Napster The Copyright Battle Essay - 1363 Words

Once upon a time a website provided free music through peer-to-peer file sharing. This was a new technology for the public for a several reasons. The price of home computers had declines dramatically and many people could now afford one. Because of the affordability, many people who had never used a computer suddenly found themselves enmeshed in the new media. Not only could people do their e-mail, do paperwork, play games and use all the different applications they now could also share their files with others. Of course, they wanted to share one of our most valued pleasures, our love of music. The public was not aware that this type of file sharing was illegal because it was not clear on the website disclaimer. Most people did not†¦show more content†¦This actually was a promising idea. There are many independent musicians, writers and various other artist that cannot afford to promote their work and develop a following. This was virtually a free way to advertise their p roduct without trying to get a contract with a company to distribute and promote their work. As long as the artist had given permission for the use of the work, there was not a problem. The copyright laws of the United States provides for the artist to benefit from his/her intellectual property for a set period. Then the work goes into the public domain. However, this was not the case with Napster. The first problem was that they were allowing distribution of copyrighted work without permission or compensation to the artist. Second, it appears that they knowingly promoted their product once they were informed that copyright infringement was being practice with the assistance of their site. According to Jeff Tyson, there were several reasons why the music industry was upset with Napster, Tyson states: The problem that the music industry had with Napster was that it was a big, automated way to copy copyrighted material. It is a fact that thousands of people were, through Napster, making thousands of copies of copyrighted songs, and neither the music industry nor the artists got any money in returnShow MoreRelatedThe Legal Issue with Napster and the Music Industry Essay1131 Words   |  5 PagesThe Legal Issue with Napster and the Music Industry The issues that will be slugged out in federal district court in San Francisco sound a little too pop culture to be all that serious. How many music CDs are people buying these days in record stores throughout the nation because of Napster? Is the technology that Napster uses legal? Napster is, of course, the wildly popular file-sharing service whose 20 million users have downloaded some half a billion songs--most copyrighted for free. Read More The Rise and Fall of Napster Essay1292 Words   |  6 Pages The Rise and Fall of Napster It started as an accident. Shawn Fanning was just experimenting and thinking of an easier to go through a search engine for music. What was a simple idea turned out to be a phenomenon in the Internet world. The creation of Napster led to many problems and brought about new issues that involved the entertainment industry and piracy laws. Napster is a software where a compilation of all of its user’s files are held in a central unit and each user is able to useRead MoreThe Rise and Fall of Napster1355 Words   |  6 PagesThe Rise and fall of Napster It started as an accident. Shawn Fanning was just experimenting and thinking of an easier to go through a search engine for music. What was a simple idea turned out to be a phenomenon in the Internet world. The creation of Napster led to many problems and brought about new issues that involved the entertainment industry and piracy laws. Napster is a software where a compilation of all of its users files are held in a central unit and each user is able to use itsRead MoreEssay on Music Copyright Infringement1224 Words   |  5 PagesMusic Copyright Infringement MP3 is an audio format that allows users to compress and send music files easily over the Internet. The major problem with this music sharing is that most of the files are pirated, which has caused a stir in the music industry. Music companies and music artists have been complaining about how their music is being stolen and therefore lowering their album sales. The major blame has been put on Napster and other file sharing software available on the InternetRead MoreDigital Music Distribution: Napster Vs. Kazzaa Essay example1735 Words   |  7 Pagesthat consumers are more or less resistant to and others hover ambiguously over the boundaries of copyright law, attracting users through questionable means. 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Imprisonment in Frankenstein Free Essays

