Friday, October 10, 2008

IP Piracy Economics

Via Ezra Klein, an interesting bit of research on the numbers behind the economic damage created by IP piracy. Or lack of same.

"The plural of anecdote is not ..."

54 comments:

John said...

While I detest the tactics used by the **AA organizations and the like to combat IP theft, pieces like this distress me because it gives fire to the oddly-militant "piracy is okay" movement.

It's not. It is not okay. It's stealing. You saying it's not stealing and saying it's okay doesn't make it either.

Honestly, let's call a spade a spade. It's stealing. You know it is. You just don't care.

As someone who makes his living in the arts, though, I am hardly an impartial observer.

Unknown said...

Last time I checked, I make my money off copyright too.

But fear-mongering about the numbers doesn't allow us to deal with piracy in any constructive way, because that fear is one of the things crippling new media models and distribution chains.

It's a bit like foreign policy. McCain says we should never, ever talk to our enemies. General Petraeus bit the bullet and talked to our enemies. And bought them out. And won by co-opting them. Strong rhetoric is actively counterproductive. There are techniques we can use that are nestled right in next to piracy that could help artists make more money off their art.

I assure you, as an artist, I have lost orders of magnitude more money from crooked studio accounting than I have from piracy.

Anonymous said...

Stealing is a stretch.

Even if we accept it as stealing, it's hard to compare it to normal theft.

When someone downloads something, the person they download it from still has it. And, the owner of the IP still owns the IP. It would be more comparable to theft if you deleted it from the host computer after you finished downloading, or said you were the author of the work. Without either of those things happening it is hard to view it the same as traditional theft.

It would however be nice for people to pay for things they like/use frequently, simply to ensure they are still made in the future. Courtesy is all. I make my living in the arts too.

Geoff Thorne said...

No. It's theft.

It's only a grey area because people are greedy and selfish and the net provides the necessary cover and anonymity to make them able to massage their ethical structures.

It's theft.

However, as the issue of IP evolves, SMART creators are attacking the problem creatively, by "giving away" somethings and selling others.

But, if I made it and put it up for sale and you take it without paying you are a thief.

Just as you would be if you stole a bushel of corn I grew even if there is a whole field of it growing right beside.

It's not YOURS and you are not entitled to take it simply because the technology allows it.

Unknown said...

"Just as you would be if you stole a bushel of corn I grew even if there is a whole field of it growing right beside."

Except the corn you stole is still there in the field. Waiting to be sold to other people. Not even "other" corn -- that corn. I also believe piracy is theft, but I think trying to reduce the complexity of the issue in order to dig on on the morality is counterproductive.

Anonymous said...

The "bushel of corn" metaphor is deeply flawed.  For it to be accurate, there would have to be a finite number of times a work could be downloaded in digital form.

The truly relevant question is whether a given pirated download happens instead of paid use or in addition to it.

It is entirely possible (I'd say highly probable) that some acts of piracy actually cause legitimate sales down the line.  Pirates still recommend music to their friends, for example, regardless of whether those friends pay for music or pirate it themselves.

"It's theft" and "it's not theft" are both wrong because they oversimplify a very complicated issue.

Gavin Brown said...

I've downloaded some of Rogers' work without paying - very sorry if you starved that week, John. However, it then made me look up some other stuff he's had a hand in and those things I watched via legitimate means, where money did change hands.

A lot of downloaders use torrents as a sort of 'sampler' to see if it's worth paying for. Is it as good as it's hyped to be? Is it worth my time/money/other?

Creative folks and networks/etc should be smart enough to realise that giving something away for free can and does often generate paying custom. We should be embracing a model that is beginning to work very well for an increasing number of people.

Anonymous said...

Definition of theft in English law (sorry, I know it's the wrong country for this blog).

"A person is guilty of theft, if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it"

In downloading you copy it; the place it is downloaded from is not deprived of it.

I'm not saying it's alright. People need and money to carry on creating. But, it isn't really theft.

