Downloading illegally is wrong

Now for the public service announcement of the month, downloading illegally traded songs is wrong. It's called stealing. Artists do not get royalties off of Kazaa or Limewire. They get royalties when songs are played on the radio or when someone purchases their CDs. I don't download at all, unless it's a freeware program.

Another thing that downloading causes: less space on the hard drive. You might wonder how I know this? Because I didn't want to haul up my CD collection with me to college. However, it took up too much space so all those files were deleted and they were never shared with anyone, not even my roommate.

The recording industry says that peer-to-peer file-trading services have cost the recording industry more than 20 percent of its business over the past five years and that the lawsuits are necessary to help stamp out online music piracy.

"This behavior is stealing," said Jenni Engebretsen, a spokeswoman for the recording association. "And it's illegal."

But several Louisville residents facing lawsuits said they feel unfairly singled out by claims they can't afford to challenge.

All said the real culprits are their children or grandchildren, who were just doing what millions of other kids -- and adults -- around the world have been doing for years, without consequences.

"Teenagers just don't regard this as a crime," Brown said. "It's like us swapping records when we were kids."

The recording industry doesn't see it that way.

Since September 2003, the recording association has filed 12,500 lawsuits nationwide against individual file sharers, Engebretsen said.

Among the eight cases already decided in Louisville, settlements with the recording industry have ranged from $2,750 to $6,800.

Default damages of $7,500 and $8,250 were awarded in two cases where defendants didn't respond to the lawsuits.

Don't say what's wrong is right because what's wrong is plainly wrong. It's that simple. Don't download songs on the internet. If it's the hits you want, then wait til they release the greatest hits album but stealing is dead wrong.