In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein and Charlotte Gilman’s short story â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† imprisonment is a reoccurring theme. The main characters in both stories seek to break free of the confinements imposed upon them by hierarchical societies. These strictly stratified societies prosecute the characters;who respond with immediate action in order to achieve that freedom which their societies have purged from them. We will write a custom essay sample on Imprisonment in Frankenstein or any similar topic only for you Order Now Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s monster, and John’s wife all suffer the indignities of both literal and metaphorical imprisonment founded on racism, classism, and sexism. In â€Å"Frankenstein,† Victor endures several types of imprisonment. His workshop is much like a prison cell, in that he stays in the room for months at a time and leaves only for brief stretches. Victor admits that, â€Å"My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement† (Shelly 32). Victor is literally imprisoned by the authorities for the murder of his best friend, Henry Clerval. He is metaphorically imprisoned by his inability to protect his loved ones, including his future wife, from his monster. He reveals the dread created by his powerlessness when he says, â€Å"And then I thought again of his words- I will be with you on your wedding-night† (Shelly 117). Victor’s fear of social ostracism, which would be the likely outcome if anyone of his class were to discover that he had created the repulsive monster that had killed so many innocent people, also impairs his actions. It is only after he decides to hunt down the monster and vanquish him in order to ease his conscience that Victor breaks free from the prison that his fears create for him. Although Victor dies before avenging his loved ones, his death is what ultimately releases him from this prison. Frankenstein’s monster also suffers both literal and metaphoric imprisonment. Because his hideous appearance prevents him from developing relationships with humans, he is a prisoner in his own body. The monster’s accidental killing of a boy in the woods is an example his inability to have even the most basic social experiences. The monster is also sentenced to something like solitary confinement by the De Laceys. Although he spends months learning how to speak and read so that others will think him civilized, the De Laceys chase him away when he finally approaches them. Felix tackles the monster who remorsefully states â€Å"I could have been torn limb from limb† (Shelly 91), this shows how unwilling the De Laceys are to compromise. The monster is wronged in the same way that the victims of racism are wronged: namely, he is rejected for his outwardly appearance. Even though the monster is the only one of it’s race, he is prosecuted by a hierarchical society who doesn’t judge based on character. Frankenstein’s monster tries to win his freedom from isolation by asking his creator, Victor, to construct a female monster for him. The monster pleads, â€Å"You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of the sympathies necessary for my being† (Shelly 98). The monster believes that having a companion would give him a reason to live, however Victor denies his monster of this request. We see in Anne K. Mellor’s â€Å"Processing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein†, â€Å"By stealing the female’s control over reproduction, Frankenstein has eliminated the female’s primary biological function and source of cultural power†(Mellor 274). This further more states that Victor has created the perfect patriarchal society, in which the creation of humanity no longer needs the service of women. The woman in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† also experiences several different types of imprisonment. The woman’s husband, John, treats her like a prisoner in her own home because of her postpartum depression. She feels that she has very little freedom of thought or action because John dictates the course of her life as though he were a prison guard. She has internalized her husband’s authority to the point she hears John’s voice in her head. The narrator states, â€Å"I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house†(Gilman 2). The narrator starts to keep a secret journal because of this captivity, this writing is the only emotional stimulus the woman can forgo to express herself freely. She says, â€Å"I must not let them find me writing† (Gilman 3). In a metaphorical sense, the woman finds herself trapped by her condition and the patriarchal society in which she lives. Both prevent her from asserting her independence as a women. In a physical sense, she finds herself confined to a room of John’s choosing. All she can do is obsess over the wallpaper. The narrator says, â€Å"I am getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper† (Gilman 7). Eventually, when she sees the creeping women in the wallpaper,the narrator gains a measure of freedom when she tears it all down, thus freeing her mind as well as the imprisoned women, fusing into one. The narrator rejoices that, â€Å"I’ve got out at last† (Gilman 10). She goes insane at the cost of winning her freedom from John and a sexist society. The main characters in both stories undergo a major transformation. They all start as prisoners of sorts, but they all eventually break free when they confront the powers that imprison them. This proves evident with some truths about humanity, about the prisons that we construct for ourselves and the prisons that our societies constructs for us. Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s monster, and John’s wife all suffer from hierarchical societies which reject the characters, who attempt to gain their freedom which have been denied to them. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper. Boston, Ma: Small Maynard, 1899. Web. 2 Oct. 2010. . Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York, NY: W. W. Norton , 1996. Print. How to cite Imprisonment in Frankenstein, Papers