The problem in calling it theft is people just say, "oh well, I wasn't caught." There is no obligation to pay if you're not caught. People shouldn't feel as if they haven't been caught committing a crime they don't have to pay, which is what calling it theft does. They should feel it's in there benefit to pay.

Geoff Thorne said...

I'm concerned only with the creator's intent.

Nelson's DINGO is up on the web for free as are some of Doctorow's works. They choose to present them that way.

Yes, as I said, creative solutions are already being implemented by various companies and individuals but that says nothing about the activity of the consumer.

Just because you can point to some amorphous net benefit to the creator somewhere down the line (neither automatic or invariable), it doesn't automatically justify circumventing the creator's desires for their work in order to feed your own appetite.

I know that some comics companies are playing with interesting "give away" models and that their sales reflect a net increase from the practice, but that doesn't speak to the basic activity of taking for free what is meant to be sold.

I used corn because it is a renewable product, obviously there is no physical product that correlates direction with web "information."

Which is the point. "Information" certainly wants to be free but creative work product is not simply information that should be available to whoever wants it simply because they want it. If there were a means of protecting the creator from this practice I would be in favor of it.

I'm not saying web pirating is going to stop or that the genie isn't out of the bottle. I'm just saying, rather than trying to do ethical and "moral" gymnastics to make it all right for oneself that those who engage in the practice should call a spade a spade.

And, for the record, I've been guilty of this particular ethical breach in the past until I was confronted about the practice and came up short in finding a justification that went beyond "But, but, I want it."

Like Johnny Caspar says, "It's a question of ethics."

If we can't listen to a fictional mob hood, who can we listen to?

Anonymous said...

Also, while I'm thinking about it.

When you hire a DVD, the IP owners only receive the royalties for the copy the store bought, not every time the it gets hired out.

When you buy a CD from a second hand music store. They don't hunt down the IP owner to give them their royalties.

This isn't trying to put forward an argument for downloading, that would be fallacious. But, if you are going to call downloading IP theft, then the above are also IP theft (and if not, very close), as the IP owner receives nothing.

Anonymous said...

For those of you searching for an appropriate simile for internet piracy, I think I've got one better than any of the ones that have been listed. It's the internet equivalent of sneaking into a movie theater without paying for the movie. It's easier to do it without being caught, but I'd say that's the closest moral equivalency that I come up with.

Auz said...

"It's only a grey area because people are greedy and selfish and the net provides the necessary cover and anonymity to make them able to massage their ethical structures."

Uhm... who's greedy and selfish? If you had a Star Trek-style replicator that could make any food at no cost, would you be greedy and selfish for feeding everyone or only those who paid you?

The cost of making copies of artistic works and distributing them is all but zero now. This is obviously an issue for those who planned to make profits from distribution and there's no surprise that they'd try and argue to save their jobs.

But if you're going to have a serious discussion about whether it's better for a society to impose artificial restrictions or let things find their own level, you need the proper facts, not scare-mongering.

Lindsay Stewart said...

winterman, how much did you pay for the rights to use that graphic image as your gravatar? the newman clip on your site? thing is that under the rules that the industries are trying to cram into law, the internet as we know it ceases to exist. ap wants cash for quotes of five or more words, every graphic image file on every blog would need a permit from the copyright owner. lolcats... dead.

for a lot of little artists like myself, so called piracy is a blessing. self propagating distribution! free, user generated marketing and promotion! just as the little guys have to adjust, so too the big guys need to examine their business models. suing children and families is not a sound and sustainable source of revenue. the real issue is about value for money. a youtube clip serves as a revenue driving promotion. how many kids had ever heard of "cool hand luke" before the sudden spread of the hard boiled egg scene in the wake of mr newman's passing? i'm willing to wager the original films in the newman oeuvre have seen a spike in rentals and purchases.

i was at a concert the other night and the band had a nifty usb transfer bank beside the tshirts at the end of the night $5 and you could walk out with a memory stick recording of the concert you just saw. their tshirt had a slogan on the back, "pirates buy our tshirts". they stood on stage and encouraged the crowd to download their tunes and to copy them for friends. they also asked their audience to send copies of their stuff ahead to friends in other cities on their tour route. learn, adapt, evolve.

nobodez said...

