Opinion of Media Downloading

The letter of the law allows for loopholes. Legally a person may download a piece of media for no charge that someone else has created, but only for personal use. It is illegal to download a media and sell it commercially or to utilize it with more than one person. Through this loophole, people may downloading media off of the internet for free technically legally.

The spirit of the law is steadfast. While a person may legally go through the loophole to achieve a piece of someone's art for free, the idea behind all of this is that the artist or original creator should be compensated for use of their idea. The media is his or her property that he or she decided to share with the world. If the artist decides to share that piece of art for free, then so be it. If the artist decides to sell their piece, however, such as a piece of music on iTunes, then downloading the same song for free elsewhere is immoral. No matter the purpose for which you intend to use the media, you are essentially obtaining the artist's idea without giving the compensation that the artist is asking for, or essentially, without permission.

When a piece of media is sold, the artist is asking for a price and in return will give you permission to use the art.

Without that permission (ie downloading for no charge) you may be within the letter of the law, however the spirit of the law is broken.

It is all a matter of what the perpetrator can live with. Personally, I attempt to stay within the spirit of the law rather than the letter. It is the difference between what is right and what is wrong, and not compromising in the face of legal loopholes.