Cons

Since the Internet is commonly used, copyright problems have become more serious. Recently, France announced that if Internet users illegally download music or movies, they cannot use the Internet for one year. The illegal users are notified about their illegal downloading through e-mail. If they download something illegally once again, they are warned by letter. Finally, if they download once more, they cannot use the Internet for one year. The name of the law is “Three Strikes Law.”

Nowadays, information is regarded as money, and the importance of it has become so high that users downloading something illegally should be punished. However, prohibiting users from using the Internet can be a violation of personal privacy. In the case of Korea, Korea has many more illegal programs on the Web compared with France. It is assumed half of Internet users illegally download many programs, so it is hard to stop them. Both regulating the users and eliminating the illegal programs are difficult.

In addition, prohibiting Internet use means stopping people’s daily activities related to the Internet. As the Internet has all kinds of information, people cannot do anything without the Internet. For example, if the users are students, they cannot search for information they need or do their homework without the Internet. For this reason, prohibiting Internet use can affect the freedom of information retrieval.

For the last reason, this law seems too hard to be enforced in Korea. Korea has many PC rooms and many other places where computers are available. Many Korean people use the Internet in PC rooms, and if users download illegal programs there, the computer they used in downloading the illegal programs cannot be used to find their IP address. Unlike France, it is therefore more difficult to enforce this law. Therefore, I think introducing this law in Korea is very difficult. Before introducing this law, the National Assembly should explain this law exactly and try to make the law adjustable to the Korean situation.



Pros

Together with Internet development, the market dealing with illegal programs is also developing. Anybody can download music and movie files without paying service charges. Such illegal downloading can damage the entertainment industry severely, causing depression of the industry.

All over the world, problems of copyright infringement through the Internet have intensified, so many countries are making strenuous efforts to find countermeasures. France first passed a bill related to infringement of copyright. In the case of France, copyright laws to prevent illegal downloading from the Internet expanded from light punishment with a fine to a penalty of 300,000 euros or a prison term of three years. However, this punishment was criticized because there weren’t successful results, such as decreasing of illegal download and changing of people’ awareness.

After much controversy, a new bill, called three strikes law, was proposed. The law will restrict Internet connection if they download illegally once again though person have warning e-mail and letter. Some people oppose the three strikes law as an excessive measure. However, simple punishment with a fine is useless. Up to now, a lot of countries, including Korea, have tried to obtain satisfactory results, but in reality, it is hard to get results. In other words, it means that the law needs to be accompanied by measures to eradicate reproduction.

Illegal copying is hampering the development of culture and threatens the jobs of people who work in entertainment-related groups and companies. It is important to protect the rights of Internet users, but we also must respect artists’ rights.