I agree that IP "piracy" is difficult, but to imagine it like stealing a movie from a theatre is close, but still not quite right, since part of the theatre price is for the warm/cool environment (depending on the clime) and the plush seat. Heck, there are some movie theatres that I go to that charge a buck fifty to see the movie. I'm sure most of that is going to paying the rent, the electricity bill, and the maintenance on the theatre, not the IP holder.

I work in a Photo Lab, so I have to be proficient with copyright law. Many people just don't understand copyright law. They assume that if they bought the picture, they can make as many copies of it as they like. Unfortunately, unless they purchased the right to copy it (the copyright), they can't copy it. And because of Disney, they can't copy it for 95 to 120 years from date of publication/creation (unless created before 1923, or before 1963 and not renewed). (This is a generalization, and the specific rules are very, very, complicated).

But, look at the bright side. If copyright law doesn't change in the next 15 years, Mickey Mouse (a property of the Disney corporation) will finally fall into the public domain.

nobodez said...

Oh, and yes, I do have permission from the creator of my avatar to use it as an avatar.

Gridlock said...

A timely XKCD, then..

What's lost on a lot of people I think is that copyright is supposed to do exactly what it says on the tin - it's a legal protection afforded to the creator of a work such that they have a window of exclusivity, before their work falls into the public domain after a reasonable time. It's designed to encourage derivative works, not stifle them with ever-increasing terms.

Anonymous said...

情趣用品,
,情趣用品,情趣用品,視訊交友,視訊美女,視訊美女,視訊交友網,視訊聊天室,視訊聊天室,視訊交友,免費視訊聊天,辣妹視訊,視訊,情人視訊網

Gridlock said...

I think Anonymous makes a lot of good points (especially the one on the little housey looking thing next to the swirl)

Anonymous said...

Untuk Mengobati Kutil Kelamin Pada Pria dan Wanita Tanpa ini tidak hanya dapat dilakukan melalui pengobatan medis dengan cara operasi atau tapi juga sudah banyak pengobatan tradisional
kutil Terbaik Untuk Pria dengan mutu dan kualitas yang terjamin tanpa efek samping

Unknown said...

Bagi anda penderita Wasir atau ambeien mulai dari Stadium 1, Stadium 2, Stadium 3 bahkan Stadium 4 yang ingin mengobati penyakit tersebut dengan cara alami atau dengan pengobatan alternatif yaitu dengan obat herbal Ambeclear dan Salep Salwa adalah pilihan yang tepat karena obat herbal ini telah terbukti ampuh mengatasi penyakit wasir atau ambeien mulai dari stadium awal hingga stadium lanjut selain itu
obat ini murni dari tanaman herbal sehingga tidak menimbulkan efek samping apapun bagi pengggunanya dan bahkan obat herbal kami ini aman dikonsumsi oleh
wanita yang sedang hamil maupun ibu menyusui. obat kami telah terbukti khasiatnya telah banyak pasien kami yang sembuh baik yang wasir dalam hingga wasir luar baik yang baru gejala wasir atau ambeien maupun yang telah stadium lanjut bahkan yangA pernah operasi wasir pun beralih ke obat ambeienherbal kami ini.

Unknown said...

Wasir atau ambeien adalah penyakit yang terjadi pada bagian anus, jenis wasir atau ambeien sendiri ada dua yaitu wasir atau ambeien dalam dan wasir atau ambeien luar. Dalam penangananya sendiri wasir atau ambeien dapat disembuhkan dengan dua jalan yaitu pengobatan medis dan pengobatan non medis atau pengobatan alternatif. Pengobatan alternatif disini salah satu pilihanya adalah dengan menggunakan tanaman herbal atau dengan ramuan tradisional. Ambeclear dan Salep Salwa adalah hasil pengolahan tanaman herbal daun ungu, kunyit putih, dan mahkota dewa yang telah terbukti ampuh mengatasi wasir atau ambeien baik wasir stadium satu, stadium dua, stadium tiga maupun stadium akhir atau stadium empat. Wasir berdarah, wasir yang telah kronis, semua dapat diatasi dengan menggunakan obat ini selain ampuh obat ini juga aman dan tidak menimbulkan efek samping apapun bagi penggunanya sehingga obat ambeclear ini aman dikonsumsi oleh penderita wasir yang sedang hamil maupun menyusui.

fazrieherbal said...

obat sipilis
obat sipilis
obat sipilis
obat sipilis manjur
obat sipilis tradisional
obat sipilis herbal
cara mengobati sipilis
obat sipilis
harga obat sipilis

Anonymous said...

