One of the most controversial technological innovations of the past decade
             or more, file sharing software applications have transformed the ways
             people view intellectual property. In fact, intellectual property has only
             recently been a subject of popular debate, since the newsworthy demise of
             Napster. With the advent of the Internet and subsequent software
             developments, computer users worldwide have been able to upload, download,
             and share files, many of which contain copyrighted material. In some ways,
             this type of file sharing seems to fall under the "fair use" clauses in
             copyright laws, which dictate that individual consumers are free to make a
             few personal copies of material for limited use. However, file sharing
             software calls into question the extent of "fair use" because potentially
             millions of people could have access to one copyrighted file. File sharing
             therefore raises a host of ethical and legal conundrums. First, the
             creators of the copyrighted material: musicians, writers, or software
             engineers, are potentially losing money. After all, they are receiving no
             revenues from the freely distributed materials. On the other hand, sharing
             files via the Internet may not be damaging creative professionals as much
             as we think. File sharing applications and the compressed material that is
             being shared is imperfect: MP3 files will never approach CD quality sound
             and will never come replete with the glossy books or other presentation
             material that a store-bought product contains. Moreover, most music
             connoisseurs don't mind forking over a few bucks to support their favorite
             artists. Similarly, pirated software is unusable much of the time, as the
             "cracks" don't always work and the software itself comes with glitches due
             to the reproduction process. In general, file sharing is a fun and exciting
             technological development but poses little actual threat to professionals
             who rely on intel...