Blog #2: Give an example of a copyright problem online

When I studied in Colombia, I noticed that a few of my classmates used to spend the free time between classes watching movies on their computers. One day I decided to join them and for simple curiosity asked them where did they get the movies from. They showed me a website and told me I could download for free not only movies, but also music and some other stuff.

The website is taringa.net (http://taringa.net/); it allows any person to download free music (even the hole album collection from an artist), entire movies, videos, TV shows, games, applications, images and stories; you only need to select a category, write whatever you are interested in on the search field, then a list with a bunch of links will appear and with just one click you will get what you want complete free of charge.

It is really amazing to see the never-ending-list of the items you can download.

For example, by looking up Michael Jackson, more than 20 pages show up, each one with approximately 50 download links.

The problem is that they freely share all this without the permission of any of the owners of such data! The law says that "the owner of a copyright is the one with the right to reproduce, distribute, and display a work. Without their consent, it is copyright infringement to place the work on the internet or to download/copy it."

Getting something for free can sound very nice, but this website absurdly violates the copyright law, and if I were an artist I wouldn't like to see all my effort and work being freely distributed, and even worse, without my consent.

Blog #1: How do you use the Internet? How does your Internet use compare to some other person in your family?

I think of the internet mainly as a studying tool. I use different resources to search and collect information on various topics; after that, I select what best suits for each situation and at the end I look up for concepts I don't understand. Additionally, I like to read the news to keep up to date with what's going on in the world.

Internet is also very important for me to communicate with my family and my friends back in my country and around the world. I do this by sending emails, using applications such as Skype, iChat and Messenger, and spending some time on Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, I use the internet just for fun; I watch videos on YouTube, purchase music and games, and watch movies online.

On the other hand, my brother uses the internet in a hole different way.

He is a music producer and owns a record label online, thus, the internet plays the most important role in keeping his business working. He contacts PR agents, musicians and other record label managers via email. His sales depend primarily on the songs he releases on Beatport.

He spends a lot of time on MySpace and some on Facebook and Twitter, but unlike me he uses those sites to promote his releases and shows.

He also uses the internet to pay bills and to purchase different items.