Penyakit ini umumnya muncul karena penderita mengejan terlalu keras pada saat buang air besar. Dengan mengejan terlalu keras, maka pembuluh darah di sekitar anus dapat melebar dan pecah menimbulkan infeksi dan pembengkakan yang berakhir pada masalah wasir atau ambeien tersebut.

Unknown said...

Penderita Penyakit kondiloma atau Kutil Kelamin yang telah terinveksi disarankan untuk segera melakukan pengobatan secepat mungkin sebelum Virus HPV penyebab kutil kelamin makin banyak berkembang biak di dalam sel darah makin lama dibiarkan akan memperparah kondisi organ vital karena kutil kelamin akan terus membesar sehingga terlihat seperti jengger ayam untuk penderita yang baru tertular kurang dari satu bulan biasanya akan lebih cepat ditanggulangi obat kutil kelamin Paling ampuh dari De Nature dan terbaik ada hanya di http://obatkutildikemaluan.blogdetik.com/ untuk mendapatkan informasi yang lebih jelas mengenai pengobatan kutil pada kelamin silahkan kontak langsung di nomer 0852 808 77 999 atau 0859 7373 5656 Bagaimana mengobati Ambeien itu sendiri. pengobatan yang terbaik untuk Ambeien adalah dari luar dan dalam sehingga Ambeien benar benar tuntas dan tidak akan kambuh lagi. obat Ambeien terbaik "Ambeclear dari De Nature" AlamiAdalah obat Ambeien herbal yang memang terbaik untuk mengobati Ambeien, dan sudah terdaftar di badan obat dan makanan (BPOM) dengan nomer registrasi POM TR: 133 374 041. terbuat dari bahan alami antara lain terdiri Daung Ungu, Mahkota Dewa dan Kunyit Putih.

Unknown said...

Cara mengobati sipilis pada pria
Cara mengobati penyakit sifilis pada pria
Cara menyembuhkan penyakit sifilis pada pria
Cara mengatasi penyakit sipilis pada pria
Cara menyembuhkan penyakit sipilis pada pria
Cara penyembuhan penyakit sipilis pada pria
Cara pengobatan penyakit sipilis pada pria
Cara menyembuhkan sipilis pada pria
Pengobatan sipilis pada pria
Obat sipilis pada wanita
pengobatan sipilis pada wanita
pengobatan sipilis pada wanita hamil
obat penyakit sipilis pada wanita
obat tradisional sipilis pada wanita
Cara mengobati penyakit sifilis pada pria
obat sipilis ampuh
obat sipilis manjur
nama obat sipilis paling ampuh
obat sipilis paling ampuh
obat sipilis yang ampuh
obat sipilis yg ampuh
obat sipilis yg ampuh
nama obat sipilis ampuh
Pengobatan sipilis dengan propolis
Pengobatan sipilis secara alami
Pengobatan sipilis secara tradisional
Pengobatan sipilis pada wanita hamil
Pengobatan sipilis medis

Unknown said...

Apabila anda sedang mencari pengobatan kutil kelamin untuk pria maupun wanita segera kunjungi kami http://obatkutilkelaminwanita.blogdetik.com cara mengobati kutil kelamin pada wanita tanpa harus menggunakan operasi cukup dengan menggunakan obat khusus kutil kelamin paling manjur dari klinik de nature manjurserta sangat aman untuk ibu hamil

Unknown said...