Business Risk and Inherent Risk Assessment

Question: Discuss about the Business Risk and Inherent Risk Assessment. Answer: Introduction Imagine a situation where a company lost about 50 percent of its capital through dubious financial investments that have not been duly confirmed and authorized. The outcome is dire. It will only take one financial reporting for the corporate world to know that something has been going wrong. How one manages a business risk determines the value that will be realized by the shareholders. The role of the board of management and other senior executives in the corporate world is assessing business risks that may hinder them from achieving the organizational objectives (Hayes et al. 2005). The case of HIH Insurance Limited clearly confirms this statement. The company did collapse because it did not engage in extensive consultations before making significant investments and also because of failure to do due diligence to determine the viability of a given investment and the associated risk. In this analysis, the discussion will discuss various business risks and inherent risks associated wit h the company failure, the prevailing legal liability and the business ethics that all people charged with top leadership should exercise. Business Risk and Inherent Risk Assessments Assessing the Business Risk of HIH Insurance Limited The business risk of HIH Insurance Ltd could be determined by looking at its business process and how decisions are made. From the company scenario, it is revealed that there is no clear decision-making process. The company did make major investments in the insurance industry by purchasing FAI Insurance, World Marines and General Insurance and Cotesworth. It did this without elaborate board members consultations. Further, the company did accept investment deals without carrying out due diligence. This possesses a very serious risk because the business was not able to identify what such moves have for the company and the long-term effect. The risk aspect was not taken seriously before making any financial decision. In simple terms, therefore, the assessment of the business risk is founded on how decisions are made (Hayes et al. 2005). Given the evidence from the company like forming the merger with Winterthur and the managing of business operations that were not open and transparent, clearly, demonstrate the business risk assessment situation for HIH Insurance Ltd. The following are the inherent risk factors affecting HIH Omission: The specific omission that amounts to the inherent risk of HIH Insurance Ltd is the authorization of the prospectus issue on the October 26th, 1998 by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. William. The prospectus did omit some important information about the company activities which could have informed the stakeholders on the company prospectus. Fraud: This is also another inherent risk associated with the company. This is demonstrated by the case where Mr. Howard was charged with criminal misconduct. He did receive $124,000 from Mr. Brad Cooper to facilitate the payment of $737,000. Howard did authorize the payment even though it had already been discharged. This was money lost. Top management behavior: The top management also seems not to work as a team. The directors can make major decisions individually with involving the others. This is witnessed from the signing of reports by the CEO without the endorsement by the other directors. Misrepresentation: This is one of the common inherent risks in the company. The CEO used to sign statements which were not and thus misguiding the stakeholders. The director did sign misleading letters apart from signing the reports that overstated the operating profits in the period 1998/1999. The report showed $92.4 million before abnormal items and income tax. These factors if detected could have an inherent risk assessment. However, because they were committed without the notice of the other stakeholders, it is hard to stop them. This is an issue of governance and how they contribute to important matters affecting the company. The assessment of these risks will have protected the company from bad practices and mismanagement of resources. Legal Liability In Australia, the insolvency rules and other regimes high regard both the clients and the creditors during the liquidation process (ICLG, 2017). This is to say that they have a right to claim to be paid what the companies owed them during the sale proceeds. This is to say that the clients and the creditors will stand a chance of getting paid at the end. However, this depends on some factors that as raised in the case of Commissioner of Taxation v Australian Building Systems Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) [2014] FCAFC 133 8 October 2014. The defendant was