; not everything on there was, and the whole community shouldn't be punished for those few that are. On the other side of the dichotomy, I think that the way anonymous carried out their actions was … misguided to say the least. They seemed to prove a point, but what have they accomplished? In my opinion, all they have done is make the government even more wary / fearful of the freedom of the internet.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a simple situation a both parties could be seen as right and wrong simultaneously. While the government might think they are justified in shutting down Megaupload because it was a site for sharing music illegally, it was also a site for sharing regular files. On the other hand, Anonymous' shutting down of government websites was made with the intent of proving a point and showing the government that other people could do the same to them. This move could also show the government's vulnerability and threaten its security.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are 2 sides to this situation and can't really say who is right and wrong. I think that downloading music is really convenient and less time consuming. Also when i download music i don't download the whole list of songs that would be on the CD. I only listen to the ones i want to listen too and usually i would ask a friend to send me the song. But on the other hand having the CD is something that you can keep and cherish and get to look at the cover of the CD with the photos/ lyrics and also things written by the singer. Even watching movies or games you may not even like the movie but when you buy it you have to keep it because its a waste of money if you get rid of it. With Anonymous i never really knew that they could shut down websites and was surprised how the government can't even do it.
ReplyDeleteI feel like everyone's comment is reasonble, and I completely agree. Anonymous is brave and cool, they speak and fight for there right. But think about it further, they are kind of like the anarchists, who against the government. On the other hand, if most people don't agree with a law, the governmen may need to self-reflect since the law is made for its people.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem that government face is not just shut down a website. People will still download songs from many other sources, or they would send the songs privately. The government should consider the real situation that although people download the music, they don't really have the CD. On the other side, the anonymous struck back the government with extreme actions. However, their purpose was to let the government rethink about this issue, to tell them they can't just shut down all the websites to restrict people from downloading music freely. I can't say who is right or wrong, it needs the cooperation from both government and anonymous for solving this problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there could be and there probably are two sides to this issue. One side is saying its wrong and wants to see it stop like the government but the other side, anonymous, sees no problem. I personally buy my songs on iTunes or just buy the CD and download the songs on my laptop but I can see how downloading music on various websites can be more convenient and easier, but does not necessarily make it right. Piracy is a big issue in today’s society and I believe that the government and people and groups like anonymous need to come together and resolve this issue. I agree that Anonymous was brave for doing what they did but what did that accomplish? Yes, it did make more people aware of this issue but the government probably saw them do this and think that there is too much freedom on the internet. The government needs to work something out to resolve this issue so that no more problems arise in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic, one that is easily debated, with many good points on both sides. That is precisely what makes this topic touchy. On one side, I understand views similar to anonymous, that the internet is a free right and everyone should be entitles to what is on it. On the other hand, the artists affected by this also feel like their rights have been violated and they are being robbed of money. The only scary thing is if the government can pass these laws and violate the constitutional rights now, what's to say they can't or won't stop further down the road.
ReplyDeletei think that the article didn't make a clear announcement cause i'm not convinced to believe neither sides. The topic itself is very catchy and interesting. It talked about between anoymous and government. I think the describtion of anonymous was very strong yet still confusing. I think the appropriate thing to do would be providing more infomation about how the anoymous reflect the will of most of the people.
ReplyDeleteJust like using violence to fight violence isn't necessarily in the interest of the population, attacking the government because they are attempting to shut down internet piracy is not the way to go. I feel that Anonymous has a very valid point, but they way they're going about promoting that point is not "right", nor is it in their best interest. We've already seen what the government can physically do in the pursuit of national security, who's to say they can't do the same in the cyber world? There are other ways to be heard - shutting down government websites is counter productive. It just shows that they're as bad as them. There is no right or wrong here, I just feel that the government could take into consideration what censorship will do to the general public - and whether it's actually consititutional, and Anonymous could find alternative ways to fight their battle.
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