MP3 piracy and moral issues bind us together and are changing lives, while the technology advancements make it easier for us to realize it. People who produce intellectual property and the ones that benefit from it are currently discussing the implications this can have on the online music in the future. There are several main sides to the problem.

There are huge corporations that deal with copyright infringement and push litigation. Overall recording industry principles say that is wrong to copy somebody else’s work and perhaps return profit to the authors. These principles ensure that the original ideas have value. The primary concern of copywriting people is the loss of revenue from selling music in the music shops. Naturally, they encourage legi

Technology and market forces made it possible for the individual consumer to have the information and entertainment of his choice at affordable cost. Consumer’s current concerns have to do with:

· liability in electronic commerce and other on-line services

· dispute resolution, that is they need a clear framework for jurisdiction in relation to on-line services provided from outside their country

Licensing is also a problem for content carriers, such as broadcasters and telecommunications operators but these are primarily concerned with the award of frequency spectrum. The rapidly increasing demand for radio-spectrum from new digital services makes necessary the allocation of additional spectrum. However, the awarding authorities are not independent from actors in the sector and there is no transparency in the allocation procedures. Another problem is the excessive fees charged for spectrum which in most cases is motivated by national budgetary considerations rather than by the concern of spectrum efficiency. In addition, commercial broadcasters and telecommunications operators have to face unfair competition from public broadcasters who have commercial activities besides being publicly funded.

On the part of the content providers, such as publishers and film, music and TV producers, issues associated with acquisition of copyright, access to networks, and freedom of advertising and freedom of speech are their main concerns. Current copyright acquisition is complex and good protection of intellectual property is not ensured. Their products are in most cases collective works, which result from the collaboration between a series of creators , such as writers, composers, graphic designers, programmers, artists etc. and acquisition and management of all these rights is time taking and costly. Moreover, the creators are not protected against theft of their intellectual property due to differing copyright legislation in the different countries or even lack of copyright laws in some countries. Both content providers and creators ask an international copyright law to conform to the current needs and provide sufficient intellectual property rights protection in a flexible manner and at acceptable cost. Another problem for content providers is the current content regulation, which imposes restrictions on the ground of achievement of public interest goals and restrictions in advertising and informing consumers about their products. They support the view that content should not be regulated because there already exist self-regulatory bodies like the Press Complain Committee, the Advertising Standards Authority and the Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel which are more effective in ensuring that truthfulness and decency prevail in the media than a direct government intervention. Content providers ask also free access to networks and they view the current licensing procedures as barriers. According to their comment, ‘such procedures should only exist in exceptional circumstances where absolutely necessary to ensure clearly defined objectives or where linked to the allocation of scarce resources’.

The nature of the problems of those interested parties, which are, at present, responsible for regulation, that is, the national governments and the national regulatory authorities, is completely different. They are concerned with how to control the whole situation and with continuing to have a role in media policy and regulation. Unfortunately, for them, the global nature of

Some topics in this essay:
, Technology Sectors, Record Labels, Internet Internet, Arbitration Panel, European Commission, intellectual property, online music, content providers, media information technology, on-line services, media information, information technology, copyright laws, broadcasters telecommunications operators, individual consumer, free access, download music, telecommunications media information, media policy regulation,