New Social Issues

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November 10th, 2014

Dr. Shaniece Bickham

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New Social Issues

There have been many changes in the ways society not only creates media but also the manner in which it is distributed and consumed. One must consider the effects technological advancement had on creative processes. For example, changes are bound to be made to the creation, publication, and distribution of creative materials online. Furthermore, as the thirst for fast and free information increases businesses and public agencies generate new approaches to gather information using digital surveillance.

Copyright Protection

In the United States, copyright was intended as an incentive for creative achievements. Copyright provides artists, authors, and others the right to retain the sole rights to copy and distribute that work for a certain period. The primary focus in developing copyright laws allowing artists to retain the rights to their work was to encourage them to create more works.

As a result, society would yield an increasing number of creative efforts by a variety of artists (Pfaff-Harris, 1996). Copyrights, and the monopolies they bestow, grow increasingly lucrative. Bucy (2005) references the International Intellectual Property Alliance's representation of book publishers, movie studios, and others resulted in an annual economic boost of $400 billion in the national economy from the distribution of copyrighted materials. According to Bucy (2005), the alliance identifies copyrighted material as the country's most important export.

Ease of Copying and Sharing Materials

For more than a decade the Internet has been a common source of copyright infringement by allowing people to share music, software, movies, television shows, and other files free. For the same period artists and their representatives tried to curb the free distribution of copyrighted material and have failed to stop it. Although Napster and...