Mr Hardin's Copyright Lecture

Yesterday in class Mr. Hardin discussed that the seriousness of uploading and downloading copyrighted material to and from the internet. In a college environment, such as at Trinity, audio and video files are constantly being circulated through the network and he advised us of the dangers of taking material from the wrong websites. He said that programs such as Limewire and Bittorrent can be easily tracked by the RIAA (Recording industry of America), the MPA or the ESA and that they can spring unexpected legal action against the perpetrator. This is a scary thought considering that amount of downloading people undertake, and the cost that it could possibly accrue. Thus, the school has a takedown notice system that warns students that they are being monitored by the recording industries and tells them to stop downloading. Mr. Hardin also voiced his opinion on the state of YouTube, which he argued was full of copyright violations. It is interesting that organizations such as the RIAA heavily monitor Limewire yet no action is really taken against copyright perpetrators on YouTube. I feel that if the RIAA is going to monitor the copyright issues of the general populace they should remain consistent and focus on YouTube as well as Limewire, even though this is probably and arduous task. Nevertheless, the lecture highlighted the importance of being aware that free downloading is illegal.