no illegal downloading ? yeah, sure... ^^

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ipm/music_piracy_cartoon.jpg 

 

There is a strong belief that downloading internet content for free is unethical. I agree to some extent that downloading for free is considered unethical. This essay will presents both sides of the argument and then present my opinion.

First of all, some people argue that downloading for free is unethical. There is a common belief that taking something without permission is stealing. According to the common law, theft is considered a crime. In most cases, criminal activities would always have consequences such as a legal claim. Immanuel Kant advocated the use of maxims, personal rules that you use to make a moral decision. He also resisted using people as tools, because he argued that people have to respect all other people. Because of this, downloading for free shows a lack of respect to the publishers and is a form of manipulation. On the academic perspective particularly, illegal downloading academic content, like academic journals or books, is a serious threat. A lot of institutions held a campaign against piracy in education. For example, in 2008, the University of California at Davis held a campaign to prevent the students from illegal downloading. The students who have been proven downloaded without any license need to get fined. Thus, the argument that free downloading is unethical seems to be true because it against both ethic and law.

Following that, other people argue that downloading for free is ethical. They claim that everyone has a right to have access to useful material on the internet. John Stuart Mill would take this position. He stated that people are acting morally if the consequences of an action bring happiness to the greatest number of people. In this case, internet content can benefit lot of people; they can share audio and video files easily. In education, people may have access to unlimited files related to academic subjects, like scientific journals, books and other learning materials. Even so, there is a misuse. Some people download files from the internet for sale and they make it to gain economic benefit illegally. A case in point is the total sales of music piracy in the USA last year were reached more than 100 million dollars. However, the economic loss on music piracy was less significant if it is compared to its total economic revenue. Based on Nielson statistics, the total sales for music recordings in 2012 rose to USD 1.65 billion or increased 3.1 percent than the previous year. In addition, even though music piracy causes an economic loss, the impact is less outweighing. Hence, Mill's position in this argument is clear, as he suggested that the consequences of an action should be evaluated according to the benefit that they bring. Conversely, it is not wise enough to accept a philosophy that suggests people believe that the end justifies the means.

In my point of view, I understand the term that downloading for free is unethical because piracy is never right and it is against the intellectual property law. If people need to download internet content such as audio and video files, they need to purchase it. On the other hand, not every person can buy music or academic journals from the publishers because of its price. For example, access to JSTOR, an online journal provider, is worth at least USD 500 only for a year. Aristotle stated that, things that help us grow and flourish are good, and those things that stifle or stunt our growth are bad. Based on this, we can assume that more benefits can be gained by downloading for free, where every person can have access on the internet. This does not mean that disrespecting the publishers’ intellectual right is acceptable. On the contrary, a specific measure needs to be arranged in order to reduce illegal downloading, like an affordable price.

Overall, internet content has both benefits and drawbacks. It depends on every person to use it as a learning resource, or a medium to gain financial income illegally. Ethical or unethical however, belongs to every internet user to decide the boundary between right or wrong. In the future, I hope the price for internet content will be set at a level which everyone can afford it.

maturish*t !!

Source : http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/lfo/lowres/lfon136l.jpg

Beberapa minggu terakhir ini saya sering sekali kesal. Sebenarnya masalah seperti ini sepele saja, yakni soal menjadi sosok yang tertib, sopan dan tentunya, sabar. Oh ya, saya lupa menjelaskan ihwal kekesalan saya ini. Semenjak bulan Januari awal tahun ini, saya mendapatkan kesempatan untuk mengikuti pelatihan di Kota Pahlawan Surabaya. Pelatihannya yang dimulai pada akhir Januari ini diadakan di IALF Surabaya, tempat paling nyaman (menurut saya) di kota ini. Empat belas tahun lalu, waktu saya masih duduk di bangku SMA kelas 3 dan menjelang kelulusan, saya bingung sekali menentukan akan melanjutkan pendidikan kemana. Terlepas dari terbatasnya informasi pendidikan tinggi pada waktu itu, saya memiliki kecenderungan untuk tidak memilih Kampus sebagai tujuan belajar, melainkan Kota. Diantara banyaknya Kota yang dapat dipilih sebagai tujuan belajar seperti Makassar, Yogyakarta ataupun Jakarta, Ayah saya bersikeras agar saya tak memilih Surabaya. Walaupun pada waktu itu, sebagian besar sahabat se-kelas saya di SMA terkonsentrasi di kota itu. Walaupun akhirnya hasil UMPTN tahun 2000 menyatakan saya mesti melanjutkan pendidikan di Jayapura, saya masih bertanya-tanya dalam hati mengapa Ayah saya tak setuju saya pergi ke Surabaya.

Selepas kuliah, saya berkesempatan untuk mengajar di salah satu perguruan tinggi swasta di Jayapura. Pekerjaannya menyenangkan sekali, karena sebagai seorang akademisi (ehem..!!) saya kerap diminta melakukan perjalanan untuk berbagai tujuan, seperti mempresentasikan proposal riset atau sekedar mengikuti seminar dan pelatihan di berbagai kota. Nah, karena berbagai kegiatan itulah, saya kemudian mengetahui alasan Ayah melarang saya ke Surabaya karena kotanya yang sangat unfriendly dan kenyataan bahwa terkadang susah sekali menemukan orang yang respek kepada tiap orang disekitarnya di kota ini.

