Lab Exercise: Technology & Political Economy

Technology & Political Economy Lab Exercise
Written by: Melissa Cooper

*What challenges do P2P (peer-to-peer) technology bring to copyright protection on the Internet?
P2P programs allow users to share files (including music, movie, software, and picture files) with other users free of charge. With this capability users may download files from other users without having to purchase copyrights from the copyright owner. This causes challenges for the copyright owners because they have no way of protecting their materials from user-to-user exchange.

*How do DMCA regulate the use of P2P technology?
DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998) prohibits individuals from sharing files without the permission of copyright owners. Violation of the DMCA (the online infringement of copyrighted material - upload/sharing), can be punished by up to 3 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to 6 years. Individuals also may be held civilly liable (regardless of whether the activity is for profit) for actual damages or lost profits, or for statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringed copyright.

*Considering p2p technology as substructure and DMCA as superstructure, please explor their relationship.
If p2p represents the "economy" and DMCA is the "political" superstructure of society--then, in accordance to this analogy--p2p ultimately caused the creation of the DMCA laws because without the abuse of copyright infringement DMCA would not be in existence--therefore, with it's creation, DMCA influences how p2p is limited and controlled

*See if three laws of dialectics are played out in the relationship between p2p technology and DMCA. How?
Yes, they are. Transformation from quantity to quality is played out in p2p's unlimited amount of filesharing capabilities...DMCA there-in limits the amount of quantity and controls the quality of distribution. Unity of opposites is played out in the development in the counterbalance in legalities. Finally, thesis-antithesis-synthesis is transfigured into illegal p2p-DMCA laws-legal control and punishment for infringement.

*Make comments on DMCA and TAMU's campus regulations. For example, do you agree or disagree with them? Are they fair to individual Internet users or copyright holders?
I believe that in the perspective of the music artists, these laws play fairly for their rights of ownership. However, for the common public, these laws place barriers for the enjoyment and availability of music for the common good. All-in-all, as a member of society I cannot say that I agree with them because I feel that I should have the right to listen to music that I enjoy without having to pay ridiculous amounts of money on the entirety of an album that I will not listen to. It all relies on use-value in accordance to product-value.

*Whose interest do DMCA reflect and protect? How could DMCA be made to represent and protect their interests? How about the other people's interests, which are overlooked by DMCA?
DMCA laws reflect and protect the rights and interests of the individual whose pocket-book gets damaged. Since the economic aspect is getting damaged, the law must effect the individual who is causing this monetary problem. DMCA could be changed to give the profit which was lost from the exploitation of their product back to them through legal fees taken from the abuser. However, the interests of the public are way overlooked by DMCA because it is not their money that is getting taken anymore since there is now a way for them to listen to music without having to pay unreasonable prices for the product.

*If you are a policy-maker, what kind of policy do you want to create to regulate p2p technology? Why?
I would institute an annual fee for the use of p2p programs. Instead of charging users for individual songs, I believe a system in which users must pay for the use of the software rather than the products they are receiving would result in better user-product relations. People do not want to pay for each song they are downloading, but I do believe that a more acceptable response would result from a yearly fee for the use of p2p programs.