#3: To Share or not To Share... That is the Million Dollar Question

1. What is your personal opinion towards file sharing? Is it right or wrong?

I think that file sharing isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we need to share files with other people, and this is made easier by sharing files online, especially if the recipient is sitting halfway across the globe behind their computer. However, this method of sharing online can be exploited by having people share things like movies, music, art, etc. -- things that are usually supposed to be bought with money. So by having a way of getting these for free, the people who are producing said things are losing money. Even though this would be considered 'stealing' and stealing = wrong, people still do it anyways. So maybe file sharing can only be labeled right or wrong depending on the kind of file that is being shared. But regardless of file sharing being labelled 'right' or 'wrong', I don't really think people will give a second thought before they download that file off Mediafire or some other file sharing site. 

2. If you produced your own piece of art/song/movie, would you hold the same opinion?

If I produced my own art/song/movie that was being shared online, I would be thinking that sharing files online is so wrong. Money might not be the only reason why I made that art/song/movie, but it definitely is one of the reasons why the piece exists. If people were sharing my piece among themselves for free, many of them would not bother spending their money to get their own copy when they could get it for the price of $0 because humans are greedy. I would be losing a lot of money because of this which would be bad if I made a living off of my art/music/movies.  

3. Do you feel it is morally acceptable to download copyrighted material if it is only intended for personal use? 

I'll admit that many times I have downloaded copyrighted material intended for my own personal use (the most recent being One Direction's album, hehe) without having an internal struggle with my morals. Many people will feel that it is morally acceptable to be doing this, but if everyone felt that way then no money would be made. Even knowing that it's considered stealing and that the makers are losing money, I would download it anyways. So perhaps a part of me feels that it is morally acceptable, even though I know it isn't. So yes, I feel it is morally acceptable. But that is just a personal opinion.