Configurable Culture

First of all, I think its incredibly interesting that at the time this was written last year, Wal-Mart was the largest retailer and how quickly how this has changed. It is also interesting the change in percent of people who thought that online file sharing of music was wrong "climbed from 22 percent in 2003 (the first year in which they asked the question) to 28 percent in 2004 (the last year in which they asked). The climb among young adults (18-24 year-olds) was even steeper, from 8 percent in 2003 to 14 percent in 2004. In the meantime, an increasing number of respondents reported cutting back on file-sharing because they were “afraid of legal consequences” – from 17 percent of online adults and 21 percent of young adults in 2003 to 25 percent and 34 percent, respectively, in 2005." What calls for this change in belief? Were the rules and regulations more harsh? How could that be the only deterrent for such a steep increase. Yet, at the same time, that means that a large majority of people did not believe it was wrong. Why did they believe it was ok? "As modern capitalism and industrialization emerged, music’s role in society, and its relationship to capital, changed with the times." Then, why do the laws not change as the relationship changes? Finally, I think one of the most interesting pars is the history of the application of copyright and how technology has impacted copyright so much and how the notion of copyright has changed because of this.