This is actually my entry on an Essay-writing competition. This was done in 30 minutes, sorry. : :))
As as student with economic and accesibility concerns, are you in favor of open-information sharing [in the net]? The birth of the Internet was a major technological advancement of what was then a world of convoluted research work for students. And theoretically speaking, students in my generation are virtually spoon-fed by numerous search engines and help sites. Therefore, in this regard, I must advocate that I am not supportive of open-information sharing for educational means.
The World Wide Web consists of a collection of linked documents and is intended to be a vast network of shared files. And although protocols and policies are implemented, Internet security and privacy cannot be dependable. Intellectual property rights, being the legal field that reserves the rights of creators (including copyrights, trademarks, patents and related rights), are evidently violated if sites and works of authors are not paid with appropriate credit. The lack of precautions and laws implemented for violators of exclusive rights online encourages more culprits.
The distinction between privately and publicly owned information becomes indistinct due to the outwardly “public” nature of the Internet. Posts in user blogs and information in Encyclopedia-themed sites are instantly made for the view of the public as soon as it is published by authors. Electronic sources are reproducible effortlessly and are not perceived as “intellectual property” in the same way that their material counterparts are.
Open-information sharing in the Web prompts easier plagiarism. The risk of detection of plagiarism becomes very minimal, as students and PC users can alter their downloaded article to some extent. Also, reference books are more difficult to bootleg as writers provide superior elucidation of subjects, unlike in the web, where Web pages are authored by students as well. Book reports and movie reviews can now be downloaded from various sources (e.g.
http://www.imdb.com/,
http://www.allreaders.com/,
http://www.bookreview.com/) which saves students the time and effort of personally creating one.
I strongly consider that the immense data made available online causes idleness of the youth’s mind. Our local and national libraries are incessantly becoming futile, too (and soon obsolete, I’m afraid). Because the Net enables users to copy, paste, and even view sources with just a number of effortless clicks, many, especially students prefer to use the Internet as their medium of research. As part of my generation, I shall encourage my peers to utilize hard copies of researches and to go to the library, nevertheless. After all, great mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers authored books, not Websites.
Sources:
Woods, S. (2000). HTML Concepts and Techniques. Course Technology Press.
http://
www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/http://en.wikipedia.org/