Downloaded

Another great thing about the Sydney Film Festival is the documentaries you get to see. Like this one about Napster.
Illegally downloading material, whether it be music or movies has become the newest crime which people feel no guilt about when they are committing it. Like most of the internet you can download items without much chance of being caught. As someone who loves films I do not download films. Part of the reason is my internet service, but also too I do feel a sense of guilt at depriving film makers I like of royalties. You may say that is contradictory from someone who gets free movie tickets but getting free tickets is not stealing. But also when I see a film at the cinema it is like testing the film out to see if I love it enough to buy later on DVD or Blu-ray. I have no problem with downloading TV series as they are virtually free anyway on other platforms.
The sharing of music is something that has been going on for decades. Ever since music was put onto devises to be played back, people have shared music. You might borrow a record off someone to listen to and even make a copy for yourself. I think the music industry and artists knew that it was going on but was such a small 'crime' that they did not care Then with the dawn of the internet came Napster who created a program that let you share your music digitally and in a very open forum like the internet. From what I can see in this documentary record companies and artists were scared. The interest had just become popular and so it was a very scary thing. People did not know its potential and so was fearful of what it might do.
Alex Winter has created an excellent documentary that explored the early stages of the digital download revolution and specifically the company Napster. Napster become the victim of the fear people had over the internet in it's early days. The way they were treated by the music industry was terrible but understandable. Rather than harness this new idea for good they chose to destroy it. Alex presents many different views on the subject and it seems people have come to accept what they once feared.
The world is going through a major change at the moment with the internet and what it can do to human society. Specifically the way information is shared. Like all major changes, humans become scared. This film explores one such example.