Abstract This paper discusses the issues of piracy and bootlegging being perpetrated against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The paper argues that, in terms of addressing the issues of piracy and bootlegging, hard-line approaches like lawsuits and threats are ultimately ineffective. It suggests that the entertainment industry needs to devise new ways to accommodate its customers' needs, by lowering the prices of CDs and developing fair use policies that reflect new forms of technology.
Table of Contents:
The Impact Of Piracy And Bootlegging New Directions
From the Paper "Other online service providers can be used as models for the entertainment industry. Ross Danenberg, a digital law expert, recommends that service providers could negotiate distribution rights with countries rather than individuals. For example, a provider such as Apple's iTunes can negotiate for the rights to play a song in the United States with a song's rights holder and pay an agreed amount (Danenberg 13). This would in turn allow iTunes to provide the song for download to all its subscribers in the United States. Similar arrangements could be negotiated in other countries such as Australia and the European Union."
An analysis and examination of organized crime both in the United States and internationally, with specific reference to its history and characteristics.
2,500 words (approx. 10 pages), 22 sources, 2001, $ 75.95
Abstract In this paper the author analyzes and examines organized crime. The history of organized crime in the United States is discussed; the distinguishing characteristics of organized crime groups are examined and reviewed; the tensions between federal, international, and state laws in fighting organized crime are discussed; the supply of illicit drugs into the United States is examined and finally, the paper concludes with recommendations for battling organized crime.
From the paper:
?Organized crime poses severe threats to international and national security, particularly as the economy becomes increasingly global. Such threats present new conflicts that will require innovative strategies in the future. Cooperation among global organized crime groups has increased as restrictions have lessened between international borders.?
Abstract This paper examines the ongoing and evolving process of selling and disseminating music through the Internet. The author discusses how such activity has provoked a number of economic as well as artistic debates for the music business and for the computer and technology businesses that allow such technology to be accessed. This paper particularly focuses on the anti-trust issues that have arisen over the course of this debate.
From the Paper "First of all, the issue of disseminating music over the Internet provokes the perplexing question of who really "owns" the commercial product of a pieces of music, anyway? Is the owner the person or persons who simply hear the tune and keep humming it? Is the owner the musician who produces the product? Or are the owners the music companies musicians have signed artistic rights to? Clearly, to survive musicians must be able to charge for the product they produce, and the companies have control over the specifics of how to market that product. But once a song is in the public sphere, do not consumers have a right to "pass on" that music product in ways that they see fit, even if those ways may inhibit the sales of recordings of that music?"
A analysis, from today's viewpoint, of the classical American novel "The Great Gatsby " by F. Scott Fitzgerald from the perspective of the corrupt American Dream.
Abstract This paper describes "The Great Gatsby" as Fitzgerald's signature novel of the American dream gone awry. It compares American society in the 1920s to American today. The author writes that immigrants, like Gatsby, come to escape their own problems for our empty promises of unlimited advancement. On the surface, "The Great Gatsby" is a novel about confused and unhappy relationships that drank and socialized their way through the 1920s. Yet, when investigating further, it speaks of the bankrupt American Dream, which no longer stands for progress and hard work, as it has become materialistic and corrupt.
From the Paper "For years immigrants poured into Ellis Island looking for freedom of religious persecution, to escape poverty and hunger and numerous other reasons. Today over 50,000 immigrants come to the shores of America clutching Green Cards hoping for a piece of the American Dream."
It is in this setting, that F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays ?The Great Gatsby.? Jay Gatsby, himself, the title character, was a major culprit of this corruption.
Nick Carraway surmises that Gatsby made his wealth from bootlegging and involvement with organized crime. Gatsby has focused his adult life to being wealthy enough and having enough to impress Daisy."
Theft of copyrighted entertainment material. Looks at methods, bootlegging, copyright history, limitations, fair use & parody, court decisions, international issues, GATT and case study of China's infringements.
9,000 words (approx. 36 pages), 28 sources, 1996, $ 135.95
From the Paper "Piracy, Bootlegging, and the Entertainment Industry
This paper will discuss the issue of piracy in the entertainment industry. The focus of this paper will be upon the international aspects of this problem. The first part of the paper will examine the various types of piracy in the film and music industries. The second part of the paper will discuss the protection of copyright under United States law. This section of the paper will include a discussion of the fair use exception with regard to parody. The third part of the paper will look at the international aspects of the piracy problem. This section will discuss the international agreements which have been drafted and signed in response to the problem. The last part of the paper will look at the situation in China as an illustration of the continuing problem. This section will examine Chinese law concern.."
Abstract This paper relays the stories of women activists for prohibition in American history - including an account of Carry Nation's rampage, Francis Willard's organization and Mother Thompson's anti-saloon movement. This is an informative and, at times, humorous account of the history of women and their involvement with anti-saloon, anti-alcohol and their push for prohibition. The paper discusses how these women impacted American history and how these effects are still felt today.
