The problem between Congress and music file sharing legislation

Author: Sarah Riordan

You’re in a clothing store in the middle of winter, and you walk into the dressing room to try on a pair of jeans.  As you’re walking into the dressing room, you notice the man taking a shirt he just tried on, and stuffing it under his coat.  You’re the only one who witnessed this, so you tell an employee, and let the robber face the consequences of his less than honorable actions.  You did the right thing, and as a law abiding citizen, you then pay for your jeans and head home.

When you get home, you sit down to check your e-mail.   As Long as you’re online, you head to Pirate Bay or Limewire, and download some of the songs you feel your iTunes library is missing.   You don’t even think twice about the act of downloading music and movies because it doesn’t feel wrong.  No one will report you, and you’re certainly not going to be arrested.  So you now have your music, and you go about your daily business.

There is a massive disconnect between stealing something from a store, and downloading music from your home.  In truth however, the two are not all that different.  So why is downloading so acceptable?

Though Congress cannot be blamed for law enforcement failing to prosecute downloading offenders, they can be blamed for making unenforceable laws.  Because the bills that have already been passed are so broad in definition, they are possible to enforce.  Therefore, stealing and downloading are not considered synonymous. 

Though Congressman Keller  (R-Fl) may have the best of intentions outlined in his bill, H.R. 1689, like nearly all other laws regarding downloading, it will most likely be a law issued, but never enforced.

Keller’s bill focuses more specifically on college campuses.  He suggests in the bill that colleges start programs that will prohibit the downloading of music and movies.  The bill states that there has recently been a drastic increase in downloading on college campuses.  Though this seems to be a likely assumption, it distracts from the real problem at hand; everyone is downloading and no one is doing a thing about it.

Aside from downloading, there is the massive problem of file sharing.  When bills prohibiting downloading music first came before the courts, file sharing was not included in the list of illegal activities.  This makes sense because file sharing can have many different definitions.  The courts most likely didn’t want to face cases where a daughter makes a mix CD for her parents and is then arrested for sharing her music files.  The fear of having to very specifically define file sharing however, has allowed websites like Limewire to get away with…well…downloading.  That’s another thing that Keller’s bill fails to define.  Though file sharing is included in what should be prohibited, Keller never defines what file sharing is. 

If Congress is truly serious about stopping the downloading problem, they need to stop making petty little laws that have a lot of bark, but no possibility of a bite.  Congress needs to sit down and carefully go over the problem.  Asking our legislators to actually think something through as a group seems unlikely, but that’s really what needs to be done.  Millions of people are stealing daily, and the government can’t quite figure out what to do about it. Until they do, people will continue downloading.    Sure, Congress can put out hundreds of bills saying that something is illegal, but until they make laws that can be acted on, Keller’s will just be a waste of paper.