Thesis
The Internet must remain open source, as it eliminates obstacles amongst innovators, allowing for the free flow of information within a society, which is necessary for innovative, scientific, and technical growth.
Topic Explanation
The term open-source refers to software that is freely available with open-source code that may be edited and enhanced by anybody. The open-source movement is composed of official and unofficial organizations that advocate for the usage of open-source software copyrights (Shaikh and Henfridsson 117). The concept of open-source originated in the technology field. Since the dawn of computing, developers and engineers have collaborated to create technological innovations. For example, a developer in California creates a new program, which is subsequently studied and improved by another programmer in Hong Kong. The information is disseminated, and the collaborative invention helps the whole community. In several aspects, the open-source license was created as a means of responding to proprietary production.
Without a doubt, open-source ownership fosters cooperation and innovation. Many of the modern technology people take for granted would not exist or would be under the protection of patent law. A classic example is the Internet which has been in existence and accessible to everybody for decades. Rapid technological advancement in the internet domain has been made possible for several years thanks to the open-source movement. Since its source code is public, millions of developers can access it and modify it to develop evolutionary platforms that make information exchange across the globe possible. Perhaps the most common example is the development of various social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and many more. These online networking platforms bring together people from different parts of the globe to share information and communicate with one another, irrespective of time and place. The creation of social networking platforms would not have been possible if intellectual property laws governed the Internet.
Disagreement
Intellectual property rights are among the significant concerns of the Internet age. Open-source licensing has raised significant difficulties surrounding who should have intellectual rights and authority over digital material. Another concern is the person or the governing body that should be allowed to decide the accessibility to such information. These are among the open-source Internet’s most often contested intellectual property issues. As a result, the ease with which information may be obtained over the Internet has raised major problems regarding intellectual property protection, including movies, music, software, digital books, and video games.
Indeed, in this digital era, where many things can be accessed for free online, theft of intellectual property remains a persistent issue. The unauthorized reproduction of proprietary content is known as piracy, which has become a worldwide concern (Hou et al. 6). Theft of music, films, and literature is consistently on the rise. Millions of individuals unlawfully download songs, eBooks, and movies on their devices. Likewise, new forms of piracy, such as the illegal streaming of sporting events and films, have increased. People who participate in piracy often use peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as PirateBay to get the content they desire for free. This practice prevents genuine rewards to original creators, publishers, and businesspeople. Undoubtedly, it shows a blatant misuse of the Internet merely because anybody can create platforms for sharing pirated content without restrictions. Such problems would not exist if the Internet were not open-source.
Moral Significance
Intellectual property laws provide the most fundamental level of protection for products. Original creators have the right to produce and disseminate duplicates of their applications under the terms of a trademark. Thus, copyright remains a powerful tool available to combat intellectual property theft. Holders of copyrighted works, such as developers or programmers, can use intellectual property laws to restrict others from reproducing and developing or selling things that are nearly identical to protected content. The limitation of intellectual property laws is that they offer no protection for the ideas behind the technology. When copyrights do not cover concepts and ideas, rivals may utilize them.
Case Study
A case study that many internet users can relate to is Wordle. Josh Wardle created Wordle, a web-based vocabulary game and made it public in 2021 (Vick). The game became an instant hit globally, and because it was published on the Internet with no copyright, it has been cloned severally. Most of these imitators use unique approaches to modify the Wordle code. Absurdly is a competitive variation of the original game in which the targeted word varies with every try, although remaining committed to prior suggestions. Other versions comprise one that has a lexical pool of just four-letter curse phrases and another that allows participants to customize the length of the word. Likewise, there are mathematical versions of the game where players are required to create equations leading to the target answer. The case of Wordle illustrates how publishing content on the Internet without intellectual property leads to piracy.
Main Supporting Reason
The Internet should remain open-source because it leads to more innovation since, in this way, it allows people to improve on existing ideas published online for free.
Works Cited
Hou, Jong-Uk, et al. “Copyright protections of digital content in the age of 3d printer: Emerging issues and survey.” IEEE Access, no. 6, 2018, pp. 44082-44093.
Shaikh, Maha, and Ola Henfridsson. “Governing open-source software through coordination processes.” Information and Organization, vol, 27, no. 2, 2017, pp. 116-135.
Vick, Karl. “How Wordle’s Creator Feels about Selling His Viral Game.” Time, 2022, Web.
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