It has been labelled a "disgrace" that Nobel laureate JM Coetzee`s books are available for download off the Internet for free. The SA-born and overseas-based author won the Nobel prize for literature last week.
During a Cape Town seminar organised by the South African Translators` Institute to celebrate International Translation Day this weekend, Reinhardt Buys of IT law firm Buys Inc demonstrated how easily books such as Coetzee`s "Disgrace" and the Harry Potter range can be downloaded from the Internet in a matter of minutes, using a file-sharing network such as Morpheus.
"The Morpheus peer-to-peer file sharing network is Napster`s replacement on the Internet," said Buys. "More than 155 million people have already downloaded the software and use it to collect and distribute illegal copies of music, books, games, movies and software on the Internet. It`s like providing all those people with a free scanner and photocopier in their bedrooms...with unlimited paper."
Buys said that unlike Napster, Morpheus cannot practically be switched off by a court order as it is a distributed system that works like the Internet. In order to stop the system from operating, all 155 million copies thereof should be deleted. "This is practically impossible, as no one knows which computers have the Morpheus software."
He noted that a recent report confirmed that most people use Morpheus or similar networks from their work computers because the bandwidth is much higher than that of home dial-up computers. Employers may therefore be liable for infringed copies of books and music downloaded by employees and saved on their systems.
The US-based Recording Industry Association of America, representing big music labels such as Time Warner and Universal, recently sued 261 people for illegal file sharing. This resulted in a 41% drop in illegal downloads during the course of last week.
"Although most people still use a peer-to-peer system like Morpheus for illegal music file sharing, books and software applications are increasingly being downloaded. The publishing industry now faces the same problems the music industry had to deal with over the last three years," said Buys.
"The copyright morality and knowledge about copyright issues are very low in SA. Most young people find it morally acceptable to download illegal copies of music and books, and cite the high prices of legal copies as one of the reasons."
An August 2003 Gallup poll discovered that 83% of teenagers between 13 and 17 found downloading free music morally acceptable.
A US federal judge recently sentenced Kerry Gonzalez, a 24-year-old insurance underwriter, to six months of home confinement for posting a rough version of the movie "The Hulk" on the Internet two weeks before the film hit theatres in June. US district judge Gerard E Lynch in New York also gave Gonzalez three years of probation, fined him $2 000 and ordered him to pay $5 000 in restitution to Vivendi Universal Entertainment, parent company of Universal Studios, which released the movie.
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