From the Paper "From the beginning of colonization, rampant alcoholism was a big problem. By the early 1700?s, every colony that was inhabited had a deeply rooted alcohol economy to back the growing agricultural market. The most outstanding blemish on our face was Georgia. In such a drunken state was she that in 1735 through 1742 the wrath of Britain was visited upon her population in the form of an early prohibition act, which legally deprived Georgia of rum and brandies. Beer and wine came through unscathed. Almost immediately, the business of black market distilling and distributing of alcohol rose, along with early speakeasies and bootleggers."
Abstract The national prohibition of alcohol in the United States did the exact opposite of what it was designed to do. Instead of producing "clean living", alcohol-free Americans as supporters had hoped, prohibition gave birth to some of the country's largest crime syndicates and drinking grew in popularity. The paper shows that the public glamorized these syndicates and this resulted in a large upsurge of crime in the United States. The paper examines the twin crimes of smuggling and bootlegging and looks at how the law enforcement agencies handled the sharp rise in crime.
From the Paper "The distillation of alcohol at home, in what was referred to as "stills", was illegal but profitable. The end product, "moonshine", was already commonly prepared by many families in rural America prior to prohibition. The distillation of moonshine ran rampant during the days of the prohibition when citizens realized how simple it was to create their own alcohol. Information on alcohol distillation was easily attainable and the necessary equipment was relatively inexpensive. Alcohol was made from corn, sugar, or potatoes ? the same materials used by major manufacturers ? but in the homes of individuals. "
Tags: Woodrow, Wilson, Anti-Saloon, League, Volstead, Act, Capone
Abstract The characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" are largely members of a falsely created American aristocracy. But some of the higher aspirations of this decadent elite for truth, beauty, and, more importantly, a secure sense of home and identity, mirror the far less decadent, but equally passionate desires of the members of the all-female book reading society found in "Reading Lolita in Tehran". This paper shows that Jay Gatsby desired to improve himself by "making himself up" to be worthy of the love of the faithless Daisy Buchanan. He did this through bootlegging, purchasing fine shirts, and securing a home in Great Neck, Long Island. The paper shows that, similarly, through a shift in attire and place, the women of Azar Nafisi's book wished to reinvent themselves by casting off their chadors and the external social and moral strictures that restricted them in their theocratic, Islamic educational framework.
From the Paper "The girls revealed the hidden colors of concealed banned clothing, from under chadors, colorful as Gatsby's fine shirts that he showed to Daisy, concealed in his drawers. ?Recovering himself in a minute, he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing-gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high.? (Fitzgerald 91) Yet like these Iranian women, Jay Gatsby too has a hidden past and life, of his mundane Midwestern beginnings, as well as his criminal past. Gatsby keeps this boring past hidden life, filled with the shame of wealth he has not inherited, concealed under the colors of his shirts, while the women of Tehran keep their colorful plumage and reading a secret under cloaks of blackness that hide their faces and light. But like Gatsby, too, ?it was not until I had reached home that I realized the true meaning of exile,? writes Nafisi. (Nafisi 145)"
This paper discusses the case of Napster, an Internet music sharing company, which was forced by the courts and by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to cease operations.
2,455 words (approx. 9.8 pages), 9 sources, MLA, $ 74.95
Abstract This paper explains that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) argued that Napster was infringing on copyright and illegally copying, distributing or ?bootlegging?, and downloading the copyrighted products of musicians. The author points out that the problem of pirating copyright material is not new; but the combination of the Napster technology, the Internet, and the ability of individuals to burn their own CDs off the Internet made pirating very easy, with digital sound quality just like the store bought merchandise. The paper relates that Napster, which is now owned by Roxio, Inc., the software inventor of many well-known CD-burning programs, is a subscription-based service that charges 99 cents per downloaded song; other peer-to-peer networks seem still to be striving.
From the Paper "Napster offered its users the opportunity to access music files held on every other users? hard drive. This, in turn, meant that users could download to their hard drive, and then burn to a Compact Disc (CD) if they so desired, literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of music. This threatened the producers of music (the musicians) and the copyright holders, the media companies, such as AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal, EMI and others. The revenue they generate by selling Compact Discs and tapes was threatened because Napster users could now obtain music and compile a music library without actually purchasing product from the companies themselves."
Abstract This paper describes a fictitious adventure, which starts with a classified ad saying that the job would have travel opportunities, but never in the author's wildest dreams did he imagine that he would get to fly to Seoul, South Korea. The author's character carries a suitcase, which appears to have a few movies tapes, bootlegged fresh off the streets of New York,but the tapes and cassettes were suspicious looking, with cheap masking tape displaying the title in thick black sharpie. The police put a tape into a TV/VCR combo, and instead of "The Little Mermaid," there was a man standing in front of a group of 15 people with a North Korean flag behind drawing a map of the DMZ and of tunnels running throughout it. The story concludes that the day after the invasion was supposed to happen, the character was able to reach the American Embassy and get a plane home.