liquidating while the complainant (Commissioner of Taxation) was seeking direction from the court on how the accruing taxes will be paid. From the sale of the company real estate property, it managed to get $1.2m. The plaintiff wanted to get a binding as guided by Section 254 of the Income Tax Act (1936) to have all accruing taxes paid before any other payments can be made (Meyer, 2014). The complainant wanted the liquidator to fully acco unt to the commissioner of taxes before any notice to assessment can be given. This was necessary to ensure that the Commission did get its rightful share as required by the law since the sale of the company property was a business transaction and therefore liable to paying tax. The issue in court was to determine under section 254(1) (d) of ITAA 1936 if the Commission was to be paid the full tax liable amount owed by the company before giving any priority to any creditors. The tax law requires the liquidator to be enjoined in such a case because of his or her role as a trustee. As a trustee, one serves the responsibility of making retains from business proceeds to pay the tax. Following the submissions of both parties and the application of law, the judge did issue a cautionary statement about the distribution of sale proceeds. The liquidator was required to be prudent and retain part of the proceeds to pay for some other obligations. The court also required the liquidator to retain the proceeds until the exact position of the tax liability was established. In essence, this case forms a critical background in the case regarding HIH Insurance Ltd. The case proofs that the clients and creditors can hold the liquidator liable, however, for one condition. All state obligations must be first from the capital gains. It, therefore, means that the two can be paid, if the full amount or not will depend on the balances after paying the tax (Hayes et al. 2005). The following conditions must exist for the negligence action to be held: Presence the duty to care: HIH Insurance Ltd had the duty to care both for their clients and the creditors. The company was expected to act in a reasonable manner to protect their interests. However, the company was irresponsible, and their actions were irresponsible. Breach of ones duty: Further, the company did fail to act in a reasonable manner towards its clients and creditors for not sharing with them correct information. The injury caused: The clients and creditors were injured because they were not paid for the services rendered. The existence of monetary losses: The services provided by the clients and creditors can be quantified in monetary terms. Ethics The company wanted to hire prior members of this external audit team to come and destroy the evidence of the wrongs that had been done in the company. This clearly demonstrates a failure in business ethics since there is a clear conflict of interest. The direct cannot do oversight role of themselves since they will not give factual business position (Gckler Armbrster, 2003). The following are the advantages of a company having the same firm carry out both the auditing and the consultancy services: Economies of scale: Because of the amount of work which is huge, the company can be able to bargain and get a better deal regarding cost savings. This is because costs like negotiation costs will be constant. Promoting professionalism: It is also important for the company to understand that the firm that does the auditing understands the company systems better and can give more practical recommendations (Hayes et al. 2005). This is because they have first-hand information about the business scenario and the challenges being faced. c) Circumstances provide a scenario where there no work and governance ethics. To start with, the first example gives rise to a conflict of interest (Hayes et al. 2005). This is because at one hand, the auditors are auditing company and on the other hand they play an oversight role of what they have audited. Based on the amount of money that Andersens was paid for ten years, one could be left wonder if the company got value for its money. Andersens was paid about $15 million. This figure is huge. This shows that something is wrong with the board. Further, the audit firm is only professional in audit and cannot provide other consultancy services. They only give a report to implement. d) The main subject of the report is about the independence of audit. The recommendations include: The Corporate Act to have a clause requiring the independence of auditors. In financial reports, there should always be a declaration that the independence of auditors was observed as required by the Act. The recommendations also touched on the relationship between the auditors and the clients, establish of the auditor independence board and finally, enhance audit committees to make various judgments about audit services and accruing fees (The Federal Government, 2001). Even though the recommendations are a major milestone in the corporate world, they may not have a major impact. This is because the recommendations have clearly stated what the consequences are for those partners that do not follow them. Conclusion This report has critically