Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is always an issue, and the more user friendly the digital world becomes, the bigger the issue gets. It is so easy to put something up on the internet now that anyone can do it. People can sit there and read a quote from a book, go on the internet and claim it as their own. There is a possibility they could get caught and yet there is still a possibility that they wont and people will believe it. So many times I've seen images and quotes that people claim as their own when in reality they just found it somewhere else. It only takes a screen shot, a copy/paste or a file/save to obtain any information you want. Its a free world on the internet and so far no one can figure out how to stop it.

While the people trying to regulate such copyright infringements are getting more clever, so are the people pirating. When I look at some of the mass downloading sites I am in awe at their secretive, clandestine ways of getting you whatever file you want. This is obviously a cycle that will keep happening, so it seems that a new approach is needed. They have already started with things like iTunes (easier access than sites like Napster, with a small fee) or TV channels' sites letting you watch shows online for free (with sponsored commercials). The problem is still very much present, but these help to alleviate the damage done by copyright infringements. Still I fear they are going to try something drastic (paying to access sites?) but hopefully this can be solved in a way that is still user friendly (and non expensive) but completely legal.