Sometimes, Sharing Is Not Caring

Although internet radio stations, like Pandora, are popular to music listeners, file sharing is still a major problem in the music industry.  There have been some instances where some music swappers have been tried in court, whether it was an individual or a company.  However, how can you determine what the punishment or how heavy the punishment should be when it comes to file sharing?  For example, I read an article on Bloomberg’s website about Megaupload’s company wanting to dismiss their $175 million dollar case.  They mentioned that they couldn’t be persecuted because the company is based in a different country.  But then I read an article in Lawyers USA about how the U.S. District Court made a 28-year-old pay almost $68,000 just for downloading 30 songs.  I believe that the courts should be stricter on foreign companies that infringe copyrights in the U.S. because if everyone who contributes to file sharing gets punished, and maybe it would stop.  I read an article in USA Today that even with all the court cases happening dealing with file sharing, people are not scared of authority and are not stopping illegal downloading.  It hurts everybody when file sharing happens and it has definitely affected the music industry but with more internet radio stations, file sharing could decrease and artists and labels can keep their rights.