From the Paper "The reason I was so worried about the way my bag was handled was because it held very important...well, items, that I was to transport for my new job. The thing was that I wasn't allowed to know what items I was taking back and forth, so I couldn't risk even the smallest possibility of harming them. Sure, the job sounded a little shady at first, but once I learned I would be making $10,000 a week, plus free flight and hotel accommodations, I couldn't pass it up. Not to mention the hefty sum of student loans I still needed to pay off."
Abstract This paper reports on the origins and history of NASCAR, detailing the influence that returning WWII soldiers, the prohibition, the depression and bootlegging had on its development. The paper also takes a look at NASCAR's attempt to move away from its image as a sport that traces its roots to "Good Ol' Boys" running moonshine throughout the southern states.
From the Paper "Prohibition, together with the Depression, gave many poor farmers and sawmill operators an opportunity to make money by bootlegging (Wilson pp). One of the pioneers in the bootlegging business was Junior Johnson, who went on to become one of the most successful NASCAR drivers of his time (Wilson pp). When the Depression hit, Junior's father, a sawmill operator, turned to bootlegging and is said to have run more moonshine stills in the High Country than anyone else (Wilson pp). Junior began running moonshine when he was fourteen years old, and quickly made a name for himself, running liquor through the back roads at night to places such as Winston-Salem, Boone, and Avery to name a few, and during all his travels, he was never apprehended (Wilson pp)."
Abstract This essay argues that William Wellman's 1931 film "The Public Enemy" is a film that traces the roots of crime and criminal development to social forces and environment.
From the Paper "William Wellman's "The Public Enemy" was produced before censorship and is a graphic film of violence sex and bootlegging. Made in 1931, just after the end of the Roaring Twenties, "The Public Enemy" has two main themes. The first theme is that crime does not pay despite the lucrative ill-gotten spoils it provides to criminals. The second theme is that criminals are not born but develop due to environmental influences. The final message of the film that appears over the image of a phonograph is..."
Tags:bootlegging, prohibition, murder, war, gangsters, abuse, family, Chicago, gangs
Abstract This paper provides a discussion of the history, creation and ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment repealed prohibition, and allowed the sale and consumption of alcohol to resume in the United States. The social climate in the era leading up to prohibition is discussed, as well as the results of prohibition. Some holes in the 21st Amendment are discussed in view of our current century. The author, however, concludes that the U.S. Constitution remains a living document that is capable of responding to changes in American society.
From the Paper "During 1933, laws were passed in 43 states that provided for conventions in that or the following year (with the exceptions of Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Dakota) (Livingston 211). During the same year conventions were held in thirty-eight states of which thirty-seven ratified the amendment and one (South Carolina) rejected it. The thirty-sixth ratification was received in the late afternoon of December 5, 1933 and the certificate was issued by the Secretary of State less than an hour later (Livingston 211).
On December 6, 1933, the thirty-seventh ratification was received from Maine; as a result, it required less than eleven months after its submission to the states for the amendment to be ratified by the requisite three-fourths and the ill-fated experiment of national prohibition ended (Livingston 211). One of the reasons the process went so smoothly may have been based on a misconception among lawmakers at the time. For example, in his essay, "No More 'Cherry-Picking,'" Aaron Nielson (2004) reports that the 21st Amendment achieved the required votes in each house of Congress without causing much substantive debate, most likely because the majority of Congressmen at the time considered section one of the amendment, the simple repeal of constitutional Prohibition, as being its main thrust: "It seems that sections two and three of the Amendment were seen as being primarily procedural sections, necessary to support and implement section one" (Nielson 281). The implications of that fateful misperception have come back to haunt legislators today, particularly as they apply to section two."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the state of Rhode Island, with its great historical, economic and political past and its unique state constitution. This paper also takes a look at the success of Rhode Island over the past decade and how it is considered to be one of America's little gems.
From the Paper "Historically, Rhode Island is quite unique as compared to other U.S. states for several reasons. First, as a colony, Rhode Island broke away from Great Britain on May 4, 1776, a full two months before the other colonies supported the Declaration of Independence. Following the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island refused to join the union, thus becoming the last colony to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1790. This tendency for stubbornness continued well into the 20th century, for "when the rest of the states approved the Volstead Act which brought about Prohibition, Rhode Island was one of two states to reject it. This soon made it possible for the state to take up, although illegally, bootlegging on a large scale" (McLoughlin, 67)."
Abstract The paper addresses how the Irish and Italian Mafias affected business in the United States throughout the years. The paper details the history of the Mafias and shows how disadvantaged people, who were not given social allowances and opportunities, utilized other means to rise to the top and become influential people.
Outline:
Introduction:
The Irish Mafia
The Italian Mafia
Conclusion
From the Paper "Within the history and present of the United States there is no more interesting a topic than the rise and fall of Organized Crime. The imagination of the nation still pines for a greater knowledge of the impact organized crime had on the country, both then an now. We see this evidenced in the hundreds of popular media representations of organized crime families and the fallout and progress of their lives. Some of these stories are simply a fast car trick with catchy phrase work and bright pictures, and some are based on historical evidence. (Paoli, 2003, p. 3) The truth about organized crime in America is that it has a strong history and it greatly affected this nation, at different times during its life."