Penyakit kencing nanah bisa disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor seperti seks bebas, penularan, virus hpv, lingkungan, gaya hidup dan lainnya, Maka dari itu kita harus waspada dengan penyakit kencing nanah ini, karena penyakit kencing nanah sangatlah berbahaya, Namun untuk anda yang menderita penyakit kencing nanah, maka anda tidak perlu khawatir,

Unknown said...

Berhati-hatilah anda yang suka berganti-ganti pasangan seks, karena sangat besar sekali kemungkinannya untuk terkena penyakit kencing nanah atau gonore maupun yang lainnya.



Unknown said...

Bagi anda yang sedang mencari obat herbal buat kencing nanah atau gonore, kami sarankan untuk memilih obat herba dari De Nature dengan nama Gang jie dan Gho Siah sebagai pengobatan alternatif tradisional alami untuk kencing nanah atau gonore.

Unknown said...

Bukan hanya pengobatan medis saja tapi ada juga pengobatan rumah alami yang dapat digunakan untuk menyingkirkan penyakit kutil kelamin ini. Intinya, karena kutil ini muncul di daerah yang sensitif, maka anda harus mencari pengobatan yang terbaik pada kulit Anda dan jika diperlukan juga dibantu dengan tenaga medis yang professional. Sebab dokter akan menjadi sumber informasi yang baik untuk mengobati penyakit ini.

Unknown said...

Obat Kencing Nanah atau Gonore. Jika penyakit kencing nanah ini sudah parah atau kronis, biasanya terjadi selama 6 bulan. Penyakit biasanya sudah bersarang masuk ke dalam alat reproduksi yang lebih dalam.Untuk Pemesanan Obat Penyakit Kelamin Kencing Nanah di 0812-2854-1999 atau Pin BB 53E87F23

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Unknown said...

Cara yang sering di lakukan untuk menghilangkan kutil kelamin adalah dengan cara pembedahah atau operasi, cara ini tentu memerlukan dana yang tidak sedikit. metode Pilihan pembedahan yang dapat Anda lakukan

Unknown said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **********

Pengobatan Ambeien Wasir said...

wkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwk

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillaahirrohmaanirrokhiim ???????????????????????????????????

Unknown said...

Kadang disertai
dengan sakit saat kencing, perih, organ intim terasa panas menyiksa,
gatal,..

Unknown said...

Sekitar Vagina Tumbuh Daging, Berbahayakah? Kutil Pada Kepala Penis mirip bunga kol atau jengger ayam, Merupakan Penyakit Yang diakibatkan Oleh Virus.Kutil kelamin, atau disebut juga condyloma acuminata, adalah kutil atau daging berwarna kulit atau keabuan yang tumbuh di sekitar alat kelamin dan

Unknown said...

penyakit yang ditularkan melalui hubungan seks : vaginal, oral dan anal. Juga dapat menular melalui persentuhan kulit dengan daerah yang terinfeksi.

Unknown said...

Sebelum kita membahas tentang pengobatan ambeien, dalam kesempatan ini
saya ingin menjelaskan sekilas tentang ambeien, agar kita semua bisa
memahami benar apa itu penyakit ambeien

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... ***************************

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahirrohmannirrokhim ......................................

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... ************************************

obar herbal manjur alami said...

???????????????????????????????????????

Unknown said...

MANTAB???????????????????????????????

obar herbal manjur alami said...

111111111111111111111111111111

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

111111111111111111111

Obat Keputihan Herbal Alami said...

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Unknown said...

manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

obat ambeien wasir paling manjur mengobati penyakit wasir ambeien tanpa efek samping terbuat dari bahan alami herbal seperti daun ungu mahkota dewa kunyit putih

Anonymous said...

Assalamualaikum wr.wb, Salam Sehat semuanya. numpang komen ya gan.

Pengobatan Ambeien Wasir said...

cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta cinta

Unknown said...

 Apabila menemukan ada daging atau seperti Kutil yang tumbuh di area kemaluan atau alat ...

Unknown said...

 Apabila menemukan ada daging atau seperti Kutil yang tumbuh di area kemaluan atau alat ...