analyzed the concept of Business risk and inherent risk assessment with particular reference to the case of HIH Insurance Ltd. The company forms one of the major companies that have collapsed not only in Australia but globally because of the inherent risks committed by the leadership team. The inherent risks cause major shake-ups to businesses if not managed. The effects of inherent risks are dire and they affect many stakeholders including the clients and the stakeholders. These groups hold a liability case towards the liquidated company because of the pending bills. The problem of inherent risk is mainly caused by the acts of the board of governors. In general, to avoid the recurrence in the future, other recommendations alongside Ramsay Report and CLERP 9 have to be enacted. This is to send a stern warning to the perpetrators. References Gckler, J Armbrster, T 2003, Bridging uncertainty in management consulting: The mechanisms of trust and networked reputation. Organization Studies, 24(2), 269-297. Hayes, R., et al. 2005, Principles of Auditing. An Introduction to International Standards on Auditing, Prentice Hall ICLG 2017, Corporate Recovery Insolvency, June 24th, 2016, available at https://iclg.com/practice-areas/corporate-recovery-and-insolvency/corporate-recovery-and-insolvency-2016/australia Meyer, V 2014, MV's Top 5 Insolvency Cases for October 2014, November 1st, 2014. Available at https://www.meyervandenberg.com.au/property-construction/mvs-top-5-insolvency-cases-october-2014 The Federal Government, 2001, Ramsay Report recommendations into audit independence, available at https://www.johnwiley.com.au/highered/auditing/lecturer-res/current_affairs/2002-05/2002-05-2.pdf

The Benefits of Cultural Diversity in a Workplace Essay Example

The Benefits of Cultural Diversity in a Workplace Essay Benefits Of Diversity in the workplace †¢ Categorized as  Business,Miscellaneous Benefits Of Diversity in the workplace The acceptance of the term globalization all over the world has made the term ‘diversity’ quite prominent at workplaces. Apart from differences in race and gender, workplace diversity includes many other forms like age, ethnicity, physical attributes, educational background, sexual orientation, geographical location, income, marital status, parental status, spiritual practice, work experience, job classification and many more. An organization’s growth rate and success depend upon its ability to understand and manage diverse people in an efficient manner. When people with diverse backgrounds work as a team, the company progresses and grows at rapid rates. Apart from this ,there are numerous other benefits of diversity in a workplace. Some of these benefits include: 1. Increased adaptability Organizations having a diverse workforce are better equipped in supplying a greater and better variety of solutions for problems in sourcing, service, and allocation of organizational resources. People from diverse background bring with them diverse experiences and talents in suggesting proposals that can easily be adapted to fluctuating market conditions and customer demands. 2. Increase the company’s range: When the organization has a diverse set of skills, competencies and experiences such as languages,and cultural understanding, it becomes capable of providing services to a greater variety of customers spread across the world. 3. Diversity in viewpoints. When diverse workforce communicates varying points of view comfortably, there is a larger pool of experiences and ideas. This facilitates the organization to draw the best ideas and suggestions from that pool. Thus the needs of  business  strategy and that of customers are fulfilled quite effectively. 4. Efficient execution of plans. Companies that follow the concept of workplace diversity automatically inspire all their  employees  to perform to their highest ability. Thus, all lans and strategies of the company are efficiently executed, resulting in improved productivity, increased revenue, and higher return on investment. 5. Satisfied customers. When an organization is able to embrace employees having diverse skills and cultural viewpoints, it is better able to understand the needs and desires of the customers residing in different parts of the world. 6. Overall organizational growth. Employees coming from different backgrounds bring individual experiences and talents, whi ch invariably contribute to the overall growth of an organization. We will write a custom essay sample on The Benefits of Cultural Diversity in a Workplace specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Benefits of Cultural Diversity in a Workplace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Benefits of Cultural Diversity in a Workplace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However, all these benefits associated with diversity in workplace come attached with many challenges both for the organization and the employees belonging to diverse cultures. Many employees are resistant to this kind of a workplace. For effective application of diversified approaches, the management has to play a key role so that people belonging to diverse cultures are accepted and get adjusted to the organizational environment.