Mengutip Samuel Mulia (kolumnis favorit saya di Kompas), setiap orang terkadang lupa untuk menempatkan diri, entah itu di Ruang Publik atau Ruang Privat. Yang kerap terjadi, terkadang kebiasaan di Ruang Pribadi dibawa ke Ruang Publik. Seperti misalnya di kota ini, ketika saya sedang mengantri untuk membayar belanjaan di toko, beberapa pembeli dengan seenaknya terus saja menyela antrian. Sampai-sampai saya mesti protes kepada petugas di kasir yang tak menegur ataupun mengingatkan pembeli-pembeli “buru-buru” sepeti itu. Contoh lain, sewaktu saya sedang bersama teman-teman untuk makan di salah satu Mall besar di Surabaya. Meskipun saya telah berdiri tepat di hadapan petugas yang melayani order makanan, namun petugas tersebut tak kunjung menanyakan order pesanan saya. Tetapi beberapa orang di sebelah antrian saya malah lebih cepat ditangani. Saya kemudian curiga, jangan-jangan saya berdiri tidak dalam koordinat yang benar untuk melakukan pemesanan. Atau mestinya ada keterangan di situ bahwa yang akan dilayani hanya yang berdiri tepat di arah Barat Daya atau Bujur Timur dari meja kasir sehingga jelas persoalannya. Ketika akhirnya saya dilayani, petugas restauran itu juga ketusnya bukan main. Padahal seingat saya, saya berniat mau membeli paket makanan itu, bukannya meminta.

Pengalaman konyol seperti itu juga sering saya alami di bandara. Sekalipun saya telah berdiri setengah jam lebih hanya untuk check-in, namun ada saja dua-tiga calon penumpang yang menyela antrian. Yang paling parah ketika tiba giliran saya untuk check-in, ada saja beberapa orang yang dengan tergesa-gesa menyerobot giliran saya. Saya lantas jadi curiga, jangan-jangan saya tak kelihatan. Lucunya, kekonyolan penumpang pesawat ini berlanjut hingga ke ruang tunggu. Ketika boarding diumumkan, seluruh penumpang umumya akan berlarian masuk ke kabin seakan khawatir tak kebagian seat didalam pesawat. Padahal sepengalaman saya, selalu ada nomer kursi yang dicantumkan didalam boarding pass.

Pengalaman di jalan raya lebih parah lagi, walaupun menerobos lampu lalu-lintas di sebagian besar kota di Indonesia dianggap sudah biasa. Namun di Surabaya, sebagian kecil warganya justru tidak terlalu sabar untuk menunggu lampu hijau. Bahkan di beberapa waktu, saya kerap menyaksikan mereka menyela kendaraan dari arah berlawanan untuk melintas, padahal sebagian besar orang lainnya tengah menunggu dengan sabar. Yang unik, sebagian kecil pengendara itu lebih senang menunggu tepat di tikungan ketimbang dibelakang “garis putih” penyeberangan. Padahal, sangat berbahaya (menurut saya) jika kita menyela arus kendaraan seperti itu, karena selain hanya akan menambah kemacetan yang (biasanya) sudah parah, peluang terjadinya kecelakaan juga akan semakin besar.

Ah ya! Bicara soal (hampir) celaka, saya justru punya pengalaman seperti itu. Kejadiannya ketika saya dan teman-teman sesama pelatihan hendak menyeberang di Jalan Raya Gubeng yang terkenal sering macet itu. Walaupun kami berempat telah berjalan di zebra cross dan mengangkat tangan tinggi-tinggi pertanda minta jalan, tetap saja arus lalu lintas di situ berlari kencang. Ketika tiba di tengah-tengah jalan, sebuah Innova hitam terus saja melaju tanpa peduli posisi kami di yang berada di tengah. Hampir saja hari itu kami berempat celaka. Untunglah kami berhenti di tengah jalan untuk membiarkan mobil itu melaju duluan.

Peristiwa seperti menyerobot antrian atau mengemudi seenak udel itu (tentunya) bukanlah sesuatu yang menunjukkan rasa hormat kita terhadap seseorang. Tetapi lebih menginterpretasikan diri kita sebagai sosok yang tak tahu diri. Namun, terkadang kita perlu orang-orang selfish seperti itu dalam kehidupan. Baik sebagai pembeda akan diri kita dan mereka maupun sebagai “penguji” akan sikap kedewasaan kita yang (biasanya) sulit diukur. Wallahualam Bis Sawab

 

Please,....don't hire children in a paid job !

                      Copyright: cartoonstock.com

 Many people are expressing concern about teenagers’ engagement in the job market. Other people, in addition, regard this as a serious problem. There are, of course, several risks inherent in such a development. The most obvious matter refers to the incapability of children in some paid work. Inexperience is another hazard. Connected to this, I believe that children should not involved in a paid job until they have proper knowledge to work.

Firstly, some people argue that children should not work. There is a common belief in society that, instead of having paid jobs children should go to school. This reason refers to limited experience that may harm them in a particular job. For example, in the construction sector in some countries like China and India, hiring teenagers as laborers is a common. This issue, shockingly, based on some companies policies to reduce its expenditures. For economic reason, the company would ignore the capability of children at work. Moreover, a recent issue in China’s job market nowadays shows an increasing number of occupational accidents within the last 10 years.

However, some people rely on an argument that children who have paid jobs could gain more than a salary. They could get an additional experience that would be useful in the future, like being an organized person. In addition, it would be easier for them to adapt to a working environment. Unfortunately however, they do not only need experience to have a bright career, but also proper knowledge that can only be obtained at formal education. This does not mean that having an experience at work for children is not necessary. On the contrary, a specific measure needs to be arranged in order to address this issue, like government involvement in regulating legal rules for labor.

In conclusion, having a paid job for children are not a necessity, even though they could have additional experiences, it would be useless without proper knowledge. Therefore, a specific regulation is needed to manage this emerging issue.